A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

In case you’re interested, a DVT occurs often due to inactivity and is seen more often in those who are overweight. However, a DVT usually occurs in healthy individuals after an injury or prolonged sitting (hours in an airplane) or lying (in a hospital bed). Your genetics have a lot more to do with whether you will ever get a DVT than does your level of exercise.

The biggest danger associated with a DVT has nothing to do with the heart. A venous blood clot can move through the circulation, through the heart, and into the lung, where it can cause a life-threatening pulmonary embolus.

But a DVT does not cause a heart attack. DVTs are in veins. Heart attacks and strokes are in arteries. This simple physiological fact escaped our guru. A DVT can cause a stroke if you have a congenital hole in your heart. But enough of the anatomy lesson!

So if the guru in question doesn’t really know what he’s talking about in this particular instance, can you really trust anything he says? Should you really believe his claims that he has the answers to a longer life and can cure difficult medical conditions?

The exercise “expert” is not the only one trying to convince you that he knows what he’s talking about. Another prolific internet health writer who champions the “natural” life not only portrays himself as a self-taught expert. He also is fond of bashing doctors and other healthcare professionals in the process.

One of his most recent articles mixed up the thymus gland with the thyroid gland. Well, they both start with the letter T and they’re both located in the neck. Close enough!

Again, I’m not going to name names or refer to their websites. But both of these gentlemen have a huge following and make a lot of money out of selling you their products.

I must admit that rants and criticism are not my usual style. After all, no one is perfect. I don’t like to point fingers lest it gets turned on me.

But it does gall me that there are hundreds of “experts” on the internet who not only want to give you advice and sell you their brand of holy water. They also promote themselves by telling you that your physician doesn’t know his stuff. They want to convince you that doctors are ignorant when it comes to nutrition and weight loss. And of course, they themselves have all the answers … by self-discovery or some form of divine osmosis.

I agree that medical school does not spend a lot of time on nutrition. But we didn’t spend a lot of time on anything … we had to learn a whole lot in a short period of time. In a word, extremely hard work! Many of us had completed advanced degrees before we even got to medical school. (I, for one, obtained a Masters Degree in Human Nutrition.)

Despite our shortcomings, physicians still know a lot more about how the body works than these self-educated gurus who insist on having the last word.

So, I advise that you pick your “experts” carefully. Put your trust in those who have the education and training to understand the big picture. We might not know everything. But at least we know when to shut up!