A rant about misinformed presenters

This evening I went to a mother's group for the first time. It came highly recommended as a way to connect with people outside of the church and I was very excited about going. I think there is potential here for making friends and making connections.

That being said, once again, I was amazed by the presentation. They had invited a person to speak on holistic health. Okay, so far so good. But this woman clearly did not know what she was talking about and I was embarrassed for her and shocked that no-one else in the room seemed to notice or care that most of the information she gave was just plain erroneous.

Some examples:
1. She began her talk by demonstrating how much sugar a person eats in a day. She did this by quoting how much sugar was in a series of foods that one might eat in a normal day and then scooping that amount into a clear bowl for us to see. Except that she gave the amount of sugar in each food in terms of teaspoons and then proceeded to scoop rounded tablespoons into the bowl. There is a huge difference between a teaspoon and a rounded tablespoon, people!! We are talking about maybe 4 times as much.

2. She then proceeded to tell us that all of what our body needs in terms of foods is complex carbohydrates and then gave examples such as apples (which are mostly simple carbs, not complex carbs).

3. She told us that it is very important to sit down to eat, rather than standing at the refrigerator to eat. The proof of this was that some rabbits were genetically engineered to get an illness and some of the rabbits didn't. They discovered that the rabbits who didn't get sick were being petted by their care-taker. Her conclusion was that because these were the same people who fed them, it was obvious that sitting down to eat was important! She somehow totally missed the obvious conclusion that touch and nurture and care make a difference in health.

4. She asked if we ate breakfast and then said that people who don't eat breakfast become hyper-glycemic. First of all "HYPER" means "too much". So, how do they become over-sugared by not eating? Second, hypoglycemia is not something you "get" by not eating breakfast. It is the opposite of diabetes and is a very serious problem involving insulin levels, etc. .

I could go on, but I'll spare you.

It just seems to me that if you are going to speak as an expert and present demonstrations that you should have some kind of accurate information about what you are talking about. At the same time, I have to acknowledge that science, all science, is a developing art (or science, to be redundant). We are constantly learning new things that prove our past insights to be erroneous or incomplete, and that learning, that growth, is good. So who knows? Maybe they will discover that a person becomes "hyper-glycemic" (whatever that is) from not eating breakfast and maybe they will learn that the genetically engineered rabbits who stayed well didn't get sick because they were sitting down to eat (?!).

Until then, I choose to be grateful that she was so entertaining in her statements, and that she gave me something to write about in my blog. May you also find entertainment in unexpected places as well as "interesting" things to communicate about.
in peace,