3 ms·

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Personally, I conjured up the following hypothesis and think it might be somewhat correct. Note that I am not a biologis

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Personally, I conjured up the following hypothesis and think it might be somewhat correct. Note that I am not a biologist/nutritionist (I'm an applied mathematician) so bear with me. What I claim is the following: > The less some kind of food wants to be eaten, the healthier it is. For example, fruit wants to be eaten (hence its sweet) to reproduce and spread it seeds. Verdict? Not so healthy. Offal, however, is significantly harder to acquire (you'd have to kill a beast, which is a group task). Verdict? Extremely healthy. I'd love to have some comments on my theory from more knowledgeable people.

shlant 9y ago
> Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. This is the simplest and most sound nutritional advice so far. Nothing complicated, has stood the test of time, maintainable when done reasonably, shown over and over again to be extremely healthy [1][2][3][4][5] 1. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/plant-based-diet-reduced-diabetes-risk-hu-satija/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/plant-based... 2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565018/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565018/ 3. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-6736(90)91656-U/abstract http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-673... 4. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/halt-heart-disease-with-a-plant-based-oil-free-diet- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/halt-heart-disea... 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315380/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315380/
ghusbands 9y ago
Getting the liver of polar bears is particularly tricky. And it will kill you. As will any number of hard-to-extract things. Turning a correlation from a series of facile observations into a rule rarely ends well.
- Rainymood 9y ago
  >Getting the liver of polar bears is particularly tricky. And it will kill you. Interesting. Consider my view partially changed. I did not know that the liver of polar bears is toxic to humans. I say this because I eat a lot of offal (liver, heart, stomach, etc.) and thought all offal was safe for human consumption, guess not.
  - pjc50 9y ago
    The BSE crisis rather changed people's opinions on offal as well.
always_good 9y ago
Have you actually though about your own hypothesis beyond the seconds it took to write that post? For example, you pick on fruit and not all of the vegetables that are even easier to grow like, grabbing at random, green beans? I guess thanks for the "applied mathematician" disclaimer. Not sure why your job title matters here. I know this is hard to believe after dropping this wisdom bomb but I'm just an airplane engine mechanic out of Texas with 17 years experience! -- Just seems like a bizarre trope I only see on HN.
pjc50 9y ago
> The less some kind of food wants to be eaten, the healthier it is. Usually plants that "don't want to be eaten" express this through actual toxicity. Mushrooms are the obvious example but there are plenty of plants with parts normally considered toxic and inedible.

shlant 9y ago

> Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. This is the simplest and most sound nutritional advice so far. Nothing complicated, has stood the test of time, maintainable when done reasonably, shown over and over again to be extremely healthy [1][2][3][4][5] 1. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/plant-based-diet-reduced-diabetes-risk-hu-satija/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/plant-based... 2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565018/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565018/ 3. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-6736(90)91656-U/abstract http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-673... 4. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/halt-heart-disease-with-a-plant-based-oil-free-diet- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/halt-heart-disea... 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315380/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315380/

ghusbands 9y ago

Getting the liver of polar bears is particularly tricky. And it will kill you. As will any number of hard-to-extract things. Turning a correlation from a series of facile observations into a rule rarely ends well.

Rainymood 9y ago
>Getting the liver of polar bears is particularly tricky. And it will kill you. Interesting. Consider my view partially changed. I did not know that the liver of polar bears is toxic to humans. I say this because I eat a lot of offal (liver, heart, stomach, etc.) and thought all offal was safe for human consumption, guess not.
- pjc50 9y ago
  The BSE crisis rather changed people's opinions on offal as well.

always_good 9y ago

Have you actually though about your own hypothesis beyond the seconds it took to write that post? For example, you pick on fruit and not all of the vegetables that are even easier to grow like, grabbing at random, green beans? I guess thanks for the "applied mathematician" disclaimer. Not sure why your job title matters here. I know this is hard to believe after dropping this wisdom bomb but I'm just an airplane engine mechanic out of Texas with 17 years experience! -- Just seems like a bizarre trope I only see on HN.

pjc50 9y ago

> The less some kind of food wants to be eaten, the healthier it is. Usually plants that "don't want to be eaten" express this through actual toxicity. Mushrooms are the obvious example but there are plenty of plants with parts normally considered toxic and inedible.