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Wise Traditions

578: We Know Better—So Why Don't We Do Better? The Truth About Cognitive Dissonance With Dr. Lawrence Palevsky

Wise Traditions

Weston A. Price Foundation

Alternative Health, Health & Fitness

4.72.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when what we believe—and what we actually do—don't quite line up?

This week on the Wise Traditions podcast, pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Palevsky explores the concept of cognitive dissonance—what it is, why it's so common in modern life, and how it quietly shapes decisions around health, parenting, and trust in authority.

Dr. Palevsky has spent decades encouraging parents to think critically, ask better questions, and reconnect with their own intuition. In this episode, he explains how cognitive dissonance shows up in everyday choices—from the foods people eat to the medical decisions they make—and why it can be so difficult to reconcile conflicting beliefs, even when the stakes are high.

The conversation examines the tension many feel between what they've been told is "safe" or "normal" and what they instinctively sense may not be right. Dr. Palevsky discusses how fear, conditioning, and social pressure can keep individuals stuck—and what it takes to step outside that framework and begin thinking independently.

This episode offers a thoughtful look at awareness, responsibility, and the courage to question long-held assumptions. It serves as an invitation to slow down, examine inherited narratives, and consider what it truly means to make informed, conscious choices for oneself and one's family.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

When America went low fat, it went high sugar.

0:04.5

And when it low fat and high sugar,

0:07.2

that's when obesity and heart disease and cancer

0:10.6

and chronic illness just skyrocketed.

0:13.8

And then when kids started getting obese

0:16.5

and developing type 2 diabetes,

0:18.7

then we see the next layer of GLP1 drugs and bariatric surgery.

0:25.2

And, you know, because people are not allowed to be disciplined, people are not taught to be

0:31.9

disciplined.

0:32.4

They just, they have to get what they can to make them better without doing things to make them better.

0:41.4

And that's hard.

0:42.5

It's really hard.

0:49.1

From the Weston A. Price Foundation, welcome to the Wise Traditions podcast for wise traditions in food,

0:55.9

farming, and the healing arts. We are your source for scientific knowledge and traditional

1:00.3

wisdom to help you achieve optimal health. And now here is our host and producer, Kendall Nelson.

1:19.0

What is the gap between what we know and how we actually live is at the root of so much of our modern health crisis?

1:25.4

We all say we want to be healthy. We want the best for our children. We want to make good choices.

1:30.3

And yet day after day, we find ourselves doing things that don't fully align with what we believe to be true. This is episode 578, and our guest today is Dr. Lawrence

1:37.9

Paleski. In his decades of pediatric practice, Dr. Peleski has seen just how powerful and how consequential

1:45.8

that gap can be.

1:47.8

He calls it cognitive dissonance, the space between awareness and action.

1:53.2

In this conversation, we explore how that disconnect shows up in the most personal parts of our

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