Professional Critic, Bamboozled

But fun things first: Stuff White People Like will make you laugh, even if at times somewhat uncomfortably. I sure did recognize myself in many of these things, like The Wire and ouch! Knowing What's Best for Poor People. Good stuff.

But not so good? Learning that the ideas that have been shoved down Professional Critic's throat about her high cholesterol by well-intentioned doctors, the mainstream media and the nutrition industry are totally wrong. Sure we've all heard the latest, that cholesterol drugs are very good at lowering your cholesterol but not as good at keeping you alive, but somehow I never got the memo that there is actually no link between dietary cholesterol and cholesterol in your blood. Oh, and? That there may be no link between high cholesterol and heart disease! And finally! That there are more poor health outcomes associated with low cholesterol for women than high cholesterol! Oh! But how can that be? The handout my doctor gave me told me to eat no more than one egg a week, skinless chicken and no red meat, which was generously supplied by the good people at Lipitor says otherwise. How could I have been so hopelessly naive? Probably because I was afraid of having a stroke. Damn.

So I have some reading to do: The Cholesterol Myths, Real Food, probably some other stuff, too since you know I think everyone's a crackpot.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you! I took a Scientology personality test online and am consequently being bombarded with emails urging me to schedule a meeting to learn my results. I'm promised a "graph," I know I won't be able to resist.