2023 Challenge

Meat Mouth

Meat Mouth Keynote

The 2023 Challenge didn’t go as planned. I was going to re-take up golf and do a long drive competition.

However, just one month into the Challenge, on February 1st, while out for my afternoon walk, I slipped on a patch of ice and injured by knee. Over the course of the year, my knee gradually improved; alas, the Challenge got canceled.

But all was not lost. The year had a definite theme — Meat Mouth.

I spent the first 3 months of 2023 putting together the Meat Mouth Keynote, distilling a thesis I’ve been working on for years into a 30-minute presentation.

Meat Mouth Art

Back in 2019 my annual Challenge was to learn how to draw.

Over the last 5 years, I’ve kept up with the hobby and this year drew “Meat Mouth“…

Meat Mouth: Moving Forward

The idea behind the keynote and the art, and the theme of the year, is that your mouth tells you what you should eat.

Dental cavities are the most prevalent disease in the world, most kids need braces today, and obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most serious, untreated, disorders of our time. These problems are modern phenomena that are rooted in poor diet.

The mouth is often the “canary in the coal mine,” the early warning system, that is telling you when your diet is off. Yet few people, including dentists, listen to the warning signs.

Further, I argue that a diet that rots the hardest substance in your body (tooth enamel) isn’t just bad for your mouth, but it’s bad for your body. And a diet that creates a healthy mouth, creates a healthy body.

Our mouth is telling us to eat meat, and a lot of it. Few are listening.

Meat Mouth: Book

The idea now is to take this thesis I’ve been researching for years and turn it into a book that explores why our ancestors had healthy mouths, what changed in our diets that led to the oral health problems of today, and what kind of diet should we eat to have a healthy mouth (and body).

What do your teeth say you should eat?!

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