Years ago when I first moved to Hong Kong, a colleague (from HK) told my roommate she was fat because she drank milk. (she’s not fat, maybe a size 6, colleague a size 0) We laughed.

About 20 years ago, I got hired by a major pharma company and had to undergo a medical examination including vision, pee test etc.

At the time I was 175lbs (at 6'1) and the short, fat company doctor - with cigarette breath - told me I really needed to pay attention to my weight.

A former coworker was convinced that the best way to get rid of a cold or a flu was to put a raw onion beside your bed.

Despite showing her actual studies that show it ineffective she continued to swear by it.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

when her kids got sick a friend used to make them drink onion syrup (onions boiled to bits, strained and flavoured with honey). It could help but rough going.

One of my students from Indonesia told me I could cure my diabetes by walking around barefoot in a blacktop parking lot.

Just had a patient tell me yesterday, she read an article that said the brain is so powerful that just thinking about exercise can have the same healthy benefits to the body as actually exercising.

I changed convo topic quickly.

1) "Running is bad for you.
My wife's uncle's son was a runner and now he can't even walk. I tried running and I nearly died."

2) You are only fat and out of shape if you do not lift weights.
If you lift weights you are healthy- doesn't matter how often you lift, how much you weigh, or whether you can climb a flight of stairs or not.

3) Eating healthy is NOT about getting enough nutrients (but not too much).
No!!!
Eating healthy IS about: avoiding carbs and eating lots of fat, avoiding fat and eating lots of carbs, eating only Jenny Craig TV dinners, never eating fish, eating tons of fish, only rating raw food, eating lots of meat, never eating meat etc., etc.

4) Exercising more than 5 hours/week is bad for you. (There probably is a point of diminishing returns, but that's not the same as being bad for you).

5) Marijuana is a performance enhancing drug.

6) Mild alcohol use is good for you.
(As if mild alcohol use, never leads to heavy alcohol use).

7) Moderate caffeine use is good for you.
(OK - maybe it's not all that bad for you. But still)

8) If you follow my training program and give me lots of money- you will qualify for Kona on less than 10 hrs/wk of training, look like a body builder and impress all of your friends (athletes and non-athletes alike).

Dictionary:
"It's not healthy" = I don't want to
"It's not healthy" = The people on TV and/or Jesus don't approve
"It's not healthy" = Somebody should be making more money off of you.

Oil of oregano for colds. Come on, people.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I have heard that things like focused visualization can help athletic performance in some areas, but, that doesn't equate to "thinking about running 10k is the same as running 10k!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Hah I just laughed at all of that.

My blog this week was on other health benefits of running. Its insane the shit thats thrown around.

Eeexactly! I mean if that were the case then my training plan last year should have been spot on

I'd ask "huh. Do you know why?" Explanation could be interesting.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Well, if you walk enough...

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

guy at work insisted I could treat type 1 diabetes with homeopathic methods

Don’t ever walk with your wife/girlfriend on your right side - it’s an indication they are for sale.

Hispanic Catholics have some strange superstitions!

Way back when I was a young wide-eyed 2nd year HS teacher, I was also earnestly beginning to train for triathlon. I was adding volume and intensity and eating evermore contentiously, and consequently moving up on the results page. Doing what we've all done, and seen positive results.
So... Everyday I ate lunch in the smoke-filled teachers lounge with the same staff members, and everyday I would receive the same comments from the same (apology in advance).... tub of shit - muffin belly - cigarette smoking - fat fuck Wood Shop teacher. He'd say "Look at this guy. Look at what he eats. All this healthy food. Thinks he's gonna live longer." I always responded with a smile and a shrug. Everyday, except one. ;)

It had been a particularly tough Special Ed. morning and he had decided to continue his streak with an audience of about 12 other teachers... And I had heard enough.

"Look at this guy. Here he is, just look - food, exercise." I swallowed a bite, looked up, and loudly enough to be heard throughout the room said... "John, when was the last time that you saw your dick?"

I taught there for 3 more years... Crickets.

I am Type I, so, no.

There are some health benefits to drinking a glass of red wine a day. Is that “mild alcohol use”?

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Yup. My mistake

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

That's false. You're supposed to walk with them on the right side so if a puddle is splashed from the street you block it

A Holistic practicioner told me to put a clove of garlic up my nose to cure sinusitis. It didn't work.

An ancient Polish triathlon coach told me several years ago that my problem on race day was that I needed to expand my stomach so I could eat more the night before the race and not have to eat breakfast the day of the race. He tells me that my stomach was too small (?). He proceeded to advise me to practice eating ginormous meals to force my stomach to expand. I asked him if I was training for a triathlon or a competitive eating competition. I fired him as my coach shortly thereafter.....

You’re also in better position to protect them in a drive by shooting or attempted kidnapping.

As for weird advise, my mom once tried to tell me that beer isn’t a food group. Psycho.

I am 120lbs and regularly run cold. When I mention how cold I am, people have told me. to eat a burger to get meat on my bones. Lame!

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DISH is how we do it.

I had a very overweight co-worker tell me that drinking oxygenated water would improve my triathlons? Why? Because it contains oxygen. I tried to explain to him that your body absorbs oxygen through your lungs and not your stomach. That didn't stop him from sucking the stuff down and expecting it to improve his health.

Stupid magnetic balance bracelets. I work with a guy who swears by it, tried to get me to try it.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I’m a firm believer in rubbing some dirt on it.

Oh god yea, those. That reminds me of all the shit people have tried to sell me in the past. Good tangent.

Bemer Mats
Monavie juice
Ab shocker 9000 (paraphrasing)
Stim for muscle recovery

Facepalms

Well, a million dollars is a million dollars...

If only I had known this in high school!

Oil of Oregano. I had a similar experience. The doc recommended I use the neti pot with a drop of oil of Oregano to alleviate my chronic sinusitis. That was over 10 years ago. I think I have PTSD from it now-a-days. I can't stand the smell of Oregano. I stopped cooking with it.

In my family in law, and since I do biomedical research, I have heard over and over again "I read online that to lose weight [insert something weird here]"
I usually brushed it off but it did get me curious and it gave me an idea of paper that I published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2014, to understand what people general read online, and how good (or not) it is :-)

My cellmate swears by Apple Cider Vinegar, and Sour Cherry Juice [not together, as far as I know]

She told a girl near us that she has trouble with her weight because she doesn't sleep well enough

She's also been Intermittent Fasting, for no reason whatsoever [she's not overweight, diabetic, hypertensive, or ailing in any way that would recommend IF as 'treatment']

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Some of the responses are more ironic or hipocritical than weird but still entertaining.

Not weird but very alarming one I heard was from a chiropractor who stated he could cure my Asthma with regular adjustments and had a 1 gallon fish bowl full of inhalers of all the clients he's "cured" as proof. Girlfriend wanted me to tag along with her for a consultation with said chiropractor and I agreed to check it out to humor her.

My mom also tried to get me to take a special herbal tea that was made with daikon as the main ingredient. Supposedly was supposed to help cure my (at the time) sinus infection and help with my Asthma (was in my 20's with a job that offered me no health insurance so avoided the doctor unless it was a medical emergency). She learned of this because her friend swears by it as it cured her kids asthma. The nagging from both my mom and my girlfriend at the time was enough that I drank the stuff to humor them. To this day I still gag and throw up a little in my mouth when I smell daikon. Most likely it was lucky coincidence that other kid's asthma was "cured" as that person might of been one of the lucky ones that it subsides when they grow up and just happened to be forced to drink this nasty smelling/tasting concoction. That wasn't the case for me though.

My wife has Behcet's Disease and is on methotrexate. One of my old co-workers told me I need to go see her chiropractor/holistic healer. Said he would be able to treat it with chiro techniques and turmeric. She was a fountain of disinformation. For some reason she wasn't that amused when I told her that I didn't go to witch doctors.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Cell mate? As in prison or Al-Qaeda?

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

One of my cube mates told me coconut oil would cure my mom’s dementia and doctors deny it because they like to make money off sick people.

He seemed confused when I told him that you could make more money off selling hope to those who were healthy and feared disease than those that were actually sick. Then I asked if he thought Dr. Oz was rich.

Are you still 175lbs?

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

I’ve always though a drink or 2 of any “colored” alcohol is good for you.

Occasionally.

My parents and especially my mom have made comments to me about my bike workouts overworking my heart lol

I tore an adductor while running (at least that's what I'm told it was), technically the night before running when I was stepping into Pet Smart and one foot slid forward on their soaking wet tile floor, causing me to quickly do the splits (newsflash: I cannot do the splits without being forced into it), then destroyed it the next morning while out on a run. Didn't know what was going on, couldn't bear any weight, went to urgent care, where they couldn't figure it out, sent me with painkillers and a visit to my doc 2 days later. First time seeing the new doc I was assigned to. Big, big, big dude, not a picture of health. He flat out told me I wouldn't have injured myself if I wasn't running, so I shouldn't ever run. Never went back to see him, booked myself an appointment with a sports PT, and was back up and running 8 weeks later at a faster pace than when I'd been injured.

The worst health advice came from a pastor, though. I was experiencing wicked, debilitating depression, but came from a background that marginalized mental health issues as spiritual problems and dismissed real counseling. The pastor was a good guy, not that type, but was totally unequipped to be a counselor. He told me to pray more, echoing the same things I heard from my fundamentalist community. Fuck that. Fortunately I broke out of that and sought real help shortly afterward when things got even worse and friends helped push me toward counseling.

About six years ago I left my job of 16 years to work as an insurance adjuster and to grow my software business. The first two years were really tough on my wife and I as finances were very tight. She would call her mom just needing to talk, and her mom would always tell her the same thing - "You need to get back into church and pray about it". It got to where my wife didn't want to talk to her anymore.

One evening I called my mom-in-law and told her that she was pushing her daughter away and that she needed to quit giving the same advice and just listen. She said "While we're at it. We need to talk about why you're not in church". I said "No. That is my decision and I don't owe you any explanation".

To her credit, she did listen and she and my wife were able to talk once again. Fortunately our financial situation improved significantly and my wife doesn't have to worry about that anymore. Now, she only needs to worry about someone recognizing me in that footage from the bank. :)

Oooh, that's cool.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25122030/

Gotta thank my sister in law for this actually. And I did thank her :)

I have a asthma so when I get sick it goes to my lungs and it takes a long time to kick. I have been told the reason I get lots of colds is because I eat meat or, when I was a vegetarian, because I didn’t. As a kid it was because I didn’t exercise enough, then as an adult because I exercised too much. I sleep too much/not enough. I need to cut out carbs and milk, or I’m run down because I don’t get enough. I need to take oregano oil/echinacea/vitamin C/kombucha ... whatever the latest trend is.

Generally the advice is given with a heavy does of judgement, as if getting sick is a moral failing in my part.

All of these contradictory pearls of wisdom, gleaned from both the magazine headlines at the supermarket checkout, or the evening news, or the internet, are why I stopped reading articles espousing the latest-and-greatest health news. I am still alive and not too fat or out of shape so I must be doing something right.

A colleague was scared to let coworkers know about their MS diagnosis as they weren’t willing to deal with all the BS advice people would dish up. Yes, they’re dealing with top specialists in the city but you read a thing online and need to share?

A Swedish friend told me that Absolut vodka will cure the flu. I tried it one night and it didn't work. Not much fun the next morning with a hangover and the flu.

Sleeping in wet socks will cure the common cold.

A friend of mine at the gym told me the other night that her mom said "Put Vick's Vapo-Rub on the bottoms of your feet, then wear socks to bed, and it will clear up a cold"

Um, no thanks

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I don’t think it cures a cold but it sure does help with the nighttime coughing! I totally put Vick’s and socks on my feet if I’m coughing at night. And if it doesn’t work please don’t tell me as I like the placebo effect :-)

Maybe mom do this because it’s advice given for young kids when there are not a lot of allowed options and they are miserable all night.

Dr Oz is a complete and utter fraud, but I find Daphne kinda hot

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

You should get your vision checked

This was the advice for babies/young kids because they are not smart enough to NOT put your hand in the vicks, and then touch their face. So the bottom of the feet was the place (and supposedly it was a good place for some reason that escapes me).

Step in horse shit to cure athletes foot