The "Invented Here" Bias

If you've studied bias at all you will have come across the invented here bias. This is where an individual or group has put effort and time into something/anything, and unconsciously resist realizing it was a waste of time/effort, or worse, not only that, but the effort has destructive consequences.

Then, there can also be compound bias, where "invented here" is not only destructive, but also generates revenue. What should we call this bias? I like the way Upton Sinclair expressed it: "It's difficult to get a man to understand a thing when his salary depends on his not understanding it". I guess we'll call it the the salary bias.

We've had a huge example of this compound bias staring us in the face for decades now. Slowly, perhaps, more of us are beginning to see it.

And what I'm speaking of specifically is how this compound bias has obscured a problem in so-called modern medicine. I'll also rush to say there is a lot of good in modern medicine, but of course that fact additionally works to obscure the more unfortunate aspects.

And they are huge. And what are they specifically? 

Widespread massive damage to human health is caused by a single idea, which is that pharmacology is the cause of health.

When in fact, unfortunately, modern pharmacology is on the whole quite health destructive. What do I mean by this? We are "issued" lifetime prescriptions for chronic health "diseases" that are easily, quicky, and efficiently reversed by one thing alone - a simple change of diet.

When I say simple, I mean logistically and structurally. If we are one of the many millions of victims of modern pharmacology, those of us with lifetime prescriptions, all we have to do is go to our kitchens and throw all the food there away (get out the trash can!), and then start over by re-populating the kitchen with the right foods.

How do we know what those foods are? I'll oversimplify, but only by a bit. They are only whole foods. Let's define that a bit further: whole foods have one ingredient, yep it's that one thing that food is. Those foods will also be fresh, and in their raw state, and we will have to consume them before they go bad. Which limits us to a very tiny fraction of all the "foods" in a modern grocery store. 

How inconvenient! On the other hand, how important is being well and feeling good? I'm not talking about the "feeling good" that is a result of the spikes and crashes we get from alcohol and sugar/fat rich desserts. That is addiction, a form of misery.

So, let's expand a bit, but still limit ourselves to things that are still only one ingredient, as one example, the single foods that can be put into a can with absolutely nothing else. These can be difficult to find, a can of beans probably has salt added, which is not a food, or a can of corn has sugar added, also not a food. There are "flavor enhancers", and addictive, and thus, health destructive.

Does that characterization seem extreme? Well it's not, a big part of the health crisis of today is we have come to think of addictive (and toxic) over-flavored "foods" as normal. With a few notable exceptions, "whole foods" do not have intense flavors. The one that comes to mind for me as I write is pineapple. It's a whole food that is very good for us with a strong flavor.

Whole foods have natural sugars and salts inherently.

The easiest fastest way to cut down on the modern addictive health destructive over-flavoring practices is to eliminate refined sugars and salts from our diets. It takes a minute or two to realize how addicted we've become to over-flavoring. 

"Damn, this tastes bland!"

It only takes a week or two to realize how much better we feel eating this way. And only a bit longer than that to realize the real flavors in whole foods have been obscured by intense flavors for most of our lives!

And then to begin to realize how good whole foods can taste.

So... no salt and sugar is best, and very light with the herbal seasonings.

Also, when we combine too many different foods into one recipe the different flavors tend to average toward "grey" (using a color mixing analogy), and strong seasoning will be required. Eat more simply and deliciously by choosing the whole foods that are freshest and most flavorful, and not too many at once.

There is even a practice some of the healthiest people do called mono-meal, where only one fresh and ripe whole food is consumed in one meal. This actually gives some of the benefit of fasting, where the goal is to give the body a rest from the energy spent on digestion. Which may not sound like much of a big deal, but the effects of fasting are profound. The energy not being diverted to digestion is huge, and that energy then goes to "house cleaning" the body, which is also known as "the body heals itself".

And it's easier to digest one food at once, and particularly healthful if we also choose the foods that combine the quality of easy digestion with nutrient density. Fruits and leafy green leaves are especially good in that regard, and in fact a meal of fruits and green leaves is a pretty good combo. Have you ever had fresh mango on chopped romaine? It's delicious, particularly once past the cravings for ultra-flavored "foods".

Eat as much of this sort of thing as you want. This is called ad libitum feeding, and the healthiest diets are based on it. Eat till you're satisfied.

And the combinations are limitless.

We never have to stop learning. I believe one of the greatest qualities a human can have is curiosity. And to borrow a corresponding quality from cats, nine lives.

Many things in life become so common we stop seeing them. That does not mean they are not there.