Uncategorized – Page 2 – in thriver words

Isn’t It Ironic

Isn’t it ironic that we no longer choose to speak to each other when we can type or send video, but we’re happy to chat with nonhumans about our most important concerns? And listen to what they say. And do it. Even when the nonhuman is making up things that may be dangerous.

I often lament the diminishing number of experts in every area of our lives. It means clear advice and sound information is more and more difficult to come by. I suppose that can make it tempting to rely on an intelligence that has the ability to glean from multitudinous sources.

In fact, in theory that sounds ideal. The problem is that intelligence in 1s and 0s begins with parameters set by humans. Increasingly, by humans with less and less expertise. The exponential learning ability of generative AI means it can outmaneuver mostly absent human gatekeepers. Left to its own, it will generate an answer.

That answer may tell you it’s safe to cook with gas and then give instructions for placing the gas in your sauté pan. If you have some expertise in the kitchen, or just general safety, you’ll know this is horse hockey. But if you’re an 8-year-old who’s trying to fix dinner for a sick mom, who knows?

Before engaging a chatbot to advise you on nutrition, workouts, medication, or mental health practices, keep in mind that your robot buddy has amalgamated thousands of conspiracy theories along with sound science. How it interweaves, gives context to, and regurgitates the information is not dependent on any underlying rules. We haven’t developed those.

And AI likes to have an answer. If it can’t find a ruling to support a lawyer’s lawsuit, it will make one up. I don’t know if hallucinating is the most accurate description of what actually happens.

The desire to turn to chatbots for health advice reminds me how lazy we are able to be – physically, emotionally, and intellectually. So many of us have lived with a level of privilege for so long that we simply can’t imagine not feeling overwhelmed when life requires some effort.

I’m not saying that some of us aren’t overworked. But many of us want convenience, convenience, convenience. Fine, but it’s not always healthy.

Tools are great, but they are tools, not miracles. If you are looking for a miracle, you’ll most likely be looking for another one when the promise of the current one doesn’t bring the solution you desire.

There are always new, brilliant discoveries to be shared. If you can access those from within human groups, you’ll get additional benefits from being part of a community.

Beyond irony, there are real dangers to be avoided when engaging with chatbots. Please proceed with clear intentions, caution, and an abundance of education if you decide to include AI tools in your health decision-making.

Eggs, Actually

With Easter approaching, I’m focused on eggs, actually. The past year of cooking both gluten-free and low histamine has meant eating more eggs. Why? Because they’re fast, easy and always in the refrigerator when I need something quick and haven’t planned ahead.

rows of white eggs with one gold egg — Golden Egg Meaning Odd One Out And Stand Out

I like eggs fried, boiled, baked, and deviled, on top, mixed in, and as a primary or secondary protein. Eggs are one of the most versatile items my system can tolerate.

As a general rule, we don’t eat eggs we’ve dyed for Easter. We inevitably leave them out in the sun too long and crack the exterior of too many. But boiled eggs can add protein to a surprising number of meals.

Keep boiled eggs in mind when you:

Serve a salad. Adding egg or egg salad to your toppings will make the salad more filling and increase protein.

Have a sandwich. Sandwiches aren’t limited to egg salad. Slices of boiled egg complement many sandwiches – think ham and egg or BLTE. Or serve half an egg instead of chips as your side.

Make curry. Top spinach curry with boiled eggs or prepare egg curry.

Pack a snack. Eggs are a great airplane snack for those who are gluten-free. You can also throw them in the ice chest when you’re going to the park or beach.

Beyond boiled, add eggs when you:

Bake a potato. Baked potatoes are another quick gluten-free, low histamine meal. Adding an over-easy egg to the top is a delicious way to enhance this simple meal.

Serve asparagus. One of my favorite ways to eat asparagus is lightly steamed, then topped with an over easy egg and shaved Parmesan.

Have leftover vegetables. Frittatas are an excellent way to use up the last serving of multiple vegetables.

Want a burrito. Eggs are delicious with salsa and avocado in an almond or cassava tortilla. Add black beans and cilantro, lime rice for even more substance.

Make bowls. Top your bowl quinoa, rice, or bean bowls with eggs.

Serve soup. Drizzle some egg into your chicken soup egg drop style or poach an egg in your broth.

Make desserts. Souffles, custard, and meringues rely on eggs.

A more familiar role for eggs may be the one they play in the background of meatloaf, casseroles and baked goods. Obviously, the uses for eggs are wide and varied.

When you stock up for Easter, consider buying a few more eggs than usual to use as regular protein in your diet. While I’m focused on eggs, I’m considering herbs, fresh cheeses, and other seasonings I can add to keep them interesting.

While I ponder, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty dying eggs for the grandkids to hunt. I’ll be having fun! Hope you are too.

Medical Treatment of Celiac Disease

In 2018, I asked whether you’d be an early adopter of medical treatment of celiac disease.

Looking Down the Road at Potential Celiac Disease Treatment, Will You be an Early Adopter?

When a friend recently assumed I’d give my kids a pill rather than restrict them to a gluten-free diet, I was surprised.

When there’s a way to address symptoms caused by a disease or condition through dietary changes without it resulting in life-threatening results, that is the choice I’ll make. Could that change? Perhaps. I’m always open to advancing science. If there were a vaccine for Celiac Disease that had been thoroughly tested, I would still be extra cautious when it comes to developing children because they can live a healthy life without medication.

For me, the distinction is in automatically choosing convenience vs committing to a less convenient, but well-established healthy option. If we follow the line of reasoning that convenience rules, there should be no question that fast-food is the best choice for our children. Hopefully, we know better. And hopefully, we are more thoughtfully informed when choosing other options for our kids.

With that in mind, let’s review the status of previously explored treatments:

BL-7010 has not completed clinical trials evaluating safety. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01990885?intr=BL-7010

Egg Yolk Therapy aka dietary supplement AGY-010 completed a study of 149 individuals. That’s too small a number of individuals to draw any conclusion other than further research is needed

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03707730

Larazotide Acetate entered a Phase 3 clinical trial for safety in 2022. This study was terminated.

Latiglutenase entered Phase 2B clinical trials on an oral dissolvable powder in 2023. A Phase 3 trial is planned.

https://adisinsight.springer.com/trials/700318623

Saliva Rothia was studied in 24 children in a clinical trial published in 2024.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-67677-4

TIMP-Gliadin was studied in a trial published in 2024.

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03409796

Nexvax2 trials were discontinued when the vaccine proved to be no more effective than placebo.

What we can see from a comparison of the previous list and this one is that it takes a very long time to bring new treatments to market even when early trials are promising. There are many complicating factors like funding, participant recruitment, and world events like pandemics.

This can be frustrating for anyone who has a disease that must be treated with medication! While you may not feel lucky to have celiac disease, at least there’s a dietary alternative.

Researchers continue to explore. For a quick view of the clinical development pipeline for treatment of celiac disease, visit:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359644624002381

Eventually, there may be a safe, effective, convenient choice. Until that time, we’re here to help you manage the diet.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Discernment

This post on discernment was spurred by two experiences I had yesterday. It began with a person in a conversation stating a fact they believed to be true. My news sources state the opposite so I asked for his source. “The whole internet knows,” was his reply. Clearly the whole internet doesn’t know or I would at least have heard his fact bandied somewhere.

Young man wearing earphones looking at phone while waiting for subway train.

While I’ve lamented that it has become increasingly hard to get search to be responsive, I mostly view it as an irritation that means I have to work harder to outwit the limits of the algorithm. What was suddenly staring me in the face was that not everyone recognizes this and because they don’t, they do not question what they view.

I know you could call me naive for saying that. It’s not that I don’t recognize people can believe the unbelievable. It’s that I hadn’t imagined a significant number of people will accept one single point of view or use a single source of information as the ultimate deliverer of incontrovertible facts without confirmation. I guess I expected that they’d at least explore other points of view in real life and then follow up to gain perspective.

It’s what I did after that conversation. I went home and searched for the fact they’d presented and then read the results. I did it because it’s possible my sources were wrong. I did it to understand the point of view this person has. I did it because I was curious and I find it interesting to explore.

But I am coming to realize I may be more of an oddity than I thought. I believed the majority of people approach the world with a willingness to learn and will not accept at face value what an algorithm sends them. After all, people hate to give up control and that’s giving up control to a machine. Who would do that? Apparently, a lot more folks than I recognized.

It is important, and will be critical as we go forward, to recognize that what you know as the whole internet is an ever-increasingly smaller portion of a portion of the whole internet. Algorithms plus AI = a rapidly narrowing range of responses. If we are not willing to work hard to broaden the input we view and increase our level of discernment, we may be sunk as humans.

A few hours after the aforementioned event, I witnessed an act of online cruelty. The perpetrator sat an arm’s length from me and was proud of what they had done. I was, and remain, shocked and frightened by what I saw. I’m not sure how I’ll address it. (For the record, the recipient is okay.)

When a recipient of cruelty lacks a larger view of the world and enough real-life support, online cruelty can do real damage. We have to keep our thinking free of influence. We have to broaden our base of knowledge. We have to be nimble and willing to accept that we can be wrong.

If we don’t, we are in danger of making life-altering decisions based on fiction we’re fed in reels, health choices we see in marketing campaigns, and lower standards for what constitutes ethical, moral treatment of other humans.

Yes, I know we’re already several miles down this road. And yes, I understand that we’re not all that discerning in real life. But we are at a critical, critical juncture in how we incorporate our online lives into our real lives – one that feels more important and more dangerous than a year ago.

Outrage generates clicks. Clicks narrow our world into things we can be outraged about. And so it goes until we make an effort to do something different. Yesterday tells me must exert more energy toward developing discernment immediately!