I've just read the Four-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss. It seems on the face of it like ridiculously valuable material, if true - like what the completed version of Michael Vassar's proposed reboot of dietary science would look like at the finish point if dieting turned out to be more susceptible to Munchkinism than in my wildest dreams. Ferriss also talks the rationalist talk quite well in this book, much more so than in Four-Hour Workweek; he cites the experiments and occasionally says things like "I spent a lot of money on this and I expected it to work and it didn't work at all" or "I tried this and it seemed to work and I have no idea why it worked and I think it was probably a placebo effect."
Does the LessWrong hivemind have an opinion about 4HB? Has anyone tried it and found that it doesn't work, or that it does work, or that it works but not as well as Ferriss thinks it should work?
Because it solves the cognitive load problem. Should I eat my usual ham sandwich for breakfast but now these paleo diet gurus say bread is a no-no and should now probably eat eggs with broccoli which would make my mother think I am one of those health freaks now and yada yada yada... 1000 considerations, colliding thoughts. IF's answer is "well, how about eating NOTHING for breakfast?" and this is incredibly easier. Eating nothing does not feel like breaking a family or ethnic tradition, does not feel like doing weird things, does not feel like becoming another fad buffoon who eats granola or what else is the latest fad instead of honest old bacon and eggs, does not feel like your life is being ran by Men's Health or Cosmopolitan, does not require shopping in weird shops or reading labels on things. It feels very much like doing nothing. And doing nothing is easy.
Not doing something, and just putting up with pain is far easier than doing something. For example, when lying on a couch, it is easier to just put up with an uncomfortable position than to summon the strength to move.