4 ms·

sigh Knowing how to eat healthily isn't a hard problem. The problem is sticking to the diet. But that one's hard, so instead we're constantly solving the first,

by moomin 8y ago

sigh Knowing how to eat healthily isn't a hard problem. The problem is sticking to the diet. But that one's hard, so instead we're constantly solving the first, solved, problem.

ausbah 8y ago
I find the easiest way to force myself to eat healthy is to just not have any “undesirable” foods around, planning my grocery trips in great detail before hand, and to cut back on how much I eat out. Cutting off any sources of unwanted foods and focusing on only desirable foods cuts away any of the self control or discipline problems.
- theNJR 8y ago
  People think that will power is not eating the ice cream in the fridge. Very few people can do that. Will power is not buying the ice cream in the first place. It turns out, that is infinitely easier. The result is you open the freeze a few times, wishing there was ice cream. When there's only frozen chicken, you close the freezer, drink some water, pace around, then get back to whatever you were previously doing.
  - amenod 8y ago
    Wow, thank you for reminding me, I have ice-cream in the fridge. :) Joke aside, you can only do that if you are alone. I agree in principle, but in a family setting you need to find other changes to routine that result in less food being eaten by you.
drivers99 8y ago
Define "eat healthily". Everyone seems to have a different opinion, and whatever you say will be contradicted by someone else.
- cheesymuffin 8y ago
  The most vital overlooked nutrient in the Western diet is controversy. Start from there.
  - drivers99 8y ago
    Sorry, I have no idea what you're trying to say.
outime 8y ago
Indeed, proper diet is no secret, and you don’t even need to do exercise (not that you shouldn’t, but it’s not a strict requirement for weight loss at all). It seems that it’s easier to keep blaming the “solved problem” so yet another product can be sold.
stringgames 8y ago
I find the hardest part of eating healthy is at the time of making the choice of what to eat. A.I could potentially suggest restaurant orders, grocery lists, and recipes. If I had confidence that the system had my best interets "at heart" and it had enough expert knowledge built in I'd probably let it make 95% of my diet choices and count myself lucky to make one less type of decision while improving my health.
- sj4nz 8y ago
  I'm working on something just for this, no A.I required. Most of the problems with eating healthy in my opinion is just being prepared with the stuff to make and deciding what to make in advance. Most of the problems I've found with existing "food/recipe sites" is they quickly devolve into "branded advertising", "data collection", and/or "choice overload." Does any site really need over 10,000 choices of "chicken soup" recipes? The other problem with the Internet (there are always more problems with the Internet) is when you search for recipes in the uncurated web, every recipe is prefixed by an intensely personal story about the family you don't even know. Once you find that recipe, it's in a tiny hard to read box (I don't know who made this template) that naturally has been made very hard to copy and paste elsewhere. Its a terrible user experience. My idea isn't ready yet, but I'm furiously working on the MVP.
  - theNJR 8y ago
    I'd be interested in this.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  This is an easy problem to solve, just always eat the same thing. No need to think at the grocery store, no need to decide what your next meal will be. Food is pretty much completely removed from your thought process and incurs no cognitive load. I'm not just saying this as some rando internet know-it-all, I lost half my body weight calorie counting.
bvinc 8y ago
I have to disagree. Everyone knows that they should eat a salad instead of a cake. But what does healthy eating look like normally, when it gets more nuanced, and when you might actually enjoy eating it? Does a healthy meal look like a steak with a fried egg on top and a side of vegetables? Or does it look like fat free yogurt and a Coke Zero? You'll get a lot of different opinions.

by moomin 8y ago

sigh Knowing how to eat healthily isn't a hard problem. The problem is sticking to the diet. But that one's hard, so instead we're constantly solving the first, solved, problem.

ausbah 8y ago

I find the easiest way to force myself to eat healthy is to just not have any “undesirable” foods around, planning my grocery trips in great detail before hand, and to cut back on how much I eat out. Cutting off any sources of unwanted foods and focusing on only desirable foods cuts away any of the self control or discipline problems.

theNJR 8y ago
People think that will power is not eating the ice cream in the fridge. Very few people can do that. Will power is not buying the ice cream in the first place. It turns out, that is infinitely easier. The result is you open the freeze a few times, wishing there was ice cream. When there's only frozen chicken, you close the freezer, drink some water, pace around, then get back to whatever you were previously doing.
- amenod 8y ago
  Wow, thank you for reminding me, I have ice-cream in the fridge. :) Joke aside, you can only do that if you are alone. I agree in principle, but in a family setting you need to find other changes to routine that result in less food being eaten by you.

drivers99 8y ago

Define "eat healthily". Everyone seems to have a different opinion, and whatever you say will be contradicted by someone else.

cheesymuffin 8y ago
The most vital overlooked nutrient in the Western diet is controversy. Start from there.
- drivers99 8y ago
  Sorry, I have no idea what you're trying to say.

outime 8y ago

Indeed, proper diet is no secret, and you don’t even need to do exercise (not that you shouldn’t, but it’s not a strict requirement for weight loss at all). It seems that it’s easier to keep blaming the “solved problem” so yet another product can be sold.

stringgames 8y ago

I find the hardest part of eating healthy is at the time of making the choice of what to eat. A.I could potentially suggest restaurant orders, grocery lists, and recipes. If I had confidence that the system had my best interets "at heart" and it had enough expert knowledge built in I'd probably let it make 95% of my diet choices and count myself lucky to make one less type of decision while improving my health.

sj4nz 8y ago
I'm working on something just for this, no A.I required. Most of the problems with eating healthy in my opinion is just being prepared with the stuff to make and deciding what to make in advance. Most of the problems I've found with existing "food/recipe sites" is they quickly devolve into "branded advertising", "data collection", and/or "choice overload." Does any site really need over 10,000 choices of "chicken soup" recipes? The other problem with the Internet (there are always more problems with the Internet) is when you search for recipes in the uncurated web, every recipe is prefixed by an intensely personal story about the family you don't even know. Once you find that recipe, it's in a tiny hard to read box (I don't know who made this template) that naturally has been made very hard to copy and paste elsewhere. Its a terrible user experience. My idea isn't ready yet, but I'm furiously working on the MVP.
- theNJR 8y ago
  I'd be interested in this.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
This is an easy problem to solve, just always eat the same thing. No need to think at the grocery store, no need to decide what your next meal will be. Food is pretty much completely removed from your thought process and incurs no cognitive load. I'm not just saying this as some rando internet know-it-all, I lost half my body weight calorie counting.

bvinc 8y ago

I have to disagree. Everyone knows that they should eat a salad instead of a cake. But what does healthy eating look like normally, when it gets more nuanced, and when you might actually enjoy eating it? Does a healthy meal look like a steak with a fried egg on top and a side of vegetables? Or does it look like fat free yogurt and a Coke Zero? You'll get a lot of different opinions.