In solidarity with the evidence-based bullies

I mean baddies who like to microdose mental gymnastics

Welcome back to The Supper Clerb.

In celebration for the summer, I have restructured and repriced my subscription tiers—Supper Clerb’s monthly subscription is $5/mo and the annual subscription is just $50. Being a paid subscriber helps keep YDB HQ—a.k.a my writing station a.k.a my kitchen counter—operational, caffeinated, and mostly-functional. It also means you get the whole enchilada: The (weekly) House Whine, monthly essays (like this one), and full access to the archives.

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Whenever I say “I saw a thread”, I want you to hear it like “I got a text” a la Love Island because that’s how I say it in my brain.

I saw a thread.

A fellow dietitian was villainizing providers who champion evidence-based practice. Why? Because she’s not like other dietitians, she actually listens to her clients. Why? Because the science is too slow and she operates in the now. Why? Because the funding for research is limited, especially for her target audience: those battling with chronic, autoimmune diseases. Why? Because Big Pharma wants to make people sick, so they can continue to pay into the medical industrial complex. Why? Simply because she cares way more and her outside-the-box-practice is the secret key to reversing autoimmunity.

Most of the comments on her actual post are supportive, starkly contrasting the thread’s response. The most egregious thing to me was not her content, but seeing some of mutuals engaging positively with the actual post 👀 👀 👀

Maybe this is my delusion — my mental gymnastics. I am all for traditional practices that don’t always have the evidentiary support of western scholarly literature. But in my mind, there is a world of difference between that and proselytizing alternative health practices while sowing seeds of distrust for science. What is happening more and more is Big Wellness/ clean influencers are doing a full Clark Stanley, often swiping traditional/ cultural practices, slapping on some trendy packaging, and serving it up to the most hateful, racist, xenophobic, and bigoted people. So while I do believe traditional practices and functional medicine can complement science, the rise of Big Wellness, the spread of misinformation, and pushing distrust in evidence-based care is a threat to public health and community well-being.

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If you’d like to learn more about about Clark Stanley, read this:

The ancestral practice of scamming