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My masseuse said during massage yesterday: "Relax! If you can't relax, that's not good for you." That's not much help to get relaxed, you can imagine, but nor

My masseuse said during massage yesterday: "Relax! If you can't relax, that's not good for you." That's not much help to get relaxed, you can imagine, but nor is the "you're doing it all wrong" in these studies. I bet that most of these people do realise that their lifestyle isn't all healthy, but improvement is difficult with all the noise around. Which sports should you do, how often is optimal? Which diet is the best one? Is rice healthy at all? Ask any of these questions from two "health experts", and feel free leave the scene: they will still be debating the following day.

djhn 11y ago
1. Don't smoke, it causes deadly diseases. 2. Don't be immobile and stationary all day. 3. Don't buy food that comes in a plastic wrap or a cardboard box. Make your own from primary ingredients (vegetables, meats, grains). You are talking about details. This study, if taken at face value, suggests people are ignoring the obvious fundamentals.
- afarrell 11y ago
  You've somewhat contradicted yourself with #3. Many primary ingredients are sold in cardboard or plastic packaging. Also, #3 requires enough wealth to have the time to spend on it.
  - adrianN 11y ago
    Preparing somewhat healthy food takes a few hours a week. It's not so hard that you need to be particularly wealthy to do it.
    - afarrell 11y ago
      You don't need to be particularly wealthy, but it does require you to allocate: * Fridge & pantry space for ingredients. This is significantly easier if you are not splitting that space with 2 roommates. * Time and Executive Function to keep track of what you need to shop for. This is significantly easier if you spend $5 on an app like Paprika. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paprika-recipe-manager-for/id406732590?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paprika-recipe-manager-for/i... * Money to spend on cooking tools. This is significantly easier if you have friend who also cook and can recommend things. * Time and skill to spend organizing your kitchen so that you can work reasonably efficiently. * Time and patience to spend doing a skill poorly because you are learning. This is made easier if you have a snack before you cook dinner because trying to do an unfamiliar multi-threaded task is harder when you are hungry. * Money to spend on ordering food to be delivered when you fuck something up. * Time to spend going to the grocery store more frequently for fresher ingredients. This is significantly easier if you own a car or are willing to pay higher rent to live near a grocery store. * Time to spend actually doing both the cooking and cleaning. All of this is doable on a software engineer salary, but it does require making a deliberate decision to allocate resources.
      - adrianN 11y ago
        While I was studying I was living on 800 Euros a month. That's 20 Euro more than poverty level. I had a tiny apartment with a tiny fridge and no proper kitchen. Making rice or lentils, heating some frozen veggies in the microwave and frying some meat or opening a can of fish takes about 15 minutes and anybody can do it. You need a pot, a pan and a microwaveable bowl. Ikea has all of that for like 50 Euro.
  - djhn 11y ago
    > Many primary ingredients are sold in cardboard or plastic packaging. Ok yes, a rhetorical failure on my part. The distinction was of "meals coming in wrapping" vs. making them out of primary ingredients. I'm thinking butchered meat and fish from the counter, fresh produce by weight, grains by the weight. But yes, those same things can be sold in boxes and plastic. But with #3, you don't have to make complicated meals - those indeed are a luxury. My bachelor rule of thumb was 3 "foodthings", 3 minutes, add spice to taste. Or 5 of each, if you splurge. Of course, with higher income, you can buy even higher quality primary ingredients, and the contrast to the cheapest basics are remarkable. But the difference is mostly limited to freshness, texture, taste - at the moment research doesn't suggest they are better from a fundamental nutrititional value standpoint.
- forgetsusername 11y ago
  4, and possibly the most important: Don't overeat, regardless of the ingredients.
  - djhn 11y ago
    Sticking with primary ingredients pretty much guarantees that. While it's possible to go overboard with fatty meat, lots of nutritionally dense seeds/nuts or drinking lots of calories in milk and beer for instance (which is probably how rich lordlings got fat in the centuries preceding ready meals), most people would struggle to consistently overeat meat, vegetables and non-wheat carbs.
  - nibs 11y ago
    Our bodies are designed to continue eating until we obtain the nutrients we need - which is why junk food is not satisfying and we eat more of it. Try and overeat a meal consisting of pumpkin seeds, spinach, quinoa and berries.
    - unfamiliar 11y ago
      I think the explanation for this is not that your body miraculously detects the nutrients you need, but rather if something tastes of fat/salt/sugar we will eat as much of it as humanly possible.
    - dspillett 11y ago
      Even if you get the right balance of everything else, there is evidence that too much of certain sugars can impede the body's ability to manage this as can the presence of certain common chemicals in the modern diet (caffeine, some sweeteners and other additives). It isn't just that the modern diet of many people fails to provide what the body is looking for, it also breaks the body's ability to manage things (in some cases due to not processing it properly, in others due simply to hunger signals being present unnecessarily) even if it is provided with what it wants.
    - pigpaws 11y ago
      or try eating something that tastes good.
2muchcoffeeman 11y ago
Improving your health is a very personal thing though. These sorts of studies tend to be about populations, not individuals. Even with external help, you'd have to work with them over some period to figure out what works for you. You're just going to have to do your own leg work if you're serious about getting healthier.
DanBC 11y ago
Here's a simple quiz from "Public Health England" in the UK. It asks some questions and gives advice about what you can do to improve things. https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/hay https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/hay It's not perfect, and there's room for debate on some recommendations. But public health is not about being perfect. It's about iteration, sometimes across a population. Get a few more people being a bit more active. Get a few more people to stop smoking. Get a few more people to cut down their excessive alcohol consumption. Get better mental health built into communities. For the individual the recommendations aren't baffling. Don't smoke; don't drink too much; get some exercise; eat better food; look after your mental health. > Is rice healthy at all? Sure. Rice is fine. Be very careful if you eat cooled rice, it's a significant source of food poisoning. And don't only eat rice, eat other stuff too. And watch what you eat with the rice.

djhn 11y ago

1. Don't smoke, it causes deadly diseases. 2. Don't be immobile and stationary all day. 3. Don't buy food that comes in a plastic wrap or a cardboard box. Make your own from primary ingredients (vegetables, meats, grains). You are talking about details. This study, if taken at face value, suggests people are ignoring the obvious fundamentals.

afarrell 11y ago
You've somewhat contradicted yourself with #3. Many primary ingredients are sold in cardboard or plastic packaging. Also, #3 requires enough wealth to have the time to spend on it.
- adrianN 11y ago
  Preparing somewhat healthy food takes a few hours a week. It's not so hard that you need to be particularly wealthy to do it.
  - afarrell 11y ago
    You don't need to be particularly wealthy, but it does require you to allocate: * Fridge & pantry space for ingredients. This is significantly easier if you are not splitting that space with 2 roommates. * Time and Executive Function to keep track of what you need to shop for. This is significantly easier if you spend $5 on an app like Paprika. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paprika-recipe-manager-for/id406732590?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paprika-recipe-manager-for/i... * Money to spend on cooking tools. This is significantly easier if you have friend who also cook and can recommend things. * Time and skill to spend organizing your kitchen so that you can work reasonably efficiently. * Time and patience to spend doing a skill poorly because you are learning. This is made easier if you have a snack before you cook dinner because trying to do an unfamiliar multi-threaded task is harder when you are hungry. * Money to spend on ordering food to be delivered when you fuck something up. * Time to spend going to the grocery store more frequently for fresher ingredients. This is significantly easier if you own a car or are willing to pay higher rent to live near a grocery store. * Time to spend actually doing both the cooking and cleaning. All of this is doable on a software engineer salary, but it does require making a deliberate decision to allocate resources.
    - adrianN 11y ago
      While I was studying I was living on 800 Euros a month. That's 20 Euro more than poverty level. I had a tiny apartment with a tiny fridge and no proper kitchen. Making rice or lentils, heating some frozen veggies in the microwave and frying some meat or opening a can of fish takes about 15 minutes and anybody can do it. You need a pot, a pan and a microwaveable bowl. Ikea has all of that for like 50 Euro.
- djhn 11y ago
  > Many primary ingredients are sold in cardboard or plastic packaging. Ok yes, a rhetorical failure on my part. The distinction was of "meals coming in wrapping" vs. making them out of primary ingredients. I'm thinking butchered meat and fish from the counter, fresh produce by weight, grains by the weight. But yes, those same things can be sold in boxes and plastic. But with #3, you don't have to make complicated meals - those indeed are a luxury. My bachelor rule of thumb was 3 "foodthings", 3 minutes, add spice to taste. Or 5 of each, if you splurge. Of course, with higher income, you can buy even higher quality primary ingredients, and the contrast to the cheapest basics are remarkable. But the difference is mostly limited to freshness, texture, taste - at the moment research doesn't suggest they are better from a fundamental nutrititional value standpoint.
forgetsusername 11y ago
4, and possibly the most important: Don't overeat, regardless of the ingredients.
- djhn 11y ago
  Sticking with primary ingredients pretty much guarantees that. While it's possible to go overboard with fatty meat, lots of nutritionally dense seeds/nuts or drinking lots of calories in milk and beer for instance (which is probably how rich lordlings got fat in the centuries preceding ready meals), most people would struggle to consistently overeat meat, vegetables and non-wheat carbs.
- nibs 11y ago
  Our bodies are designed to continue eating until we obtain the nutrients we need - which is why junk food is not satisfying and we eat more of it. Try and overeat a meal consisting of pumpkin seeds, spinach, quinoa and berries.
  - unfamiliar 11y ago
    I think the explanation for this is not that your body miraculously detects the nutrients you need, but rather if something tastes of fat/salt/sugar we will eat as much of it as humanly possible.
  - dspillett 11y ago
    Even if you get the right balance of everything else, there is evidence that too much of certain sugars can impede the body's ability to manage this as can the presence of certain common chemicals in the modern diet (caffeine, some sweeteners and other additives). It isn't just that the modern diet of many people fails to provide what the body is looking for, it also breaks the body's ability to manage things (in some cases due to not processing it properly, in others due simply to hunger signals being present unnecessarily) even if it is provided with what it wants.
  - pigpaws 11y ago
    or try eating something that tastes good.

2muchcoffeeman 11y ago

Improving your health is a very personal thing though. These sorts of studies tend to be about populations, not individuals. Even with external help, you'd have to work with them over some period to figure out what works for you. You're just going to have to do your own leg work if you're serious about getting healthier.

DanBC 11y ago

Here's a simple quiz from "Public Health England" in the UK. It asks some questions and gives advice about what you can do to improve things. https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/hay https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/hay It's not perfect, and there's room for debate on some recommendations. But public health is not about being perfect. It's about iteration, sometimes across a population. Get a few more people being a bit more active. Get a few more people to stop smoking. Get a few more people to cut down their excessive alcohol consumption. Get better mental health built into communities. For the individual the recommendations aren't baffling. Don't smoke; don't drink too much; get some exercise; eat better food; look after your mental health. > Is rice healthy at all? Sure. Rice is fine. Be very careful if you eat cooled rice, it's a significant source of food poisoning. And don't only eat rice, eat other stuff too. And watch what you eat with the rice.