The Fear Babe - A Review

Hey y'all, I just got done reading a book called The Fear Babe. In the interest of full disclosure, I approached the authors; Kavin Senapathy, Marc Draco and Mark Alsip to get an electronic advanced copy so I could review it. No Shill Bucks exchanged hands. I don't know any of the authors personally and other than a few exchanges on social media, we really know nothing about one another.

If you've read any of my blog posts, you know that I harbor great disdain for anyone who spreads misinformation or outright deceit, especially if they are lining their pockets at the expense of those they are duping. Add in the potential for real physical harm and I'd like to rent a giant dumpster into which I could throw them all together. Vani Hari aka the Food Babe, ranks right up there close to the top of my worthless list and I fully expected this book to be some rolicking good fun at tearing her down off of her self-styled throne of woo. I was wrong.

This book has finally demonstrated to me, the intrinsic value of the Food Babe, of course not as an aspiration or a beacon of truth but as a valuable teaching tool for anyone with a remote interest in their health or nutrition. The authors; Kavin Senapathy, Mark Alsip and Marc Draco combine their talents in a way that turn this book, which addresses complex and serious topics, into something that is easily grasped even by those who don't speak "chemicalese"; like myself.

When I first cracked open the book, I did something I don't normally do: I read the foreword. It was penned by Dr. Kevin Folta and certainly set the tone for the entire book that follows. It introduced the topic of food fear-mongering factually and with humor. In fact, my introduction to the food terrorism ring, called "Al Quesadilla", still makes me chuckle at the mere thought. I would love to see an entire satirical piece dedicated to this pernicious cult and their leaders!

The book itself is presented with an even hand towards Hari, something that I admire, given that the authors have been personally (and unfairly) maligned by the self-styled Food Babe. Rather than tear down the Food Babe for who she is, they often give her motivations the benefit of the doubt, something I was not inclined to do prior to reading this. Instead they present the actual facts behind the science she typically misrepresents and go on to explain how she could potentially have misunderstood the actual facts as opposed to intentionally misconstruing them. Then they go one further and use the nuggets of fear that Hari extracts from her misinterpretation to instruct us on how to evaluate the facts for ourselves. Lest they fall into the trap with which Hari ensnares her readers; "My Opinion", the book has an exceptional amount of footnotes and cited research so that the reader can verify and validate - a good practice for all of us.

The Fear Babe also covers topics beyond just the food that Hari espouses and delves into areas such as alternative therapies and lifestyle advice that may put people at risk. It also explores the technology and psychology that may attract and hook those predisposed to blindly adhere to advice that is clearly not in their best interests, such as the alternative cancer therapies. (side note: as a cancer survivor, I would love to see a subsequent book devoted to the topic of cancer woo, and the book does hint at it!). While Hari is guilty of pushing these alternatives and perhaps scaring people away from life-saving diagnostics (along with her woo-natic advisory council) she's not the worst offender. The authors again, are using Hari simply as a teaching tool so that readers can be aware of key words, phrases and caveats that signal either deception or a complete lack of understanding of the topic at hand. You will learn to extrapolate these methods of critical thinking to apply them to anyone who presents their opinion or study as fact.

And finally, the book does not dig itself so deeply into the realm of the scientific that it loses the lay person in the details. It's is sprinkled throughout with examples and well drawn parallels to describe concepts, and enough humor to keep you turning the pages well past the point that you intended to turn off the lights and go to sleep!

All in all, the book has caused me to look at the Food Babe Army in a different light. Some may indeed just be searching for answers and swayed by irrational fear adeptly instilled by Hari and her ilk. Thus, I need to treat them with respect, knowing that all of us just want to be healthy and happy at the end of the day. I've even decided that perhaps Hari has good intentions but buries them in clickbait to improve the bottom line of The Food Babe LLC.

This book is a good read, in fact I devoured it so quickly that I'm going to go back and read it again, more slowly, since the facts and concepts presented deserve thoughtful consideration. If you are one of the "banned by Food Babe" (as am I;) then you will thoroughly enjoy the book. If you've never heard of the Food Babe but have seen memes claiming that XXX insert organic plant here cures cancer, MS, "leaky gut" and autism; then you should read this book. If you've ever thought that one of these miracle cures might work; then you should read this book.

A huge thank you to the authors whose extensive time and research is evident in this book and who maintain professionalism in the face of unwarranted accusations on a regular basis from the food babe army. I truly hope that the army reads this and understands the difference between evidence and cult charisma. Kudos and happy shilling ;-)

The Book is due out on October 29th - you can pre-order your copy from Amazon.

The Seven Deadly Spins: Part II

The second deadly spin, from Vain Hair's 'advisory council that I'd like to address is Sloth. For the first installment, click here: http://blazingpants.blogspot.ca/2015/08/the-seven-deadly-spins-part-1-lust.html When we think of sloth, we we think of laziness, slow movement, etc. Today we'll address sloth in one that wants fame and fortune but is far too lazy to get an actual education in nutrition and so, opts for online diploma mills that spend more time educating students on how to start and run a scam business than about human biochemistry or actual nutrition.

Meet Christa Orecchio, self proclaimed "co-author" of a pamphlet of recipes called "eating for wellness" written by Ms Orecchio and Cheryl Tiegs - because you know a paid supermodel knows everything about nutrition. Of course, our slothful O'wrecker doesn't call it that; she calls it the "The Anti-Inflammatory Diet" which was actually a subtitle to the original e-publication that is no longer available. Perhaps it's because it was pushing a product that Tiegs was endorsing through infomercials that the FTC had a significant problem with. TriVita was sued by the FTC for making false health claims about their 39.99 (plus shipping and handling) bottle of miracle elixir cactus juice. No, I'm not making this up - read it for yourself here: FTC on TriVita

But O'wrecker likes that narrative of 'anti-inflammatory' because it pushes her concept of Candida being the root of all physical ailments, which of course, she has a cure for. But I won't get ahead of myself here. Let's take a look at O'wrecker's educational claims and we can see where the deception starts.

According to Orecchio's own linkedin resume, she posts this:

I contacted University of North Carolina and they know nothing about the CN or HHC designation, nor do they offer classes in nutrition outside of a nursing program nor do they have anything related to "wellness". Nope, instead her CN, HHC come from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), which will start you on your new business for the low, low price of $5,995. along with about 25,000 other quacks. Don't worry about the rigors of academia though, it's an online school with all open book tests and in order to satisfactorily complete your education you need only do a few simple tasks. for nearly half of the required points, you need only attend a few "coaching circles" and if you complete and submit your required "health history" (potential new clients) you need only score a 50% on one of 4 tests to graduate! So much less stressful than a real education don't you think? Then you can hang that HHC off the end of your name to make it appear as though some certifying body thinks you know what you are talking about. There is no body that certifies a holistic health coach (HHC) by the way. I'm going to dedicate a whole post to IIN, after all, how many actual higher institutes of learning have rich CEOs instead of deans or chancellors? This "school" not only teaches you to create your own scam business (and recommends you charge $125/hr) but sells you all the tools to do it along the way. You can even buy your "integrative" web site from them. Sorry, I couldn't resist that! Nor is there any certification for a 'clinical nutritionist' (CN).

It seems that O'wrecker wanted a more lucrative career than her degree in business was providing for her so she gave up selling yoga pants and went on into woo instead. Her website shows lots of videos that make it seem like she's an in demand TV personality when, in truth, most of them are infomercials that she paid a pretty penny to make to the "Wellness Hour". These shysters specialize in helping quacks health care providers attract and keep suckers  clientele.  They even have a video on "gummy bear breast implants". I swear! I cannot make this shit up!

Anyway, O'wrecker hangs out her shingle in the greater San Diego area and tells people that they have an overgrowth of Candida yeast but sells a ton of supplements to solve the issue. In fact, going back to TriVita, they sell a line of supplements (probably about as effective as their cactus juice) and have a newsletter for which O'wrecker is a regular contributor. So please tell me how food is medicine (one of her favorite lines) but as a consultant she recommends lots and lots of pills, drops and books? Guess that crack education pays off because she offers a whole store for her "whole journey" through woo, and the products don't come cheaply!

But before you can start to recommend your crap, you have to have a backstory. You have to have overcome some life threatening ailments due to your eating habits, right?It doesn't even have to be very original, since that would be too much like work. I mean The Food Babe had appendicitis, right? O'wrecker has to go one better:

Now that she has you convinced that you can be healthy and attractive like her (sound like the food babe?) you'll need to follow instructions. First you need to enrol in a "gut thrive program because everyone in the who's who of woo has to say 'gut' these days. Her program can be yours for the low, low cost of:

Of course she must have been doing crystal math when she proclaimed the value of this "program" at $3800.00! But wait, you have to purchase the supplements FIRST.

And of course it doesn't end there - you need a transition and maintenance supplement plan for the low, low price of:

And be prepared to keep forking over the cashola, because she's a "nutritionist" after all, it says so on several of her many websites.  She also makes some claims about closing her 'successful' private practice to go with her new online program, because I'm sure that it's much more profitable to suck in a couple of thousand people at a time, charge them 700 bucks and sell them a bunch of supplements. Additionally she claims to have co-authored a book about fertility called ""Whole Baby, Whole Mama". An online search for the title of this book, however, only results in one hit. Her website. But you can get her "cookbook" which is available only for sale on her website as a non-refundable digital download only. Yeah, that sounds legit.

The food babe has a bio on her 'advisory council' that states O'wrecker had a private practice for 10 years, though Christa claims 8 on her own site (which she began while still enrolled in that crack, intensive nutrition program). Food babe also touts a "nationally syndicated" radio show, which is really the paid programming from the folks at the Wellness Hour that we mentioned above. Someone has some disposable cash apparently.

While I could go on for hours about her dubious credentials and online practices, I'm going to go ahead and call this one a big fat, five alarm, get the bucket brigade fire, fire!

If you buy into any of this quack's line of BS about your gut, candida (which by the way, she refers to as a disease as opposed to a common yeast that we all have present in and on our bodies) overgrowth or anything that requires you to buy expensive supplements, think about her lack of qualifications and endorsement of the food babe. Those two are peas in a pod. Both are too lazy to get a real education about their topics, they just want to cut to the paydirt.

I'll just leave you with a set of her qualifications in her own words: The Whole Journey are not acting in the capacity of a doctor, licensed dietician, psychologist or any other licensed/registered professional. Christa Orecchio and The Whole Journey will not diagnose, treat, or cure in any manner, any disease, condition, or other physical or mental human ailment.

Thanks for coming along with our queen of sloth; O'wrecka.

Food Babe; BA or BS?

What does the Food Babe know, that you don’t? Quite likely she knows something about stacking the deck in her favor on the Internet, but she doesn't know any more about food than you or I do. In fact, probably less. Food Babe LLC is a company. It’s not a person with a particular insight, education or talent. It’s a profit making business and should be viewed that way.  Vani is not a researcher or an industry expert in any sense of the word - she's a peer; perhaps just a bit more ethically corrupt than the rest of us.

If you were going to start a new career after 15 years and enter a new field, how would you do it? Personally, I would get more education, not necessarily a new degree, but classes, internships or certification courses to ensure that I was adequately prepared and at least competitive and knowledgable in my new chosen field. When Van Hari left the computer consultancy business to start a new career, she did none of these things. Why? Because she never really changed careers. According to Hari, she earned a degree in computer science from UNC, but whether it’s a BA or a BS is unclear, though certainly neither would qualify her to spew the BS she does about food, additives and agriculture.

Vani's response to scientific (or even common sense) criticism of her "advice".

No, instead of changing careers, Vani only progressed in hers. She started out as a consultant on large custom software projects for Accenture, moving on to Program management and Product management. Having spent many years myself in Product management for “shrink wrap” or off-the shelf software, I have a good idea of the skill sets one must employ. One of her more notable projects was as Web Services Manager. When managing a set of products such as this, her goal was to increase demand for Bank of America and their services by leveraging web based services and platforms. Their customers are banking customers like you and me, who would avail themselves of the software. In order to do this, SEO (search engine optimization) is a critical component. People have to find your products when they do a google search. Keywords that ring a bell with consumers must be used and you need to generate links to and from other sites to improve your visibility. The backend has to lead to upgradeable products and services to increase the reach and revenue of the bank. So all Vani really did was to create a new set of products for a new set of consumers using the experience she developed in managing web based projects. And those keywords that ring bells? Yup, toxins, chemicals and GMOs or anything else she believes might scare you right out of your grocery cart. And certainly all her links take you to upsell opportunities such as partner products or expensive newsletters.

It’s no accident that Vani was named one of the top influencers on the Internet. It has nothing whatsoever to do with her knowledge of the subject matter and everything to do with her knowledge of creating an online presence. The same is true for social media. If you ran across Vani via the web (which is how she launched herself), it was undoubtedly due to her canny abilities in web based software and techniques for leveraging the software. While I have no problem with someone leveraging their software expertise to earn a substantial income, I do have a problem when the products or services provided are detrimental to the end user. People employ the same methodology to bring you the likes of porn or child porn, but that doesn't make the product they are delivering any more palatable.

The hypocrisy here is that Vani goes after companies and entire industries as though they were nameless faceless entities, not comprising hundreds of thousands of employees that work every day to feed their families. They are a "them" and worthy of derision.  Food Babe, however, claims to be a researcher or a citizen journalist (fighting "them" for YOU) though she proudly claims to have gotten her research skills from a high school debate team.  Apparently, her research skills were a little subpar; when she tried to compete on a college debate team, she failed after only a week.  Her behavior on the web also shows that she lacks debate skills, preferring to ignore (block or ban) those who challenge her or accuse them of being paid by some "big company". (sound familiar?)

Imagine something so big an entire industry wants to hide it - aka put on your tinfoil hat!

Fueling conspiracy theories and fear-based marketing are effective, though morally deficient ways of increasing the web clicks on your site. By impugning large sectors of the population with a blanket label of "industry" or "companies" as she likes to call them, she fails to include herself in that mix. The organic market has become a huge and quickly growing market sector which has profit margins that soar above the meager margins of the conventional sector. And while the conventional sector is well regulated, the organic market sector is not. It is chock full of charlatans like the "Food Babe" who blanket the Internet with rumor, innuendo and outright untruths about the conventional sector, simply to secure the high profit margins they are currently experiencing. They sell unregulated "supplements" to combat the yarns they spin of the dangers of vaccines and food products you consume. So make no mistake, the organic sector is an "industry" and "companies" in the same right as the conventional food companies.

So the next time you see the Food Babe and her cohorts in trickery; John Roulac (CEO of Nutiva and board member of GMO Inside),  Mike Adams (self-titled "Health Ranger") and David Wolfe (avocado wolfe) condemning a particular food product or slandering a conventional food company, stop and ask yourself; what's in it for them and how are they profiting? The answer will probably be pretty clear when you see the "miracle" products they offer instead. But guard your wallet because their brand of faux-nutrition and health isn't cheap and it could actually do more harm than good.

So of course, Vani still gets our 5-alarm, stand back, pants-on-fire award since the more frequently she gets called out on her lies, the louder and longer she screams, much like a toddler in the throes of a temper tantrum. You've seen them, they do it in a supermarket too. Just because something comes up in a search engine result doesn't mean you should buy into it...but hey, it's on the Internet so it must be true. Just like I'm a bunny rabbit slipper in real life.

That's all folks - thanks for coming along for the ride!

Rap Your head around this!

I write about frauds, scammers and catfish but why is it that people fall for the woo these people sell and what can we do to stem the flow of sheer nonsense and pseudoscience? We can counter it using the very same tools that the charlatans employ to get their snake oil out to the masses - via social media. As I was tweeting about a previous post using the hashtag #pseudoscience, I came across a very special and enlightened person who is fighting fire with a big fat fire hose aimed where it will do the most good; our young people.

I would like to introduce you to Mr. Lund, a science teacher at St Johns public high school in St Johns, Michigan who is using charlatans as a teaching tool, and using it in a way that engages his students like nothing I've seen before. I don't usually wish I were a writer for the New York Times or Washington Post, but today, I do wish that, because people need to know about this man and his colleagues. Lots of people. Mr. Lund agreed to answer some questions for me so that I can bring you his story and I encourage you to share it with as many people as you can!

I introduce Scientific Method Man of the Tungsten Clan!

Rich Lund has a love of all things science and as his moniker implies, things provable and repeatable with the scientific method, which he teaches to his students in grades 9 through 12. Mr. Lund (I'll call him that in case his students are taking a peek here) pursued a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Michigan State University (go Spartans!) but wanted to embrace all of the disciplines of science that he had come to respect, so he went on to obtain a teachers certificate and is now working towards a masters in education. That said, this man is a master of education. Let's take a gander at why.

Lund starts out his science classes by, of course, teaching what the scientific method is but he goes one further by also teaching what pseudoscience is. This is the crux of the difference between the two, in my mind. Pseudoscience and hucksters never encourage you to question their claims and tend to completely discount opposing views without ever producing a valid shred of evidence. The scientific method, on the other hand, encourages you to explore all alternatives and either prove or disprove them before forming your theories or reaching conclusions. What Lund is doing, quite brilliantly, is instilling kids with the concept of critical thinking. A concept that will have implications well beyond the science classroom. Now it's all well and good to stand in front of a classroom of young adults, who would no doubt rather be texting their pals, and explain these concepts but Lund goes way beyond the chalkboard and textbooks to bring these concepts to life in a way that kids can relate.

Check out this video, conceived, written and produced by Mr. Lund, all on a shoestring budget he calls "the teacher budget" called "Pseudoscience (you can't get my money)". Go ahead, I'll wait.

It's brilliant, right? In it he hits the key points for kids (and many adults) about how to spot scams and cast a critical eye upon them. He also spent time in making these videos of a quality that kids have come to expect, and it pays off. His kids love the videos, they learn something and they share them. What also strikes me here as important that Lund quite modestly did not point out to me, is that by using this method, he becomes a real person to the students he teaches and not just a stuffy science guy with a lab coat and a pointer. By dispelling the notion that scientists are bespectacled nerds with no social skills closeted in some lab, he opens up the world of science to a new generation of possible scientists.

I asked Lund how he came up with the idea and why he chose rap. He told me that the rap/hip hop genre lends itself very well to conveying a lot of information via lyrics, since lyrics, word play and double entendres are endemic of the style. He also plants quite a few little Easter Eggs (my term, not his) that students "get" once they learn the science info behind the videos. For instance he uses the phrase "You can't touch me, I'm like Kelvin zero degrees - that's how I live."  which the kids will get if they understand the concept of absolute zero. (I have to say, this one really tickled my funny bone!). So not only does rap/hip hop lend itself to this type of educational content, it does it in a way that's fun, lively, engaging and something that likely fits right into the genre of what his students are already enjoying. I picture pulling up to a stoplight next to a car full of kids, hearing the bass rumble and then hearing all these kids rapping along explaining what a mole is! (check out this video to see what I mean)

Lund has done quite a few videos but the reason I chose these two is that the pseudoscience video (which is how I was introduced to Lund) is near and dear to my heart. The mole video on the other hand, shows the breadth of techniques that Lund employs to continue to surprise and reach kids. In "The Mole", Lund gets his fellow teachers, as well as students and the Assistant Principal involved in the video. If you remember back to those days in high school, the last person you expected to see having fun and being cool was your principal and according to Lund, the reaction was cheers, hoots and applause! Always keep them on their toes! I give Lund kudos for getting the other teachers involved as well as involving the students. 

Lund has taken quite a bit of time and energy to create these incredible teaching tools. He writes the lyrics, gets his colleagues involved, at times even teaching some of hip hop's colloquialisms to his fellow teachers. Imagine a bunch of science teachers hanging green plastic table cloths all over a classroom, practicing these routines and knocking them out. Lund then painstakingly edits these videos (having done a fair amount of video production myself, I can tell you this is no small amount of work) adds the music he's created, all the appropriate background imagery and voila; brilliance on youtube! By investing so much of himself and producing these on his "teacher budget" he also displays to his students that if you want something, if you believe in it enough, you can achieve anything.

He's got quite a few videos on scientific topics, so if you are looking to brush up yourself or share with your own kids, please do subscribe to his Youtube channel: Mr Lund Science and give him a follow on twitter too: Scientific Method Man and Mr Lund

There is so much more I could say about what Lund is doing, but I want to also add that he has had the support of the school officials and school board, which I would guess was not the case at the outset. Lund has proven that scientists can be, altruistic, creative and extremely talented in ways that one doesn't expect from the stereotpyical chemistry professor. I am a huge fan and am wishing him luck on a project in the works that involves a partnership with Backyard Brains which is trying to help the very important, yet under-represented area of neurology break its way into the classroom setting. 

Do me a favor, share this with as many people as you can. These folks are training the future of America. By his own account, Lund is a true patriot and told me this; "I would say that feeling the need for critical thinking in the populace in general just comes from loving this country.  A patriotic society will show you its patriotism hand in hand with its skepticism."  

Today's truth meter reading is the far other end of the blazing pants spectrum. We award Tungsten Clan and Scientific Man with the ultimate award of Elemental Truth! Keep up the good work guys and thank you for restoring my faith in truth.

That's all for today folks!

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