The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson,

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

Don't be so sure.

Why Doubt is an essential tool for reaching health goals. I'm sure we've all

found ourselves around people who are absolutely hamstrung by their beliefs. Whether about

business or healthy eating, politics, or fitness. Some people are overly sensitive or even

overtly defensive when discussing them. Others might be congenial,

but simply shut down when the conversation turns to a sacred topic. But if conviction hampers them

this much in social exchange, can you imagine how much it hampers them in the rest of their lives?

Many of us tend to perceive certainty as a strength,

but often it can cut us off from imagining a scope of better options.

Over the years, people have invested so much time, energy, and justification in their opinions

that the cost to entertaining other possibilities seems too high.

And that's too bad, because as the old saying goes,

the only thing worse than making a mistake is to keep making it. That's why today I want to talk about

the value of doubt. Productive doubt, I've found, applies just as much in health considerations

as it does in other areas of life.

Conventional health wisdom unfortunately continues to rain, after all,

not because it's incontrovertible truth,

but because it's a convention that society refuses to question.

As a result, we have more people than ever who suffer from obesity, diabetes, and other lifestyle diseases.

In the end, the more certain, i.e. hard-headed, we are, the more limited will inevitably be.

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