Journal

• Vitamins, especially mega-dosing (e.g. with Vitamin C)
• Probiotics
• Detoxification using diet (e.g. to remove so called ‘toxins’ or ‘metals’)
• Alkaline diet (with the implication that so called ‘acid producing’ foods cause many diseases)
• “Salt and Soda” baths to remove toxins (Epson salt and baking soda can supposedly ‘eliminate toxins’ which can then be washed off the surface of the skin)
• Food intolerance testing (using IgG antibody tests)
• Stool testing (to discover parasites or various other nasties)
• Dairy is Bad (”milk was meant for baby cows,” “dairy causes phlegm,” etc.)
• Gluten is Bad (even for non-ciliacs it is implicated as the cause for a vast array of problems)
• Food Intolerance (on the dramatic rise and blamed for an enormous number of ills)
• Body pH (especially the tracking of the pH of urine and saliva)
• An “Inflammatory Diet” (’inflammation’ in the body as the cause of ills)

The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century, Jacqueline Olds & Richard Schwartz, 2009. A briefer and more accessible work on the subject of loneliness than the Cacioppo/Patrick book below.  The authors take as their starting point the American cultural myth of the lone hero heading out onto into the wild frontier and how we continue to embrace it. They argue convincingly that the myth is not so far from the romanticism of, for example, a young woman heading into the Big Apple to make her way alone. The problem is that even though every study shows that such actions ultimately lead to feelings of deep isolation and loneliness, we buy the myth even in the face of personal experience.  More and more Americans have no people they confide in. This is a wonderful, though troubling, book that is worth quoting:

“We treat socializing as if it’s a frivolous diversion from the tasks at hand rather than an activity which is essential to our well-being as individuals and as a community”

“Some may think that Jesus-and-me piety is very different from the individual as the preeminent being in the universe, but I am suggesting they are only a hair apart.”

“With the ability to check email and talk on the phone at the same time, how simple it becomes when the conversation hits an awkward bump to shift attention to one of the other simultaneous tasks and in a tiny way begin to write someone off.  Sociologists sometimes distinguish between friendships of commitment and friendships of convenience..many are tilting further toward friendships of convenience.”

“Being neighborly used to mean visiting neighbors.  Now it means leaving them alone. In our ‘Cult of Busyness’ we think we are respecting them by always assuming they are too busy to strengthen a relationship.”

“The ‘Tyranny of Choice’ studies show that having more than just a few choices actually leads to unhappiness – the opposite of what common sense might suggest.  Therefore putting people off until the last minute – perpetually cruising for a better deal – can lead to lives dominated not by joy but by regret.”

“Until a hundred years ago, most societies agreed that it was dangerously antisocial, even pathologically self-absorbed, to elevate marital affection and nuclear-family ties above commitments to neighbors, extended kin, civic duty and religion.”

“Marriages, like all relationships, do far better when they have witnesses.”

“In our consumer-oriented culture, a common solution to not having enough people in one’s life is to turn to things, objects that will define one’s identity through possessions rather than through one’s place in a social world…You have a DVD player, a phone, a home entertainment center that can completely distract you from the fact that there is no one to invite over to your home. Pretty soon, you feel on the verge of complete self-sufficiency, almost free from those bothersome twinges of loneliness that can break though during an inconvenient pause in the entertainment.”

“In our professional practices we have found that, in the absence of egregious abuse, a person is better off struggling to improve a bad relationship with a family relative, or simply finding ways to tolerate it, than severing the tie completely.”

“New technologies have created so many more interesting possibilities for those who want to maintain the focus on themselves as fascinating entities, like blogging, MySpace, YouTube, and whatever is about to come next.”

“Celebrate the heroism of commitment, attachment, social engagement..the heroism of sustained commitment..the heroism of not stepping back.”

Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, John T. Cacioppo & William Patrick, 2008. A remarkable journey across the field of social psychology and social neuroscience, this book piles study upon study in evidence of man as the most hyper-social of animals. It is dense and meandering and often loses focus in the breadth of its sweep. I enjoyed it deeply but it seemed the authors had too much they wanted to say about too many things. The takeaways: those lowest in loneliness are those most able to give themselves selflessly to others in face to face social situations (contrasted with those who seek others only as a means to gratify themselves). “The way we think about social situations can prepare us to metabolize the almost medicinal qualities of social warmth, or it can set us up to confirm the cynical aphorism that “hell is other people.”" (p28). “And while some of us are joiners, others are very private and need very little in the way of connection through group membership. On each of the three levels [intimate, relational, collective], the issue is not the quantity but the quality of relationships, as determined by our own subjective needs and preferences.” (p81) “Not everyone finds marriage to be self-affirming. The nun, the explorer, the artist or the hard-driving executive who does not marry may find meaning elsewhere…Close family connections can be a mixed blessing.” (p81)  Show genuine interest in another human being and expect nothing in return. A wonderfully complete Notes section in the back offers promise to those wishing to further investigate such diverse things as neural empathy or chimp culture.

“Placebo” – article about the power of placebos and the havoc they are raising for drug companies trying to conduct clinical trials. The power of the placebo effect is actually rising dramatically in recent years. It is believed that the drug culture itself and our faith in the power of drugs is the cause.  [Wired magazine, UK edition, October 2009]

Connected: The Surprising Power of our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, Christakis & Fowler, 9/09. A very compelling book on the nature and power of our social networks. If you thought you had complete autonomous control over your behavior, think again. The power your relationships have over you is vastly greater than you imagine. This book also talks about such intriguing topics as Six Degrees of Separation as well as Three Degrees of Influence.

Counter Clockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility, Ellen J. Langer, 2009. Langer is a Harvard social psychologist.  Most of her book is occupied with the results of a one week study where seniors were asked to relive the past and their health improved.  It also cites a great number of other studies which demonstrate the remarkable power of the brain in areas such as the placebo affect.  While fascinating, the book doesn’t give much in the way of how to tap this vast potential, except for the trite mandate: “be mindful.” The first person listed in the book who offered up advance praise was Deepak Chopra, if that tells you anything.  I found it promising at first but ultimately unfulfilling due to the lack of applicable practices on getting us there.