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It's been a while since I've read Michael Pollan's book, An Omnivore's Dilemma, but if I am remembering correctly, there are several locations in the world wher

by novia 10y ago

It's been a while since I've read Michael Pollan's book, An Omnivore's Dilemma, but if I am remembering correctly, there are several locations in the world where people live an abnormally long time, with good quality of life. Researchers went to those places and found out what people usually eat there. Then, comparing the diets of the different qualifying populations, the diet advice Pollan came up with to live a long healthy life was, "eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables."

wyager 10y ago
> there are several locations in the world where people live an abnormally long time, with good quality of life There are many equally likely explanations that don't involve whatever those people happen to be eating. Regional genetic tendencies, slightly elevated levels of background radiation leading to radiation hormesis, a social tendency towards exercise, etc. It could be all in their diet, but then again, we don't have any really good evidence that it is.
- jmknoll 10y ago
  There's a pretty interesting npr program about this. The researcher visits "Blue Zones," areas where people live for abnormally long times, and finds that, if I recall correctly, long lifespans are correlated with strong social support networks, plant-and-fish-based diets, and consistent, low-intensity exercise. http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/408023272/the-fountain-of-youth http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/408023272/the-fou...
- didibus 10y ago
  I think this is the primary criteria, do you care enough about your health to modify your diet even if the health benefits might be minute or null? If you do, then some diets have better odds, like the Mediterranean diet. It seems to me you don't care enough, or believe a random diet or one selected by the food industry will give you better odds. Sure, diets are not miracle life extenders or cure for disease. At least none of the known diets have been able to confidently show they are. But a diet is not like sending someone to the moon where you need very close to 100% confidence in your technique. A diet just needs to beat the odds of your current diet. In that sense, most diets, even fad ones, probably beats the average American diet odds.

by novia 10y ago

wyager 10y ago

> there are several locations in the world where people live an abnormally long time, with good quality of life There are many equally likely explanations that don't involve whatever those people happen to be eating. Regional genetic tendencies, slightly elevated levels of background radiation leading to radiation hormesis, a social tendency towards exercise, etc. It could be all in their diet, but then again, we don't have any really good evidence that it is.

jmknoll 10y ago
There's a pretty interesting npr program about this. The researcher visits "Blue Zones," areas where people live for abnormally long times, and finds that, if I recall correctly, long lifespans are correlated with strong social support networks, plant-and-fish-based diets, and consistent, low-intensity exercise. http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/408023272/the-fountain-of-youth http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/408023272/the-fou...
didibus 10y ago
I think this is the primary criteria, do you care enough about your health to modify your diet even if the health benefits might be minute or null? If you do, then some diets have better odds, like the Mediterranean diet. It seems to me you don't care enough, or believe a random diet or one selected by the food industry will give you better odds. Sure, diets are not miracle life extenders or cure for disease. At least none of the known diets have been able to confidently show they are. But a diet is not like sending someone to the moon where you need very close to 100% confidence in your technique. A diet just needs to beat the odds of your current diet. In that sense, most diets, even fad ones, probably beats the average American diet odds.