The Honest Truth About Vaccines

“Vaccines” are medicines we take when we’re healthy to prevent us from getting sick later. Nobody loves getting their shots. But vaccines protect you, your family, and your community. Vaccines have helped us control many serious diseases. Right now, scientists are racing to develop a safe, effective vaccine to make us immune to COVID-19. However, some people claim that a COVID vaccine might not be safe, or even that it might be some sort of trick to control us. Others say vaccines are more dangerous than doctors admit. What is the truth? Are vaccines safe or risky? Or might the truth be something in between? Let’s find out! In this free issue of Junior Skeptic we cover:

• Centuries of Sorrow
• Smallpox Scourge
• Inoculating America
• Cows to the Rescue!
• Birth of the Anti-Vaccination Movement
• Vaccine Victories — and Risks Along the Way
• Contaminated Vaccines
• Hitchhiking Viruses
• Deadly Mistakes
• Side Effects
• Anti-Vaccine Myths
• Rumors and Panic
• Measles, Mercury, and Autism
• Conspiracy Theories and COVID-19

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Foods That Support Immunity & A Happy Belly, According to Science

 by Michele Promaulayko for the “Eat This, Not That” E-zine

Your digestive system is more than a body part that nags you when you're hungry and scolds you when you overfeed it (or feed it the wrongs things). Located in your large intestine, your gut is actually home to a complex system known as the "micro-biome." The gut micro-biome contains trillions of microorganisms, including good bacteria, that influence many biological functions such as digestion, brain health, and immune system regulation.

In fact, as much as 70 percent of immune function is thought to originate in your gut, which is why it's critical to care for the microbiome so it can help support your immunity.

A few important things to know: Though there is research to support that eating foods and taking supplements that support a healthy microbiome can offer protection from viral respiratory infections, their impact on COVID-19 hasn't been studied specifically. That said, health experts such as Frank Lipman, MD, Chief Medical Officer of THE WELL, maintain that at the very least, having a strong immune system can help mitigate the systems of most infections and help you recover more quickly.

The foods you eat strengthen your microbiome in three different ways: by feeding the good bacteria in the gut (prebiotics), bringing your existing beneficial bacteria some reinforcements (probiotics), or by healing and strengthening the mucosal lining, which new research shows can ward off inflammation.

As for what to avoid, enemy number one to your gut is sugar, which starves your beneficial bacteria in favor of feeding the bad guys.  

As Justin and Erica Sonnenburg write in their book, The Good Gut, "overwhelming evidence is building for a connection between better health and a complex microbiota." Start to nourish your gut microbiome and support your immune response in the process by adding the following foods to your grocery list. And for more tips on how to boost your immunity, read what Dr. Fauci suggests and be sure to get adequate amounts of these crucial vitamins and nutrients.

1). Yogurt & Kefir: When buying dairy products, such as yogurt, cultured butter, and kefir, a fermented milk drink, look for those that are unsweetened and labeled as containing "live and active cultures" to make sure they have the beneficial probiotics necessary to make a difference.

2). Sauerkraut & Kimchi: Vegetable-based fermented foods, such as pickles, sauerkraut, and the spicy Korean-cuisine staple, kimchi, not only pack abundant flavor, they can be a boon to your microbiome. Quality can vary, so opt for brands such as Cleveland Kitchen and Hawthorne Valley, which uses locally-sourced produce and a wild fermentation process to persevere beneficial enzymes in their products.

3). Miso & Natto: As a study published in The BMJ noted, natto (made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis) and miso (soybeans fermented with Aspergillus oryzae) are common in Japanese cuisine and have been studied not only for their potential gut-friendly properties but also for their ability to extend life expectancy.

4). Garlic & Onions: Prebiotic fiber from plants feed the good bacteria in your gut. Apart from garlic and onions, seek out prebiotic foods like leeks, asparagus, chicory root (sometimes used as an un-caffeinated replacement for coffee), and Jerusalem artichokes. Read this to better understand the difference between prebiotics and probiotics.

5). Bone Broth & Collagen Powder: Foods that contain collagen, such as bone broth made from beef, chicken, or turkey, can help heal your gut when sipped like a tea or used as a base for soups. Says Sharon Brown, CN, clinical nutritionist and founder of frozen bone broth company Bonafide Provisions: "The high levels of collagen in properly-made bone broth help repair the mucosal lining of the gut, which aids digestion, soothes the intestines, and reduces inflammation."
According to a 2011 study, glutamine, an amino acid in collagen, can help preserve gut barrier function. For more ways to soothe your gut, check out these 20 Foods That Relieve Your Gut Problems, Say Dietitians.

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

According to the Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, we have proof of alien existence, and more sightings are coming soon. In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have come from another star. Loeb argued that it was not an asteroid; it was moving too fast along a strange orbit and left no trail of gas or debris in its wake. There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by an ancient alien civilization. This was a shocking claim, and many were vehemently opposed to Avi’s view. In his new book, and in this conversation, Loeb outlines his controversial theory and its profound implications for science, religion, and the future of our species and our planet. Also highlighted, and perhaps at the heart of his message, is Loeb’s plea for open and eager scientific inquiry into this field of study, and his calls for deeper faith in science and the breaking down of barriers between the scientific community and the non-scientific community.

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The Best “Mind Hacks” For Fat Loss

by Tom Venuto 

I've always had mixed feelings about the word "hack" when used in the context of fitness and fat loss. Mainly that's because a hack is usually defined as a simple and easy trick, shortcut or novelty to improve productivity and get better results.  

Novelties are new and attention-getting, but short lived. Shortcuts are usually dead ends and you waste time retracing your steps back to the main route. No one wants to see another "1 weird trick to burn belly fat" ad again because we know those kinds of tricks are synonymous with gimmicks.

While getting fit and lean is usually not easy, every so often, you come across a tactic that fits the definition of hack. It's a thing you can do that really is both simple and easy and really does work. When I see them, and I know they're legit, I like to share them with my readers. 

Here's an example: 1). Track your calories and macros in a food journal (usually electronically). This one is often avoided because people perceive it as hard, not as a hack. The truth is, it couldn't be easier. I don't always keep a food journal, but when I have, it takes me about one minute to enter using software.  Call it two minutes for a complex meal or a recipe with a longer list of ingredients.

With just 5 or 6 minutes a day total for simple food tracking on the fly, and I can create a daily meal plan in advance and balance the macros with precision from scratch in as little as ten minutes. 

What do you get for this type of effort? In a famous 30-month study with almost 1700 participants, (the Weight Loss Management Trial), the people who kept food records lost twice as much fat as those who didn't. Double the fat loss with a few minutes of time invested a day (and scientifically proven). If that's not a legit "hack" I don't know what is. 

Another reliable hack is weighing yourself frequently (weekly and even daily) which research strongly associates with better fat loss. This one gets shunned or dismissed sometimes too because (along with food tracking), it has gotten some bad press.
The truth is, it's mainly only people with eating disorders and body image dysmorphia who have issues with tracking numbers like body weight and macros. For everyone else, these are simple ways to create accountability and awareness and increase fat loss with minimal effort.

There are many other types of "hacks" we could talk about. Perhaps some of the best are those which don't involve a focus on numbers such as body weight or calories and macros, like this one: 2). Eat slowly. In research, eating slowly consistently leads to lower calorie intake which in turn leads to greater weight loss. It's simple, it's easy, and it's productive.

Or this one: 3). When you eat, only eat--don't eat while distracted by a phone, TV or newspaper. Studies also show that eating distracted leads to greater calorie intake. Even if you don't eat more during the distracted meal, you'll tend to eat more later because of a strange mental quirk: since you weren't paying attention, your brain doesn't "remember" how much you ate in the last meal, so given the opportunity, you eat more at the next one to compensate. 

If "hacks" like these two get overlooked, it's not because of bad press. Maybe it's because they appear TOO easy and simple to work. People just shrug, brush them off, and look for something newer and sexier.

That's a shame, because this type of "hack" is getting increasing amounts of positive attention. Eating slowly and undistracted are "hacks" (maybe "habits" or "skills" are better words) that fall under the umbrella of a larger practice known as mindful eating. 

For the highest chances of fat loss success, it's important to use a multi-faceted approach that includes mindset training.
My formula has always been:
1. Nutrition, 2. Weight training, 3. Cardio Training, 4. Mental Training.

Other experts (both researchers and coaches) agree about how effective mental training is. Mindfulness has gotten a ton of good press for good reason: not only does research support it, but also it's a set of skills that can work for almost everyone, including people with disordered eating issues, because mindfulness doesn't require macro tracking or calorie counting. 

The How of Happiness: Exercise vs Zoloft

from “The Optimizer” ezine

Today we're moving from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Science with the help of Sonja Lyubomirsky and her world-leading wellness lab + "HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY" recommended book The How of Happiness.

I'm still blown away every time I read the conclusion of the now-famous Exercise vs. Zoloft study. We've talked about how exercise is like taking a little bit of Ritalin and a little bit of Prozac, but somehow we've gotten this far into our series without talking about the fact that exercise is as effective as Zoloft in reducing depression.

Get this: in The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirksy walks us through the experiment.

Bring clinically depressed individuals into a lab. Split them into 3 groups. The 1st group is assigned to 4 months of aerobic exercise, the 2nd group gets an antidepressant medication (in this case Zoloft), and the 3rd group gets both.
The exercise group does 3 sessions of 45 minutes of exercise per week of cycling or walking/jogging at a moderate to high intensity. Fast-forward 4 months.

As Sonja says: "Remarkably, by the end of the 4-month intervention period, all 3 groups had their depressions lift and reported fewer dysfunctional attitudes along with increased happiness and self-esteem. Aerobic exercise was just as effective at treating depression as was Zoloft, or as a combination of exercise and Zoloft. Yet exercise is a lot less expensive, usually with no side effects apart from soreness.
   Perhaps even more remarkably, 6 months later, participants who had recovered from their depressions were less likely to relapse if they had been in the exercise group (6 months ago!) than if they had been in the medication group."

She continues by saying: "No one in our society needs to be told that exercise is good for us. Whether you are overweight or have a chronic illness or are a slim couch potato, you've probably heard or read this dictum countless times throughout your life. But has anyone told you— indeed, guaranteed you—that regular physical activity will make you happier? I swear by it."

Any time one of the leading, conservative scientists in the field guarantees (!) ANYTHING I sit up straight and pay attention and, in this case, I put on my shoes and hit the trail. 🤓 So, how's your exercise looking these days?

What's your favorite form of exercise? Today is a good day to have fun rocking it?

Grow A Fabulous Indoor Herb Garden With These 10 Plants

from The Optimist Daily e-zine

During the colder winter months, growing herbs indoors can be more productive and save you a trip out to the chilly garden when you need ingredients. These 10 herbs grow especially well indoors and will offer some delicious flavor to your hearty winter recipes. 

   1). Mint. This herb grows so well, some people even call it a weed. It grows well indoors in a wide, shallow pot with indirect light. Keep the soil moist, but not overly wet, for best results. 

   2). Rosemary. This herb can grow to be giant outdoors, but indoors, it can be grown in a large pot with good drainage. This plant likes warmth, so it will do well in a cozy home with access to direct sunlight. 

   3). Basil. An indoor herb classic, basil loves lots of direct sunlight and moist soil.

   4). Parsley. Just sprinkle some parsley seeds in shallow soil, place them in direct sunlight, and you’ll have parsley in no time. Parsley doesn’t mind being crowded in with other plants, so it’s an easy addition to any pot. 

   5). Oregano. If you’re short on counter space, this small pot-loving plant is a great choice. It likes direct sunlight and is drought-resistant, so it doesn’t require a lot of water. 

   6). Thyme. This plant hates soggy roots, so be sure not to overwater and pick a soil combination of sand, potting soil, peat moss, and perlite. Trimming your thyme regularly will keep it healthy and leafy. 

   7). Lemon balm. A relative of mint, this plant does well in a terracotta pot with sandy soil. If it starts to bloom, called bolting, it’s time for a new plant as this will reduce the potency of the leaves. 

   8). Chives. This versatile herb loves light fluctuations, so it’s easy to grow in winter and makes a great addition to anything from breakfast scrambles to baked potatoes.

 
   9). Dill. If your wintertime activities also involve pickling, dill is a no-brainer. It thrives in shallow pots and will be ready to harvest six to eight weeks after planting. 

   10). Sage. This herb is a staple for so many savory winter recipes. Grow it in sandy soil and harvest leaves by trimming them off the plant at their base. 
Spring and summer are the classic growing season, but the resilience of herbs makes them great for year-round cultivating. Indoor herb planting makes a great winter project and all your new fresh ingredients will inspire you in the kitchen.

The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life

Whether it's in a cockpit at takeoff or the planning of an offensive war, a romantic relationship or a dispute at the office, there are many opportunities to lie and self-deceive — but deceit and self-deception carry the costs of being alienated from reality and can lead to disaster. So why does deception play such a prominent role in our everyday lives? In his bold new work, Rutgers University evolutionary theorist Robert Trivers unflinchingly argues that self-deception evolved in the service of deceit — the better to fool others. We do it for biological reasons — in order to help us survive and procreate. From viruses mimicking host behavior to humans misremembering (sometimes intentionally) the details of a quarrel, science has proven that the deceptive one can always outwit the masses. But we undertake this deception at our own peril.

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Key Features of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Explained

from the AICR

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Dietary Guidelines are released every five years and form the basis of all federal food and nutrition policies, programs and communications for the next half decade.

The guidelines serve as a critical tool to help people make healthy choices in their daily lives to help prevent chronic disease and enjoy a healthy diet. A strong recommendation within the guidelines can have a major impact on the daily eating habits of Americans. It offers a simple message that pulls together the many complex choices in creating healthy eating habits into a single picture.

One guideline has many important implications. It says, “Focus on meeting food group needs with nutrient-dense foods and beverages and stay within calorie limits.”

If that sounds like a lot of math-speak, let’s break down what it means for day-to-day eating choices.

Key Practical Steps to Nutrient Density: Nutrient-dense foods are those that deliver nutrients you need without excess calories. To meet the recommendation to focus on nutrient-dense foods and beverages take the following steps:

     1). Watch out for foods with a “health halo”. A bar, cereal, frozen dessert, yogurt or energy drink, for example, might emphasize high content of protein, fiber or some vitamin or mineral. Only when you check the Nutrition Facts label do you see high content of saturated fat, added sugars or both. Foods like this can make calories soar even in a moderate portion.

The Dietary Guidelines emphasize – consistent with AICR’s Recommendations – that a healthy diet is one that helps you reach and maintain a weight that is healthy for you. Research is clear that excess body fat increases risk of at least 12 different kinds of cancer, as well as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

     2). Stay portion-mindful. Many nutrient-dense foods, especially non-starchy vegetables, allow you to eat filling portions with relatively few calories. But even for healthful, nutrient-dense foods, consistently choosing portions that are too large can send total daily calories beyond what you need. That’s why AICR developed the New American Plate, which focuses on both the proportion of different foods on your plate as well as the portion sizes you choose.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans note that Americans typically eat excessive amounts of refined grains and meats (especially processed and high-fat meats). Individuals differ in how their food choices compare to the recommended dietary patterns. The key point is that the call for more vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans is not calling for a larger plate. It means cutting back on the foods currently getting too much of your plate.

     3). Create more variety among healthful foods you eat. To get the widest range of nutrients and healthful phytochemicals, the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans again emphasize the importance of several servings each week of dark green vegetables and of red-orange vegetables (like carrots, tomatoes and winter squash). The guidelines also advise replacing processed or high-fat meats (such as hot dogs, sausage, and bacon) with seafood; beans, peas and lentils; and nuts, seeds and soy foods.

AICR’s recommendation to limit red and processed meat is primarily based on evidence linking excess amounts with increased risk of colorectal cancer. A side benefit of taking this step is that it gives you more room for high-fiber, microbiome-feeding beans and other pulses, and nutrient-rich seafood.

     4). Make “healthy” fit your needs and preferences. The new federal dietary guidelines call out more strongly than ever to customize your selection, cooking style, and flavoring of nutrient-dense foods and beverages.

Health professionals encourage people to adapt eating habits because of medical conditions or risk factors and still enjoy food that is flavorful and delicious. The same is true of the healthy eating patterns defined by the latest dietary guidelines.

     5). Reduce added sugars: Very few people have room for 10% of their calories coming from added sugars that’s recommended. Lots of discussion has noted that although the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended a limit of no more than 6% of calories from added sugars, the final Dietary Guidelines for Americans identifies a limit of no more than 10% of calories. However, unless your calorie needs are over 3000 calories a day, you don’t have room for more than 15% of calories from foods and drinks that aren’t nutrient-dense.

For virtually every age group, the dietary patterns in the appendix of the Dietary Guidelines demonstrate this in practical terms. The category in the dietary patterns called “Calories for Other Uses” also includes foods high in saturated fat (like butter, high-fat meats and ice cream), alcohol, portions of refined grains and potatoes or other starchy vegetables beyond amounts in the recommended healthy patterns.
For many adults and children, there’s only room for “extra” (less-nutritious) foods that total 6-13% of their calories. Those “extra” calories include more than added sugars. Individual food and drink choices in this category can vary. But the Dietary Guidelines state for most people, only half of these “Calories for Other Uses” will come from added sugars.

If this seems confusing, here’s a practical example: If you are a typical adult who needs about 2000 calories a day, these patterns show that after meeting recommendations, you have 12-13% of calories “for other uses”. That’s about 240 calories a day. 

If you chose a 12-ounce regular soft drink (156 calories), that would leave only 84 additional calories.
   That’s enough for 1 additional slice of refined bread or 1/3 cup of refined pasta.
   OR 1/3 of a small order of French fries.
   OR a high-fat meat (like spareribs or a cheeseburger) to replace a lean meat portion.
   OR 1/2 a small single-serve bag of potato chips.

     6). Special Call-Out to Adults 60 and Over: The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include a special focus on healthy eating throughout life. For adults ages 60 and older, the call to zero in on nutrient-dense foods receives extra emphasis.
Older adults generally have lower calorie needs, but similar or even increased nutrient needs compared to younger adults. Nutrient density is particularly important to this age group.

Clearly, there are wide differences in calorie needs within this 60+ age group. It includes joggers and people with physically active jobs as well as people with muscle loss, multiple chronic diseases and impaired ability to get around. And other factors that affect nutrient needs and absorption of nutrients create differences among needs of older adults.

Regardless, for most older adults, metabolism slows and daily calorie needs are about 200 calories lower after age 50 or 60.

For women over age 60, except for those who get more than an hour of moderate physical activity each day, calorie needs generally leave room for only 100-140 calories from added sugars, saturated fat and starchy foods beyond the basic pattern as well as any alcohol.

For men and women over age 60, it becomes more and more important to be selective about the many potential “extras” in eating habits – and to choose those “extras” more occasionally instead of daily.

In Conclusion: Just as the AICR Cancer Prevention Recommendations are a blueprint from which you can create a lifestyle that reduces your risk of cancer, look at the new federal dietary guidelines as a framework for a wide range of personal choices that add up to promote good health.

Minding Your Memory

from the Harvard Health E-zine 

The good news is, not all memory issues are a cause for concern. Here’s how to manage those common, annoying lapses. Everyone experiences the occasional "senior moment" as they age. You may misplace everyday items, fail to recall the name of someone you just met, or forget to do something. While these memory slips can be embarrassing and stressful, they usually don't mean that you are on a path to dementia.

"Some degree of memory lapses is a normal part of aging," says Lydia Cho, a neuropsychologist with Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital. "You can't expect to hold on to all information you've gathered throughout your life, whether it was long ago or recent. It's not realistic or adaptive."

Factors at play: there are times when frequent forgetfulness should be checked out by your doctor, as it could be a symptom of an underlying treatable health problem. For example, insomnia, anxiety, and depression can affect brain functions, including memory.

If your lapses become more frequent or severe, or if they affect your daily life (like forgetting to pay bills or take medicine), your doctor may recommend a neuropsychological evaluation. In that exam, a specialist assesses your memory and other cognitive skills, such as attention, executive function, language, and visuospatial abilities.

Brain Assistance: Even though most memory lapses are not cause for concern, you can take measures to manage and improve your existing brain skills. Adopting various lifestyle behaviors is one way (see "Manage your memory with DANCERS"). For specific types of everyday memory issues, adopting certain strategies can help you retain and recall information or navigate memory hiccups when they arise.

There are steps you can take to enhance your memory and help to delay or even prevent dementia. Lydia Cho, a neuropsychologist with Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, suggests focusing on DANCERS, a set of lifestyle criteria created by Dr. James Ellison, former director of the geriatric psychiatry program at McLean.

D: Disease management. Maintain a healthy weight, don't smoke, and keep blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels in line to help preserve cognitive function.

A: Activity. Any cardio exercise, like walking, swimming, and playing sports, is good for brain health. "Cardio can increase energy in the brain by improving oxygen and blood flow," says Cho.

N: Nutrition. Poor nutrition leads to poor brain health. The DASH, MIND, and Mediterranean diets emphasize whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fatty fish, and healthy fats.

C: Cognitive stimulation. "Challenge your brain regularly," says Cho. "The more you engage your brain, the more likely you can retain memory."

E: Engagement. Research continues to show a reliable link between isolation and lower cognitive function. Any kind of social engagement is helpful.

R: Relaxation. Your brain needs adequate downtime. Do activities that you find relaxing, whether it's exercise, yoga, meditation, reading, or bathing.

S: Sleep. Sleep is when your brain cleans out toxins. To get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night, practice good sleep hygiene. Examples: Set a sleep schedule and stick to it. Avoid any electronic devices for at least an hour before bedtime. Don't eat after dinner time.

The following is a look at the memory obstacles you are most likely to encounter and ways to deal with them.

Absent-mindedness. This happens when you multitask and don't concentrate on less critical tasks. (Think of the stereotypical absent-minded professor who can recall complex formulas but keeps misplacing his glasses.) Sometimes, the seemingly small details can have significant consequences, like forgetting to take medicine or leaving the house without your phone.

What you can do: When faced with multiple tasks, put them in order of importance and then focus on only one task at a time before moving on to the next. Setting up routines and reminders also can help prevent absent-mindedness.

For example, create a memory table by your front door or in the bedroom where you place all your vital objects, like your phone, medicines, and glasses. To make sure you take your medicines on schedule, use a pillbox labelled with dates and times, or set alarms on your smart phone to remind you.

Blocking. This is referred to as the "tip of the tongue" phenomenon, when you can't recall a name or specific detail. "You know the information, but you can't immediately place a label on it," says Cho. "This happens to everyone at times, no matter a person's age, and isn't cause for concern unless it becomes a more frequent occurrence."

What you can do: Recalling names of people is the most common type of blocking. Cho suggests trying to associate a person with something that may help trigger name recall, like his or her hobby, work, background, or spouse. "Many times you know more detail about a person beyond his or her name," she says. Another option is to associate the person with someone who has the same name or a similar one, like a relative, celebrity, or movie character. "You can also connect the name with a rhyming word or song," says Cho. For large functions where you know the attendees, like family gatherings or meetings, rehearse people's names beforehand.

Transience. Transience is the loss of certain memories — typically facts or events — over time. "The brain decides what information becomes less crucial or integral," says Cho. For instance, you can memorize a phone number to use immediately, but then you don't retain it because it's no longer needed.

What you can do: If you want to retain certain memories, try to keep that information emotionally charged. "If you believe it's important, your brain will likely hang on to it longer," she says. You can do this by revisiting the memory through sharing it in conversation, recording it for future reference, and reviewing photographs.

Misattribution. Here, you recall accurate information from an event but can't attribute it to the correct source, or you recognize a familiar face but place the person wrongly. Another type of is misattribution is false recognition, which scammers often exploit. "People try to convince you that you owe money, and you don't trust your memory and second-guess yourself," says Cho.

What you can do: If you have trouble connecting information with a source, write down the details of an event when they occur. You can also record the information (most smartphones have voice memo capabilities) or take pictures or videos. "But keep in mind that many times what you know is more important than where it came from, so focus on that," says Cho.

To protect yourself from scams, never share financial information like account or credit card numbers on the phone or over the Internet. If you have doubts about an inquiry, and don't trust your memory, run it by a friend or family member to ensure its legitimacy.

Reinvent Your Walking Regimen: Switch Your Routine, Stay Motivated & Active

from the Harvard Health Letter

Putting one foot in front of the other is a simple way to trigger a cascade of health benefits. Regular brisk walks help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol; control blood sugar; and reduce the risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Brisk walks also strengthen muscles, burn calories, and lift mood.

Just one problem: some people find walking boring. Boredom may diminish your motivation and interest in exercising. Before that happens, mix up your regimen with different types of walking that maximize physical, mental, and emotional health benefits.

Exercise Focused Walking: While all brisk walking is good aerobic activity, you'll boost physical benefits even more if you incorporate other exercises in your regimen. Here are some options:
   An interval-training walk. Adding brief bursts of speed during a brisk walk boosts cardio fitness. "You speed up, push your intensity, recover, and then pick up the pace again," says Harvard fitness consultant and certified fitness instructor Michele Stanten. She recommends timing yourself for 15, 30, or 60 seconds at the heightened intensity and then doubling that amount of time to recover at your normal pace. "If you need longer to recover, that's fine too. When you feel ready, pick up the intensity and go faster." If you don't want to time yourself, use landmarks: speed up as you walk past two houses, go slower for four houses, and repeat.
   A strength-training walk. At least twice per week, take a resistance band on your walk. "Work your chest, arm, or shoulder muscles by stretching the band while holding it in front or above you, or loop it around your back and press it forward," Stanten advises.

Sport Walking: Some activities make walking feel more like a sport. Consider the following:
   Nordic walking. Using Nordic poles (which have a special glove-like attachment) adds upper-body exercise to a traditional walk, engaging twice the muscles and increasing calorie burning. You can walk on level surfaces or on varied terrain, and you can even do it (with a doctor's okay) if you have balance difficulty, since the poles help keep you stable.\
   Hiking. "Hiking with or without poles will you get out of the house so you can enjoy nature. If you use hiking poles, they'll help take pressure off the joints," Stanten notes.

Meditative Walking: The repetitive nature of walking makes it a natural activity for meditation or self-reflection. Try one of these:
   A breath-focused walk. The combination of breathing and stepping creates a rhythm that helps quiet the mind. "Breathing and counting are key," Stanten says. "Match your footsteps to your inhalations and exhalations. Take four steps as you inhale, take four steps as you exhale. You can lengthen those counts as you relax."
   A mindful walk. Use walking as an opportunity to become more mindful. "Really be present in your walk. Pay attention to what's going on around you, and feel the breeze and the sun on your body. Pay attention to what you're hearing — the birds chirping, the rustle of leaves," Stanten suggests.

Social Walking: Think about walking as a time for social interaction. Some possibilities:
   A chatty walk. Instead of sitting and talking to catch up with loved ones, chat during a walk in the morning, afternoon, or evening. The more you walk and talk, the more exercise you'll fit into your day.
   A heart-to-heart walk. If you need to have a tough conversation with someone, walking can make it easier. "Walking relaxes your body, and you don't need to make eye contact with the other person when you're walking," Stanten says.

Note: Texting is a form of communication but avoid texting during a walk; the distraction can lead to a fall or keep you from seeing oncoming traffic.|

Walking-Related apps: Elevate your walk by pairing it with a free app to make your time more inspirational, educational, or exciting. Consider downloading one of these:

• Charity Miles (charitymiles.org). Raise money for numerous charities as you walk.
• The Walk: Fitness Tracker and Game (thewalkgame.com). Listen to a spy story that only reveals itself as you rack up the required miles.
• A free podcast app. Listen to interesting interviews while you walk, such as the Harvard Health Publishing podcast Living Better, Living Longer (www.health.harvard.edu/podcast-living-better-living-longer).

Note: Use just one earbud to listen to a podcast during a walk. Keep your other ear free for sounds in your environment that can alert you to hazards, such as approaching cars.

Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding

 “Nothing about the biology of exercise makes sense except in the light of evolution, and nothing about exercise as a behavior makes sense except in the light of anthropology.”

In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise — to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise. […]

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How Much Is Too Much?

from the Eat This, Not That ezine 

Is there such a thing as too much coffee? Why yes, there is! Here's how much caffeine (and cups of coffee) your body can actually handle.

If you're like most Americans, you're reaching for your coffee first thing in the morning. A 2018 study from the National Coffee Association found that 64 percent of Americans drink a cup of coffee every day, up from 62 percent in 2017, and the highest percentage since 2012.

But it's not just the coffee we're after—it's the caffeine. And whether your drink of choice is a latte, tea, or soda, you'll definitely get a fix. However, it can also have some pretty unpleasant side effects. Here's everything you need to know about caffeine and how to consume it safely.

What is Caffeine? "Caffeine is a drug (yep!) and central nervous stimulant," says Monica Auslander Moreno, MS, RD, LD/N, registered dietitian and nutrition consultant for RSP Nutrition. "It has been known to aid with attention and reaction time, as well as provide more energy, strength, and endurance for physical activities. It is a gastric stimulant, and also a vasoconstrictor (it raises blood pressure)."

How much caffeine is safe to consume daily? The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines suggest up to 400 milligrams per day is safe for most healthy adults. (That's 3-5 cups of coffee per day.) In pregnancy, current guidelines recommend less than 200 milligrams per day. However, each person's body reacts differently to it. "Individual metabolism and tolerance should dictate this, and not guidelines," says Auslander Moreno. "We do not recommend caffeine for children, other than small amounts occurring in chocolate."

What are the symptoms of too much caffeine? There is definitely such a thing as too much caffeine, and your body will let you know. "Consuming more than 400 milligrams of caffeine can result in a jumpy and slightly alarmed feeling," says Lauri Wright, PhD, RDN, LD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Wright says larger amounts of caffeine may cause: irritability, sleeplessness, anxiety, headaches, diarrhea.

What is the caffeine content of popular drinks? Here's how much caffeine is in your favorite drinks (from highest to lowest amount).
   Coffee: "A cup (8 oz) of brewed coffee can have various caffeine amounts—from 70-140milligrams per cup, depending on brew and bean," says Auslander Moreno.
   Espresso: 64 mg per 1 oz. (so, a 4oz cup would contain 256 mg).
   Mountain Dew: ~54 mg per 12 oz can
   Black tea: ~50 mg per cup (depends on variety + steep time)
   Green tea: 35-50 mg per cup (depends on variety + steep time)
   Diet Coke: ~ 46 mg per 12 oz can (interesting that it contains 12 mg more than the regular variety-see below).
   Pepsi: ~39 mg per 12 oz can
   Barq's Root Beer: ~ 38 mg per 12 oz can
   Coke Zero: ~36 mg per 12 oz can
   Diet Pepsi: ~35 mg per 12 oz can
   Coke: ~34 mg per 12 oz can
   Decaf coffee: 12-15 mg per cup (yes, it still contains some despite the “decaf” label).

Can you really have caffeine withdrawal? Yes, you can, and it can be both physical and mental. "You can have a physical (and psychological) dependence on caffeine," says Auslander Moreno. The most commonly reported caffeine withdrawal issues are: headache, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, tremors, decreased concentration.

How long until caffeine is completely out of your system? "The half-life of caffeine (the amount of time until HALF a sample is metabolized) is about 5-6 hours, but tolerance and DNA can move this number significantly," says Auslander Moreno. "That's why some people find it useful to have a rather early 'cutoff time' for caffeine intake since it may be disrupting sleep far later at nighttime."

If you do overdo it, unfortunately, you can't flush it out of your system. "Drinking water may make some symptoms feel a bit better, but the drug has to be metabolized in time," says Auslander Moreno. "The half-life is about 5-6 hours, but individual metabolisms vary widely."

Can too much caffeine really kill you? It's true: Caffeine can kill you. According to the FDA, it has contributed to the deaths of at least 2 Americans. The FDA estimates toxic effects, like seizures, can be observed with rapid consumption of around 1,200 milligrams of caffeine, or 0.15 tablespoons of pure caffeine.

The After Time: The Future of Civilization After COVID-19

In this special episode of the Science Salon podcast, the last of 2020, Dr. Michael Shermer offers some reflections on 2020, starting with race and the Black Lives Movement, putting it into perspective from other books he read this year, along with podcast guests who appeared in 2020, such as Shelby Steele (in Science Salon # 139). Dr. Shermer recently read Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste and Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Anti-Racist, and offers some thoughts on them, along with other issues competing for our attention of ills troubling society, including class conflicts, income inequality, lack of education, anti-Semitism, far-left illiberalism, far-right xenophobia and bigotry, and religious indoctrination. Everyone thinks that their particular focus is the only one that matters, but broad reading can put each into perspective. Dr. Shermer then reads his essay of the podcast title (originally published on August 31, 2020 in The American Scholar and expanded on here and in an upcoming issue of Skeptic magazine).

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Waste Milk Could Be Used To Capture Carbon Emissions Out Of The Air

 from The Optimist Daily

The premise of carbon capture technologies is simple: remove the greenhouse gas from the air and store it somewhere safe or turn it into something useful. So far, though, developing such technologies at scale has proved rather tricky. One of the main challenges has been finding the right material that can bind to carbon atoms released into the atmosphere.

But scientists at Clarkson University claim that they have recently discovered a promising — though unsavory — candidate that can do the job well: waste milk. The unpleasant-sounding research, which was published in the journal Advanced Sustainable Systems, has the potential to not only help us control carbon emissions but also prevent food waste that often contributes to them.

An estimated 50 million gallons of perfectly-good surplus milk goes to waste every year.Instead of pouring it down the drain, the Clarkson researchers found milk to be a good source of activated carbons — the porous material that sticks to carbon. Since so much of it is wasted, milk is both cheaper than other sources explored as well as more environmentally friendly.

“Powdered milk can be converted into advanced activated carbons with the right porosity and surface chemistry to adsorb the CO2,” said study coauthor Mario Wriedt, “allowing much better control than with the current materials used for this process, like coconut shells or coal.”

Using waste milk to help advance carbon capture technologies seems like the perfect opportunity for dairy farms to reduce their infamous footprints of greenhouse gases. At the same time, it could also help increase farmers’ incomes as they would be able to sell more of their products.

Psychological Risks with COVID‑19 Vaccines

 BY ROBERT E. BARTHOLOMEW & KATE MACKRILL

The news media have an important role to play in the current race to vaccinate enough people in the United States and around the world, so that we can reach the all-important goal of attaining herd immunity — the key threshold whereby a sufficient number of people have been inoculated and are immune to infection. When that tipping point is reached, person to person infection is expected to become much less likely. By current projections, American immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci projects that the United States could reach the early stages of herd immunity by late March, 2021.¹ The biggest impediment to attaining it is what the World Health Organization describes as “vaccine hesitancy” — the reluctance of people to get vaccinated. Even before the pandemic, the WHO was warning that vaccine hesitancy was a significant threat to world health.²

A major problem in maintaining public confidence in the safety of the vaccines that are being rolled out are reports of allergic reactions in health care workers shortly after being inoculated. The first reports appeared in England and involved two persons with a history of allergic reactions. More recently, two patients in Alaska were affected and more can be expected. Health authorities have been quick to point out that none of these cases were life-threatening. […]

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The Big 3 Rules of Breathing: Nose, Belly, Exhale, Repeat

 by Brian Johnson, from the Optimizer E-zine

In our last couple editions, we've talked about your breathing. How about a quick look at the THREE simple rules of optimal breathing? Here they are:
   1. Breathe through your nose
   2. Into your belly
   3. And exhale slightly longer than you inhaled

1 + 2 + 3 = Magic. How about a quick inventory then a closer look? First, the quick inventory:

   1. You breathing through your nose? (Most people don't. Go look around and/or in the mirror. Do you see a mouth gaping open?)
   2. Do you breathe deeply (yet calmly) into your belly? (Most people don't—especially if you breathe through your mouth!)
   3. And, is your exhale slightly longer than your inhale? (This is the fastest way to relax!)

Now, for the closer look:

Rule #1. Breathe Through Your Nose (EXCLUSIVELY!) When? All day. Every day. (Including while sleeping and training.) Why? Here's the basic idea.

– First: Your nose filters, humidifies and conditions air in ways your mouth simply can't.

– Second: Know that we NEVER used to breathe through our mouths except for the most extreme instances of physical exertion. (Think: Lion chasing you.)

– Third: When you breathe through your mouth, you tend to "over-breathe" via short, shallow, fast breaths that disrupt the oxygen to carbon dioxide levels in your body. Although it might sound weird, it's the CARBON DIOXIDE that actually gets the oxygen out of your red blood cells and into your tissues and organs and you need to slow down your breathing (via your nose!) to get the CO2 right and, as a result, the O2 where you want it.

Rule #2. Breathe into Your Belly Fill up the lower part of your lungs. Flex your most underappreciated and underutilized muscle in your body. Get your diaphragm rocking!! Note: Don't take "big" breaths via your mouth into your chest. Take nice, mellow, quiet, DEEP breaths into your belly. Repeat. All day. Every day.

Rule #3. Exhale Slightly Longer than You Inhale. This is the fastest way to flip the flip the vagal switch and turn on your parasympathetic nervous system and R E L A X. Whenever you think about it: Exhale longer than you inhale. Squeeze your diaphragm. Get all that air out. Why? Well, did you know that breathing is responsible for 70% (!!!) of your body's detoxification? Elimination and sweat only take care of 30%. (Kinda surprising, eh?)

But, guess what? If you're not breathing right, you're not detoxifying fully. And, of course, you're not fueling your cells properly. Enter: Compromised vitality and increased potential of getting all the things you don't want.

Therefore: Nose. Belly. Exhale. Now that you know, Practice. Practice. Practice.

How about a nice, deep, calm breath? In through your nose... Down into your belly... Out through your nose with a nice, long exhale. Ah...Here's to your Optimal Breathing!

It’s About Time!

by Marlene Harris, NSCA, CSCS 

Here’s what a health expert on the local morning news had to say about what we could be doing to protect ourselves.
   1). Get 7-9 hrs sleep daily: I suspect you’ve heard this one before. Much like your cell phone, your body can’t function well without proper recharging.
   2). Avoid/reduce processed foods (as in junk & fast foods): As we know, these foods offer no nutritional benefit and can contribute to inflammation in the body—both undesirable situations if you’re trying stay healthy and avoid viral attacks.
   3). Increase fresh vegetable and fruit intake: You’ve heard this one aplenty before too. Low in calories, high in nutrients and micro-nutrients that can block and/or crush viral invaders, more and more research is singing the praises of this often-ignored aspect or proper nutrition. Berries, broccoli, kale, & other leafy greens were specifically mentioned.
   4). Make liberal use of herbs and seasonings in your cooking: Specifically mentioned were garlic, Italian seasonings, onion, turmeric, black pepper, and ginger. Many herbs and seasonings have anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.
   5). Sufficient/extra vitamin support: Yupper, it’s that micro-nutrient thing again. Vitamins C and D were specifically mentioned.
   6). Physical activity: Being that you’re reading this, I suspect I don’t need to elaborate on this one, so we’ll call it “enough said”.
   7). Get 20-30 min sunshine daily: Another time-honored mantra of health advice. Nothing new here either, but how often is this advice followed?

In sum, a few thoughts:
   1). We’ve all heard these bits of advice before, many, many times. How much better off might we be as a nation if we actually put them into practice, even if the attempts are modest?
   2). We’ve read/heard numerous articles about each of these topics. Mostly in singular it seems. However, put it all together and you get what? A healthy lifestyle…which leads me to ask: shouldn’t we be doing all this anyways, as normal courses of action?
   3). The news report that offered all this advice was the first one I’ve seen in a major news reportthat specifically said “do this stuff to bolster your immune system against COVID-19” since this whole event started. Better late than never, but not seeing this type of content, and often, seems like a glaring omission on the part of the news media.
   4). One final note: after the news segment on ways to preserve and enhance our health there was a commercial break. Remember items 2 & 3 on the list? Among the ads were pitches for fast food and junk food.

Garlic Power To Lower Lead Levels?

By Michael Greger, MD, NutritionFacts.org.

There are so-called chelation drugs that can be taken for acute, life-threatening lead poisoning. However, for lower grade, chronic lead poisoning, such as at levels under 45 μg/dL, there were no clear guidance as to whether these chelation drugs were effective. 

When they were put to the test, the drugs failed to bring down lead levels long term. Even when they worked initially, the lead apparently continued to seep from the patients’ bones, and, by the end of the year, they ended up with the same lead levels as the sugar pill placebo group. It was no surprise, then, that even though blood lead levels dipped at the beginning, the researchers found no improvements in cognitive function or development.

Since much of lead poisoning is preventable and the drugs don’t seem to work in most cases, that just underscores the need “to protect children from exposure to lead in the first place.” Despite the medical profession’s “best intentions to do something to help these kids…drug therapy is not the answer.” Yes, we need to redouble efforts to prevent lead poisoning in the first place, but what can we do for the kids who’ve already been exposed?
What about dietary approaches? Plants produce phytochelatins.

All higher plants possess the capacity to synthesize compounds that bind up heavy metals to protect themselves from the harmful effects, so what if we ate the plants? “Unlike other forms of treatment (e.g., pharmacotherapy with drugs), nutritional strategies carry the promise of a natural form of therapy that would presumably be cheap and with few to no side effects.” Reviews of dietary strategies to treat lead toxicity say to eat lots of tomatoes, berries, onions, garlic, and grapes, as they are natural antagonists to lead toxicity and therefore should be consumed on a regular basis. Remember those phytochelatins? Perhaps eating plants might help detoxify the lead in our own bodies.

These natural phytochelatin compounds work so well that we can use them to clean up pollution. For example, the green algae chlorella can suck up lead and hold onto it, so what if we ate it? If it can clean up polluted bodies of water, might it clean up our own polluted bodies? We don’t know, because we only have studies on mice, not men and women. There are simply few human studies to guide us.

However, one study did have some direct human relevance; looking at the effect of garlic on lead content in chicken tissues. The purpose was to “explore the possible use of garlic to clean up lead contents in chickens which”—like all of us on planet Earth—“had been exposed to lead pollution and consequently help to minimize the hazard” of lead-polluted chicken meat.

It worked! As you can see at 1:59 in my video Best Food for Lead Poisoning: Garlic, feeding garlic to chickens reduced lead levels in the “edible mass of chicken” by up to 75% or more. Because we live in a polluted world, even if you don’t give the chickens lead and raise them on distilled water, they still end up with some lead in their meat and giblets, but, if you actively feed them lead for a week, the levels get really high. When you give them the same amount of lead with a little garlic added, however, much less lead accumulates in their bodies.

What’s even more astonishing is that when researchers gave them the same amount of lead—but this time waited a week before giving them the garlic—it worked even better. “The value of garlic in reducing lead concentrations…was more pronounced when garlic was given as a post-treatment following the cessation of lead administration”—that is, after the lead was stopped and had already built up in their tissues. We used to think that “the beneficial effect of garlic against lead toxicity was primarily due to a reaction between lead and sulfur compounds in garlic” that would glom on to lead in the intestinal tract and flush it out of the body.

However, what the study showed is that garlic appears to contain compounds that can actually pull lead not only out of the intestinal contents, but also out of the tissues of the body, so the “results indicate that garlic contain chelating compounds capable of enhancing elimination of lead,” and “garlic feeding can be exploited to safeguard human consumers by minimizing lead concentrations in meat….”

If garlic is so effective at pulling lead out of chickens’ bodies, why not more directly exploit “garlic feeding” by eating it ourselves? There had never been a study on the ability of garlic to help lead-exposed humans until 2012.

The study was a head-to-head comparison of the therapeutic effects of garlic versus a chelation therapy drug called D-penicillamine. A group of 117 workers exposed to lead in the car battery industry were randomly assigned into 1 of 2 groups and, 3x a day for 1 month, either got the drug or 1/8 of a teaspoon of garlic powder compressed into a tablet, which is about the equivalent of 2 cloves of fresh garlic.

As expected, the chelation drug reduced blood lead levels by about 20%—but so did the garlic. The garlic worked just as well as the drug and, of course, had fewer side effects. “Thus, garlic seems safer clinically and as effective,” but saying something is as effective as chelation therapy isn’t necessarily the whole story. Remember that chelation drugs can lower blood levels in chronic lead poisoning, but they don’t actually improve neurological function.

After treatment with garlic, significant clinical improvements in neurological functioning were seen, including less irritability, fewer headaches, and improvements in reflexes and blood pressure. These improvements were not seen in the drug group after treatment with the chelation therapy drug. As such, garlic was safer and more effective. “Therefore, garlic can be recommended for the treatment of mild-to-moderate lead poisoning.

There are also some human studies on vitamin C. Check out Can Vitamin C Help with Lead Poisoning?.

Food As Medicine: Science Says: “Wow! It Works!”

from Brian Johnson’s “Optimizer” e-zine

In our last couple of editions, we talked about the wisdom of addressing root causes of health issues rather than merely treating the symptoms of those issues. Now I'm ready to deliver on my promise to share the underlying research on food prescriptions that Dr. Mark Hyman shares in his brilliant book Food Fix. Note: If you want to understand one of (if not, as Mark says THE) fundamental ways to change the world, read this book.

So, let's flip open our copies of the book to page 56. The good Dr. Hyman tells us: "Not too long ago a group of doctors and public health experts at Massachusetts General Hospital noticed something striking: Many of the patients who routinely showed up in the emergency room requiring the most medical services were also the patients who seemed to be the most nutritionally vulnerable. They were patients with heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other largely food-related chronic diseases. For hospitals and health insurers, these are among the highest-cost, highest-need patients. Working with a local nonprofit group called Community Services, the doctors decided to launch a study to see whether providing these patients with nutritious meals would have an impact on their health care outcomes."

Dr. Mark continues: "The researchers recruited Medicaid and Medicare patients and split them into groups that either received nutritious meals or did not receive nutritious meals. What the study found was astonishing. The patients who had nutritious meals had fewer hospital visits, ultimately resulting in a 16 percent reduction in their health care costs, and that was after deducting meal expenses. The average monthly medical costs for a patient in the nutrition group shrank to about $843—much lower than the roughly $1,413 in medical costs for each patient in the control group."

Pause for a moment and reflect on that. Provide people with nutritious food and, even after accounting for the cost of that food, your health care costs decline by a notable 16%. Now 16% may not seem like much, but let’s put that in perspective, if we could take 16% off the projected 95 TRILLION DOLLARS we will spend in the US alone over the next 35 years, that would save us 15.2 TRILLION DOLLARS.

Of course, that's just the economic impact. Consider the Energy and quality-of-life impact those nutritious meals created for the patients and their families.

Dr. Mark continues: "Another group of public health experts in Philadelphia studied what happened when a nonprofit group called the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA) delivered healthy meals to people with diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases. Over twelve months, the patients in the nutritious meal group visited hospitals half as often as a control group and stayed for 37% less time. Ultimately, their health care costs plummeted more than 50%, or $12,000 a month per patient.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, the sickest 5% of patients account for 50% of overall health care costs in the United States. This means that providing healthy meals to the sickest provides a big return on investment. The problem is that insurance will pay for expensive hospital stays but not for food that could literally save billions in health care costs. This must change."

I typed that last part with a sigh. It was impossible for me not to recall the sugar-laden, processed-food dominated food tray my brother sent to me during one of HIS hospital stays as he was fighting cancer. Not only does insurance not cover prescriptions for healthy food, but the very place we go to heal ourselves often serves some of the WORST foods on the planet. This must change. Starting with our own food choices. TODAY.

Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being

Why are so many humans religious? Why do we daydream, imagine, and hope? Philosophers, theologians, social scientists, and historians have offered explanations for centuries, but their accounts often ignore or even avoid human evolution. Evolutionary scientists answer with proposals for why ritual, religion, and faith make sense as adaptations to past challenges or as by-products of our hyper-complex cognitive capacities. But what if the focus on religion is too narrow? Renowned anthropologist Agustín Fuentes argues that the capacity to be religious is actually a small part of a larger and deeper human capacity to believe. Why believe in religion, economies, love? Fuentes employs evolutionary, neurobiological, and anthropological evidence to argue that belief — the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea — is central to the human way of being in the world.

The premise of the book is that believing is our ability to draw on our range of cognitive and social resources, our histories and experiences, and combine them with our imagination. It is the power to think beyond what is here and now in order to see and feel and know something — an idea, a vision, a necessity, a possibility, a truth — that is not immediately present to the senses, and then to invest, wholly and authentically, in that “something” so that it becomes one’s reality. The point is that beliefs and belief systems permeate human neurobiologies, bodies, and ecologies, and structure and shape our daily lives, our societies, and the world around us. We are human, therefore we believe, and this book tells us how we came to be that way.

Shermer and Fuentes also discuss:

• what it means to “believe” something (belief in evolution or the Big Bang is different from belief in progressive taxes or affirmative action),
• evolution and how beliefs are formed…and why,
• evolution of awe, wonder, aesthetic sense, beauty, art, music, dance, etc. (adaptation or exaptation/spandrel?),
• evolution of spirituality, religion, belief in immortality,
• Were Neanderthals human in the “belief” sense?
• human niche and the evolution of symbolism/language,
• evolution of theory of mind,
• how to infer symbolic meaning from archaeological artifacts,
• components of belief: augmented cognition and neurobiology, intentionality, imagination, innovation, compassion and intensive reliance on others, meaning-making,
• dog domestication and human self-domestication,
• Göbekli Tepe and the underestimation of ancient peoples’ cognitive capacities,
• the development of property, accumulation of goods, inequality, and social hierarchy,
• gender role specialization,
• monogamy and polyamory, gender and sex, and continuum vs. binary thinking,
• violence and warfare,
• political and economic systems of belief, and
• love as belief.

Agustín Fuentes is a Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. He is an active public scientist, a well-known blogger, lecturer, tweeter, and an explorer for National Geographic. Fuentes received the Inaugural Communication & Outreach Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, the President’s Award from the American Anthropological Association, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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