Odds are, right before you opened this article, you saw the findings of a recent research study blasted across your Facebook. Or Yahoo. Or the evening news. Or the radio. The scientific method has pushed our society forward on many accounts–producing the likes of penicillin and middle school science fairs–but it has also made choosing a healthy lifestyle incredibly complicated. Now the average joe can tell you how many grams of carbohydrates and protein are in a bagel. My grandpa could care less about all those numbers, but he knows that getting outside, walking a few miles a day, and eating apples makes him feel good.

After reading a recent article published widely across many diabetes platforms, I decided that we all needed a refresher course on how to approach research findings.

Feel free to use these tips next time you see a bit of research come your way:

1) Know your own bias.

We all come from somewhere. We all believe in things. The hardest part is dropping that when we try to learn about something else. I eat a vegan diet. I will probably have a different take on the results of the bacon and eggs diet than the person eating a bacon egg mcmuffin while reading the article. Continue reading →