Most of us have experienced this, either personally, or with a partner. Some women even call it ‘Male Pattern Blindness’– he is looking for something, it is right in front of him, but he can’t see it. In my experience, this ‘blindness’ has a couple of causes.
Cause Number One: he isn’t looking very hard. He is preoccupied with something else, and just wants someone else (usually you) to deal with finding whatever it is he needs– let’s just say it is raisins. Perhaps you have put the raisins on a different shelf, and he is only looking on the one shelf where he usually finds them. A wider search would produce results, but, unfortunately, a narrow one is programmed. For this and other reasons, a distracted searcher is far less likely to find what he is looking for, even when it is right in front of him.
Cause Number Two: his preconceived notions about what he is looking for are wrong. For example, say he is looking for raisins, and thinks they are in the white cylindrical tub you usually buy. But this time, you purchased a different brand in a red box. He is staring at the red box, clearly labeled ‘Raisins’, but he can’t see it. He is blinded by his expectation that the raisins will be in a white cylinder. Expectations shape our searches, so the wrong mindset can indeed impede our ability to find what we seek.
In the search for a healthy diet that will help prevent chronic disease, could ‘Male Pattern Blindness’ be a factor? Definitely. Cause Number One comes into play – doctors and dieticians are busy people with many demands on their time. When it comes to nutrition, many health professionals keep their heads down and recommend standard, status-quo advice, without looking further for an approach that delivers better results. A narrow search or half-hearted search for a better diet makes most cling stubbornly to the current paradigm that is not working.
Cause Number Two is even more of a factor. Health professionals have been trained to believe that diets low in saturated fat lead to better health and longer lives. They glance at high-fat alternatives and dismiss them outright, without reviewing the growing body of science and success stories documented in the literature. Given their training and expectations, higher fat diets are the last place most mainstream doctors or dieticians would look for solutions to our burgeoning chronic disease rates. They can’t see higher-fat solutions because they are looking for lower-fat solutions. And, most consumers rely on these health professionals and dismiss options that are labeled by the medical community as a fad or even ‘risky.’
Going back to whole, real food is a possibility that lies right at our fingertips. It is almost an obvious move. It’s back to basics; back to a way of eating that worked in the past. Modern science (like this study in Cell) demonstrates that different people respond differently to identical diets. If low-fat options are not working for you, vintage eating, with real food and considerably more fat might be your answer. Don’t be blind. See the alternatives that are right in front of you and find a diet that makes you feel good. Here are six alternative diets that work well for others – pick one that suits you and give it a try!