Since I enjoy communicating ideas, personal experiences, and some science about diet, I want to honor all the great scientists whose discoveries have been available for me to research. At home I keep a book for coloring the different regions of the brain and nervous system. I read it constantly, and each time I pick up just enough information to be reminded of how complex life is and how astonishing it is that we are here talking, writing, and reading at all. I am struck by how much there is to learn and how much has already been discovered, while knowing that I personally understand very little. Perhaps I know just enough to have a spirited debate with a doctor, a trainer at the gym, or a psychotherapist.
I do not do this for entertainment or because I enjoy being difficult. I do it because I believe it is essential for human beings to learn more about what is happening in this incredible world and universe, even while much of life also feels like a sewer. I have a close relationship with Dr. Jeffrey I. Mechanick, a brilliant endocrinologist at Mount Sinai, and I maintain casual relationships with other doctors through my business. I value those conversations, and I test whether I can even come close to holding a candle to their knowledge.
It is important to me to acknowledge that scientific literacy takes a very long time to acquire. I do not consider myself a scientist because I did not study formally and because I see how little I truly understand. But I want to be clear: to be a good human being and to take care of yourself, you do not need to know how to dissect a brain or name every part.
I know how to move my fingers without understanding the exact neurological processes in the brain that make this possible. I do not need that knowledge to type.
I am not a quack, and I do not spread misinformation to feed my ego. I believe that what I understand about food is based on solid science. As I grow older, I rely less on abstract ideas and avoid pseudoscience. My views on science have changed many times because I have dug deeper into research and paired information with personal experience.