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The Cure For Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness, and HappinessBy Timothy CaulfieldPublished by Beacon Press in 2012 | EPUB, Retail| 257 pages| English |  ISBN 9780807022061 | 547.34 KBIn this era of health-science research, rarely a day goes by without a public pronouncement of some exciting health-enhancing discovery: a new diet, a new fitness routine, a new drug or alternative therapy, the miracles achieved by genetic mapping. And we are told—by the media, health-care experts, even government—that we should use this information to live a healthier life. But what information can we trust? Are yoga and stretching the surefire path toward healthy aging?  Can consuming enormous quantities of certain “natural” remedies ward off disease? Should we all eat nothing but carbs, or fats, or pineapples, and regularly cleanse our colons or have our meridians aligned? Should we all have our genome mapped to solve our health problems? In The Cure for Everything, health policy expert and fitness enthusiast Timothy Caulfield wades through the tides of health crazes, misleading data, and well-meaning gurus in a quest to sort out real, reliable health advice. He takes us along as he navigates the maze of facts, findings, and fears associated with emerging health technologies, drugs, and disease-prevention strategies and presents an impressively researched, accessible take on the production and spread of information in the health sciences.   Seamlessly switching between his sweatsuit and his lab coat, Caulfield doesn’t just pore over the research and interview the professionals; he gets his t-shirt sweaty and his meridians aligned, testing out the scientific validity of some of the health and fitness crazes of our day. Bravely using himself as a guinea pig, he goes on a strict diet, a rigorous exercise routine, swallows bottles of “natural” remedies, and has needles inserted all over his body. He illuminates some solid paths to better health, along with the dead-end detours.Science is everywhere, but what passes through most people’s field of vision is often wrong, hyped, or twisted by an ideological or commercial agenda. And without good scientific data, bad decisions are made–by doctors and governments, by you and me. Caulfield demonstrates, alas, that there are no quick fixes or simple steps to flat abs; that you will never be able to eat all you want; that no “natural” supplements will lead to better health; that knowing your genetic map will not save you from almost anything. The Cure for Everything ends with five simple, scientifically sound—and, yet, difficult—steps to take in order to lead a longer, healthier life.Amazon review5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! Where has this book been all my life?ByM. Henneckeon May 7, 2012I read a lot of diet and fitness books and consider myself pretty knowledgable, but this book blew apart a lot of what I thought I knew. Tim Caulfield marshals the fact to argue that working out is great for your heath, but has very little to do with weight loss. That stretching is a waste of time, and possibly harmful. That building muscle isn’t going to burn significantly more calories. That a long even-paced jog isn’t nearly as good for you as a tough workout with weights. Nuggets like this are all through the book, revealed in a light and witty manner as you follow the author on his own personal journey to solve the not-so-simple mystery of what to eat and how to workout to be fit, trim and healthy. Mr. Caulfield lays out a clear and well-researched blueprint for health and weight loss that really comes down to hard work and common sense. No gimmicks. No vitamins. No workout videos sold separately. Mr. Caulfield is a health policy analyst, not a trainer or a doctor with a product line to sell. His only interest is in untangling the messages we hear in the media every day and sorting out those with a solid basis in science. I really felt as I read this book that I was getting to the bottom of things at last. This will be the book I wrap in birthday and Christmas paper most often this year.3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but vagueByCatherine Douglason February 3, 2013Maybe I had mistaken expectations for this book, but I was hoping for more science. Instead, it’s written in a more self-helpish way than I would have liked. Part of this is the decision to forgo footnotes, instead putting all the actual studies and books Caulfield relies on in a long references section in the back of the book. (And I’m not kidding about long. When I finished the actual text of the book, my Kindle told me I was at just about 70%. The acknowledgments and index made up about 10% of the book, and the references about 20%.)He’ll say something like “50% of your diet should be fruits and vegetables,” without really saying where that comes from or what it means. Is that 50% of volume or calories? There’s a big difference. Nor does he say how he came upon that number. Should someone whose diet is 60% vegetables eat less of the things? No idea. So though this is probably good advice for a lot of people, it’s fuzzy science at best.I liked the chapter on gene therapy/screening the best, because it’s a field where Caulfield is personally involved. This was the only chapter in which I learned much of anything new.I also liked the way he threw some personal quest into each of the chapters–to work out like a Hollywood star, see if alternative treatments could cure his motion sickness, etc. This wasn’t very scientific either, as Caulfield admits, but it was entertaining and often enlightening.In the alternative medicine chapter, I don’t think he gave the practitioners a fair shake. He went for commentary almost exclusively to people who are publicly known as opponents of alternative medicine. For the other side, he relied on sources like websites and publications, rather than going directly to someone who endorses, say, homeopathy, and confronting them with evidence that the effectiveness of their modality is questionable. Personally I think the alternative health industry is almost pure bulls***, but it’s more enlightening to go to the source in addition to their opponents.So I sort of liked this book; it was interesting, and a fast read. I just think it could have been so much better.5.0 out of 5 stars Science with styleByLawgixon May 31, 2012There is no shortage of health based books that preach the mantra “exercise more, eat less”. Timothy Caulfield’s book is no exception. What sets this book apart from all others is the blend of science with style. Timothy Caulfield takes on the health industry with a ruthlessly empirical approach. While keeping an open mind (he presents himself as a guinea pig) he puts theories to the test and tells us the truth. No recommendation is made until the scientific evidence supports the conclusion. To convey his message, Professor Caulfield employs a self-effacing, intimate and humorous style. There are some surprising revelations, a hint of conspiracy and even a few cliffhangers, making this book read more like a spy novel than a fitness manual. Professor Caulfield confirms what you likely already know: that there are no quick fixes. He makes it clear, though, that if you are broken, you can be fixed and you hold the key to the cure.5.0 out of 5 stars A brutal, yet empowering weak-up callByF. Dumaineon February 10, 2012In this publication, Timothy Caulfield offers a stunning contribution to public health. The book sheds light on so many realities surrounding health and fitness that you are left wondering how anyone could afford not to read it. Just like watching pro golfers, his untangling of facts and realities is done in a way that looks so effortless that you just know there is a tonne of experience and thinking behind all the findings he presents.Some may find the book rather depressing (everything gets a good beat-up, from stretching, to running, yoga, homeopathy, mainstream medicine, etc.), but in reality it is remarkably empowering. It allows people like myself to keep running, but to know exactly what to expect from it (and loosing weight is not one of these things).With this book, Caulfield won’t make too many friends among the multi-billion dollar industry of health and fitness, but he can rest assured that those of us who are just trying to live a healthy life will be forever grateful that he found the courage to publish it.4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing perspective!ByAndrew Siegel, M.D.on September 28, 2012In the health arena, there is a great deal of mythology, fiction, unproved dogma and “religion” present. In the words of the author, scientific “information” (as opposed to true science) conveyed to the public is often wrong, hyped, spun, twisted and contorted by ideological agendas, commercial interests and our own preconceived beliefs, values, and fears. Timothy Caulfield does a capital job at debunking such myths and dismantling the hype and agendas to reveal solid scientific evidence where it exists and its absence where the research is lacking. A quintessential theme is the purity of science–a discipline marked by dispassion, independence, and objectivity–with the strength of its being self-critical, self-correcting, and eternally evolving. And so how easily its integrity can be debased by the special interests of money, pride and ideological leanings.I enjoyed reading this refreshing, dogma-shattering treatise written in a very self-effacing style by an author who a Canadian researcher in health law and policy and a fine writer, even though he has a fondness for commas the likes of which I have rarely experienced!As a physician, wellness advocate, fitness enthusiast and author (  ), this book resonated powerfully with my knowledge and experience. In this regard, I found the following excerpts particularly poignant:The three most frequent myths and also the most worrisome as they are often associated with unfounded and potentially harmful diet products: first, the idea that we need to detoxify or cleanse our bodies; second, the idea that we need a plethora of dietary supplements to stay healthy; and third, the idea that eating specific foods or products will increase metabolism and make us lose weight.It is incredibly difficult to drastically change our appearance through exercise alone. It requires a massive, long-term commitment. Flat, sexy abs are not just around the corner. Slow, steady weight loss is the only way, the absolutely only way, to expose gut muscles in a manner that will give you the classic six-pack.Weight loss is one of the biggest myths associated with physical activity. We are fighting creeping obesity. Everyone puts on weight as they age. While exercise burns calories, it does not burn as many as people think. Ignore the calorie counts you see on the exercise machines. They are probably wildly generous over estimations; there is marketing incentive to suggest that using machines burns lots of calories. Working out increases appetite and humans are biologically calibrated to stay at whatever weights we are at. Our bodies crave the status quo. So, if you’re exercising and not putting on weight as you age-or only putting on a bit-you’re actually doing very well compared to most.Another myth is spot reduction. You cannot lose fat in a particular region of the body by working that part of the body. You cannot tone. You cannot lose stomach fat by doing sit-ups. The only way to get the look of toned muscles in a particular region of the body is to lose enough fat to expose the shape of the muscles in that region. And the only way to do that is to lose weight and you must possess a very low body fat percentage-around 10 to 12%-is the only way to get that toned look and to be fair you also need to have muscles in the region of choice.There is no evidence regarding stretching benefits. It doesn’t help injuries. It doesn’t help performance. You just need basic range of motion. You can likely get the flexibility you need in your daily life or in the sports you are involved in by simply doing exercises that provide a nice range of motion, such as lunges and squats.Every time you get a craving for fried potato products or sugar infused soda water, you should remind yourself that the item is being peddled by an industry that is not only selling you of food devoid of nutritional value but also actively striving to get you hooked on it, and industry with a clear corporate strategy to exploit children and society’s most vulnerable populations.In summary, this well written, engaging and very accessible publication was a welcome addition to my library collection.2.0 out of 5 stars Didn’t get much out of itByLukesteron May 10, 2013I was hoping this book would be a little more authoritative and scientific. I am already familiar with a lot of the general theories in topics touched on it this book, and I don’t feel like I gained much from reading this. I thought Caulfield was overly verbose and could have said a lot more with less words with careful editing.The main problem, in my opinion, is the central premise of this book. There isn’t really a “cure for everything” or one final answer on what to eat, how to exercise, etc. Although Caulfield acknowledges this at times, I also think he brushes aside some ideas without enough thought.If you are just learning about healthful eating and the need for exercise, this book may be helpful. Other than that, I don’t think there is much to gain from reading this book. Most of the information you can find elsewhere and it will be better written!2.0 out of 5 stars misleading title and infoByD&DTOP 100 REVIEWERon September 25, 2012Want a nutshell review? Save your money. Instead, buy “The First 20 Minutes” and “New Rules of Lifting for Life” perhaps also (particularly if you’re an athlete, exercise addict, sports coach or personal trainer)”Body by Science” and “You Are Your Own Gym” as well as “Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights”.For those who want more: for me, the most useful part of this book was the first quarter, on FITNESS. First, Caulfield rightly asks: what is fitness? Most of us believe those health and fitness mags, all selling abs = fitness = sex. The entire fitness industry is built on looking good; they conflate health with looks (the primary driver for most of us). So, what IS fitness? There doesn’t appear to be a short answer but includes strength, aerobic capacity and improvements in the biomedical markers of health (such as blood pressure and blood sugar) as well as physiological improvements.Muscles do NOT weigh more than fat nor do they burn more calories. Hard exercise makes you hungry and eating more as a result makes you gain weight, especially women. Worse, you cannot lose weight by exercising nor can you tone – yes, all those toning claims are deliberately misleading. You cannot lose fat in a particular region of the body by working that part of the body. The ONLY way to get the LOOK of toned muscles in a particular region of the body is to lose enough fat to expose the shape of the muscles in that region. Also, you must possess a very low body-fat percentage (around 10-12 per cent), plus the right genes, to actually get that toned look so many of us are after. Malnutrition, heroin addiction or liposuction tend to be the most successful routes. Yes, with exercise you can get stronger (and bulkier) in a specific area but you won’t look toned, yet there are thousands of products and exercises based on the lie that particular bits can be re-shaped.Yoga and Pilates do offer health benefits. Yoga can reduce stress, help depression and build strength, for example. But, compared to resistance training, the benefits are modest. Many value it for spiritual or meditation benefits but yoga is simply not efficient as exercise. While yoga improves strength, you’ll get much stronger, more quickly, by simply lifting weights. Yoga has little cardiovascular improvement, weight lifting has much. Yoga does improve flexibility, but that does not improve health or basic fitness. You cannot get in shape just doing yoga and the flexibility needed for the activities of daily life can be achieved through other less-stretching-focused and more-health-promoting exercises.The core stability and balance training pushed in Pilates is simplistic garbage, driven by the fitness industry. Yes, core stability helps the general public with injury prevention but does not help you lose belly fat. Also, the effectiveness of Pilates products and exercises that supposedly focus on the core is uncertain and some do more harm than good. Further, there is no popular definition of ‘core stability’ anyway.Most of us either don’t get enough exercise or do the wrong kind. While any kind of physical activity is better than none at all, even moderate exercise needs to be replaced by INTENSITY, if maximizing your health is the goal. Vigorous or intense means working hard enough to make it tough to talk. Even when we think we are exercising vigorously, or even moderately, most aren’t. The most common physical activity rated as “moderate” is meal preparation!Aerobics training is always pushed as most important: wrong. Yes, aerobic exercise is essential, but it has been over-emphasized. Women and the elderly benefit even more than young men from resistance training, which provides a wide range of benefits: less chronic disease, illness, injury and premature death plus better strength, bone health, psychological well-being and overall quality of life. Intense resistance training actually produces greater aerobic benefits, such as reduced blood pressure and greater fitness and flexibility, than traditional aerobic training – and is even good for kids. What is resistance training? You should lift weights heavy enough to make 8 to 12 repetitions difficult.You must engage more than one part of your body per exercise and it must put your body through a range of motion: for example, a chin-up works the big back muscles, the core and the biceps. The bottom line: intense resistance training should be the central part of fitness routine for almost everyone – even little old ladies. High-intensity interval training is vastly more effective than anything else (that’s short blasts of genuinely hard training followed by periods of recovery): 30-second sprints (as FAST as you can go) on an exercise bike followed by 3 minutes’ rest, repeated 5 times, was found to be as effective as a 40 to 60 minute run five times a week. (warning: since this became public, some have hurt themselves – trying too hard)You can build a killer fitness routine by doing variations on these four basic exercise: the squat (change up with lunges), the bench press (or push-ups), the chin-up (or some kind of pull-down or rowing) and the dead lift (basically, lifting a heavy weight off the floor – this has been called the king of all exercises because it challenges almost every muscle in the body). They must be done properly but are easy to learn and don’t need fancy equipment.You do need to mix it up after a few weeks because your body must be constantly challenged and surprised, to force it to adapt. Increase the resistance or change the exercise slightly. The book sets out the author’s ideal routine but I prefer the routine in “Body by Science” which is based on similar studies but requires only 12 minutes a week (yes: 12 minutes weekly) and stresses the Big Three that cover all important muscles of the body: pulldown, chest press, and leg press. For ordinary people like me, who mainly want to avoid injury, not look ripped, hot, cut or whatever the latest jargon might be, pull-downs can be done with an exercise band fixed into a door, push ups can replace the chest press, and squats the leg press. “The First 20 Minutes” does confirm the squat as the most potent exercise, encapsulating everything you could wish for from strength training as a whole.The rest of the book is so inadequate it made me suspicious about the first quarter, on Fitness. In the second quarter of the book, Caulfield addresses DIET and myths. By reducing portion size, and staying hungry (and angry) all the time he lost 10 pounds the first month and another 4 pounds the second month. Big deal, since over 90 per cent of those who lose weight gain it all back, and more.Caulfield sanctimoniously trots out the “count calories” cliche; but doesn’t explain that not all calories are the same. Had he actually done any real research he would be aware of the decades of deliberate and corrupt food disinformation uncovered in books like “Trick and Treat” by Groves, “Big Fat Lies” by Sutter, “Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You”, and “The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living”: carbohydrates and sugar both make you fat, and perhaps sick. He throws in that coffee and tea are good for you but doesn’t warn against too much.There is no magic formula except (apparently) “eat less, stay hungry – forever”. Huh. Eat less than what? Less than the 1000 calories a day many women (fat women too) are subsisting on these days? Less than the famous Weight Watcher’s diet? Many of us actually GAIN weight on that, so good luck. In my own decades of observation, if you can lose weight by dieting, you are actually either fairly young or pretty healthy and fit. The rest of us GAIN weight when we try dieting but are told we are lying, or deluding ourselves: we swallow that bullying, because what other reason could there be? Huh. Follow the money.OK, I am not saying you can eat transfats, lots of sugar and salt, lots of processed meats, wheat and dairy, and still expect to stay (or get) slim. I am saying that many who eat healthily and carefully are nonetheless fat because of the food and health lies – but we continue to blame ourselves for not trying hard enough. And all those industries carry on sniggering all the way to the bank.BTW, if you have adrenal deficiency or low thyroid, exercise and/or eating less can throw more stress on those glands and on the body, making things even worse. If you have chronic health problems such as true inability to lose weight or diabetes II or polycystic ovaries, “The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living” is helpful – there are 38 four&five star reviews here and it sets out what may just be the only healthy form of “dieting” (it’s really meant as a permanent lifestyle change and you never have to feel hungry, but it’s neither a cheap nor an easy way of life).The author does get credit for making the point that obesity causes inactivity, NOT the other way around. A healthy person NEEDS to be active and enjoys it. Obesity is due to poor health, NOT the other way around. Too often, obesity is caused by common chronic illnesses and diseases (adrenal deficiency, thyroid deficiency, diabetes – due at least in part to “miracles” like vaccination and steroids) rather than the other way around – which is strenuously denied by every industry that makes huge profits out of the unwell. (If exercise makes you worse, you almost certainly have under-functioning adrenals and/or thyroid.) Modern medicine deliberately puts the cart before the horse most of the time, which is why the population’s health continues to decline every decade.The third quarter of the book, on GENETICS, was somewhat more interesting because (unlike the earlier Diet section and the later Remedies part) it didn’t try to sell the industry line but too much of it was background and/or philosophical. Also, it was more padding than myth debunking.Caulfield got himself gene-tested and found it useless from the perspective of health-care decisions. Many pages were wasted just to get to the bottom line: currently there are little or no practical benefits to the public – he refers to the “underwhelming performance of gene therapy and predictive testing…[and how]…the idea of personalizing your lifestyle with the help of genetic information looks to be almost as big a bust as gene therapy”. It ended with a warning about the misrepresentation of the science, creating unrealistic expectations.Why did a book on debunking myths ignore the nowadays glaringly obvious myth of “junk DNA”? Why no mention of the discovery of gene-splicing in our DNA? We are the only species on the planet with gene splicing – with more than 12 admitted examples where genes have been spliced, in complete defiance of natural law. Nature does not splice a gene – it expresses or modifies a gene, it does not splice a gene half-way – that is genetic-engineering.I ended up impatiently skimming the REMEDIES section, the last quarter of the book, having found the previous two quarters pretty useless. He visits a naturopath, gets a homeopathic remedy, some vitamins, fish oil and a referral to an acupuncturist – then complains there was no clear benefit. I HAVE benefited from homeopathy and from acupuncture. I studied homeopathy for years (privately, no training) and have found certain remedies very helpful, in particular (for my personality especially) nux vom for tooth abscesses, when 2 courses of antibiotics in a row failed completely to clear things up.A homeopath cleared up a decade of eczema: that was good for 2 years. Another decade after it came back 12 sessions of (painful) acupuncture cleared it up again for several years (still counting). You do need to be lucky enough to find an alternative therapist who knows what they’re doing and you need to know what homeopathy is particularly good for and what acupuncture can help with. My background experience (alone) in just these two therapies makes the silliness of Caulfield’s so-called research screamingly obvious, especially when he quotes some medical-industry-paid stooge who tells him that alternative medicine is a religion.Yes, a lot of alternative fields are “spin” as he states and Caulfield gets credit for expressing a (shallow) concern about the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on doctors but he doesn’t get very far into the cruel and vicious crime syndicate that is all things medical today. Bottom line? So-called “modern medicine” is really just voodoo.If you doubt that, read any of these books: Confessions of a Medical Heretic (scandalous, and amusingly written, by a medical doctor), Selling Sickness, The Truth About Drug Companies, Racketeering In Medicine, Fear of the Invisible, The Truth About Vaccines, The Great Cholesterol Con, Heart Frauds, Cancer: Why We’re Still Dying to Know the Truth, The Cancer Industry, When Healing Becomes a Crime.2.0 out of 5 stars Too Brief on Actual ContentByMarceaon May 28, 2014The basic message of the book is that we should check up on and trust the actual science regarding matters of health instead of relying on public opinion, the media, personal experience, or fads. This basic message is well argued and seems reasonably sensible. Unfortunately, Caulfield is short on what the actual science really says, and his style conflicts with the message he intends us to walk away with. For example, one of the myths he wants to debunk is that stretching is not actually very good for fitness or health–you’re better off doing something else instead. He does a pretty good job of explaining how the science shows that pre-exercise stretching does not improve performance or reduce injury. Unfortunately, Caulfield breezes through the rest of the section and does not discuss any other kind of stretching. He does not discuss post-exercise stretching, which supposedly has different effects than pre-exercise stretching (like moving lymph), nor does he discuss periodic stretching (like when workers at a computer for hours get up and do a couple stretches before going back to work). Considering that plenty of other animals do periodic stretching, it seems unlikely to me that such stretches have zero benefit to health or fitness. Why do lions stretch? Does it really not help them at all? Perhaps Caulfield is right that all stretching has zero benefit, but he should at least discuss other kinds of stretching. This is just one example of the too-brief discussions of the actual content. Another example is in his discussion of dieting. He proves to himself that he can lose weight by eating smaller portions and less junk food. He is careful to point out that he is only interested in health benefits (so anyone who argues “You’d be happier overall if you were a little chunky and could eat what you want” is off-topic). Caulfield describes his weight-loss journey, states that he lost about 20 lbs, and also remarks that he is hungry and craving a whole lot of the time. He does not discuss how a near-constant hunger might be affecting his health, though. I’m pretty sure hunger, especially chronic feelings of hunger, is a stressor. Might not the additional stress of feeling hungry and dissatisfied so much of the time counteract some or all of the health benefits of the lost weight? It might be that he’s better off thin and hungry–but then again, he might not. I don’t know where Caulfield would come down on this issue because he never even brings it up. Again, the discussion is so brief that I am left wondering where I am supposed to go with this.Given that the discussion of content is so brief, you might wonder what else IS in the book. Well, it is chock full of Caulfield’s descriptions of his own personal experiences. It describes him going to gyms, trying to lose weight, arguing with his kids about food, going on a cruise, and various other personal experiences that are supposed to show…what, exactly? Why is the book so full of Caulfield’s personal experiences with health matters? The main message of the book is that we aren’t supposed to blindly trust personal experience or the say-so of others. We’re supposed to go with the science. Why does Caulfield give us so many anecdotes? Hopefully he is not foolish enough to say, “This is good evidence you should pay attention to.” To give him the benefit of the doubt, I will say it is a stylistic matter, and that he is trying to give a “personal anecdote feel” to his book, not trying to say his experiences should be our guide. If this is his style, though, it is clearly unsuited for the message he intends us to take away. There is no need to distract from the message of “go with science, not personal experience” by cluttering up the book with so many personal experiences.4.0 out of 5 stars Exercise does not lead to weight lossByLiveInHothon January 17, 2013This book did a good job of definitively pointing out something I had to learn the hard and expensive way. Exercise makes you a better exerciser, not thinner. My personal story is that after years of struggling with weight and joining gyms, working out according to the advice of trainers (none of whom looked like they’ve ever struggled with weight), losing a couple lbs (while they tell you don’t worry, you’re adding muscles which weighs more) which never led to significant weight loss.Bottom line: I found a diet that worked for me (combination low carb/low calorie)and I lost 12 lbs in 1 week (more than I had lost during any exercise program in my entire life!), 95 pounds in 6 months and have kept it off for a decade now. The key for keeping it off is never getting off the diet.The irony is that during my diet, that time was probably the least amount of exercise I’ve ever done. Once I lost weight I started exercising so that I could do things I enjoy like mountain biking.Anyways, this book’s first 2 chapters are great, if the rest were like this I would have gone four star.3.0 out of 5 stars Well written, some good info, but I was disappointed on some major pointsByEmilyon May 19, 2013I was disappointed on two counts.1) In his chapter on genetic research he made it sound like it was useless because it’s not yet very good at predicting or influencing health behaviors. The interesting stuff is still in the experimental phase and he completely ignored that and the future potential of the field.2) He claimed that he was going to question everything about health but he just accepted weight and the BMI standards as important measures without questioning them. He gets his body fat percentage measured and it’s well within the healthy range. He also mentions his height and weight but he doesn’t mention that BMI standard would label him as overweight. I think that the risk of being “overweight” is very much exaggerated anyway and I’m shocked that he didn’t even mention the obvious problem with BMI.