Difference between revisions of "User:Dan833"

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|Eat a diversity of foods
 
|Eat a diversity of foods
|Eat a minimalist diet, adding only foods and supplements that I can prove resolve a symptom or improve a blood test
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|Regularly eat foods and supplements that I can prove resolve a symptom or improve a metric
 
|-
 
|-
 
|Follow a diet from a book with a theory
 
|Follow a diet from a book with a theory
|Change one food at a time, since each food can have unexpected idiosyncratic effects
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|Treat each added or removed food separately, recognizing it can have unexpected idiosyncratic effects
 
|-
 
|-
 
|Get a doctor's check-up with routine lab tests
 
|Get a doctor's check-up with routine lab tests
 
|Order my own lab tests, especially tests where I'm still out of range, whether or not a doctor has dismissed them since there's no known correction
 
|Order my own lab tests, especially tests where I'm still out of range, whether or not a doctor has dismissed them since there's no known correction
 
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|-
|Eat healthy foods on occasion
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|Try to eat healthy foods
|Don't assume any food is healthy, especially so-called superfoods like liver and kale
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|Don't assume any food is healthy, especially so-called superfoods
See health success or failure as depending on the weakest link: it's multiplicative not additive
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Identify and remove problem foods
 +
 
 +
Interpret any urge to eat "unhealthy" as a sign my body needs something I'm overlooking
 
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|Take supplement blends such as Vitamin B Complex
 
|Take supplement blends such as Vitamin B Complex
|Learn the hard way that doses in blends are often too low (eventually creating deficiency symptoms that aren't bad enough to figure out) or too high (eventually creating major side effects)
+
|Take individual vitamins and minerals so I learn what each one does at which dose, since doses in blends are often too low (eventually creating deficiency symptoms that aren't bad enough to figure out) or too high (eventually creating major side effects)
Take individual vitamins and minerals so I learn what each one does at which dose
 
 
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|Just hope that a healthy food or supplement helps
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|Trust the healthy foods and supplements
 
|Write hypotheses of how I hope the intervention help; update this with possible side effects; add and remove intervention over time to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses
 
|Write hypotheses of how I hope the intervention help; update this with possible side effects; add and remove intervention over time to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses
 
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|Take medication to fix symptoms
 
|Take medication to fix symptoms
|Assume almost all symptoms are indirectly caused by diet and supplements, via nutritional deficiencies or side effects, and may require months or years of patient experimentation.
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|Assume symptoms are indirectly caused by diet and supplements, via nutritional deficiencies or side effects, and may require months or years of patient experimentation.
 
|-
 
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|Get regular exercise
 
|Get regular exercise
 
|Exercise when it feels right.  Exercising at the wrong time will set me back.  Track exercise to learn when I was feeling good.
 
|Exercise when it feels right.  Exercising at the wrong time will set me back.  Track exercise to learn when I was feeling good.
 
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Revision as of 22:41, 28 October 2021

Data sources

My approach to quantified self

Usual QS approach My approach
Don't track food See food and supplements as 75% of health.
Don't track minor symptoms Respect my body's communications as smarter than technology.
Use sleep tracking gadgets Track sleep and wake times manually, since automatic detection is unreliable.

Don't use automatic estimations of sleep quality, which are unreliable and unactionable.

Run one experiment at a time Recognize that deficiency symptoms can take months to emerge. Respond to one symptom at time, trying several interventions until it resolves, then circle back and retry interventions to narrow down what works.
Rate symptom of concern on a scale of 1-10 Track all symptoms, even those that aren't bothersome as free text notes, timestamped to when they start, since they're often related to timing of food or supplement. Timestamps and consistency are far more helpful than regular quantities -- see my presentation The Tagged Self.

My controversial opinions about health

Mainstream advice My "personal science" approach
Eat a diversity of foods Regularly eat foods and supplements that I can prove resolve a symptom or improve a metric
Follow a diet from a book with a theory Treat each added or removed food separately, recognizing it can have unexpected idiosyncratic effects
Get a doctor's check-up with routine lab tests Order my own lab tests, especially tests where I'm still out of range, whether or not a doctor has dismissed them since there's no known correction
Try to eat healthy foods Don't assume any food is healthy, especially so-called superfoods

Identify and remove problem foods

Interpret any urge to eat "unhealthy" as a sign my body needs something I'm overlooking

Take supplement blends such as Vitamin B Complex Take individual vitamins and minerals so I learn what each one does at which dose, since doses in blends are often too low (eventually creating deficiency symptoms that aren't bad enough to figure out) or too high (eventually creating major side effects)
Trust the healthy foods and supplements Write hypotheses of how I hope the intervention help; update this with possible side effects; add and remove intervention over time to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses
Take medication to fix symptoms Assume symptoms are indirectly caused by diet and supplements, via nutritional deficiencies or side effects, and may require months or years of patient experimentation.
Get regular exercise Exercise when it feels right. Exercising at the wrong time will set me back. Track exercise to learn when I was feeling good.