5 ms·

I agree that dietary research needs to continue but I think the back and forth about what to eat (saturated vs non saturated, no salt vs salt ok etc) needs to s

by giarc 7y ago

I agree that dietary research needs to continue but I think the back and forth about what to eat (saturated vs non saturated, no salt vs salt ok etc) needs to slow down. I think the best advice is that by Michael Pollan "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

galangalalgol 7y ago
As long as we don't call corn syrup or bleached wheat flour plants, sounds good.
- asdf21 7y ago
  Veggies, not grains.
- munk-a 7y ago
  No sorry, you're thinking of the great American vegetable of ketchup.
  - whenchamenia 7y ago
    Pickled tomato syrup?
chrisco255 7y ago
I think to the contrary, and agree with Amber Heard, "Eat meat. Not too little. Mostly fat." http://www.empiri.ca/p/eat-meat-not-too-little-mostly-fat.html?m=1 http://www.empiri.ca/p/eat-meat-not-too-little-mostly-fat.ht... But ultimately what we should all agree on is: eat less processed foods, less sugar, don't overeat, fasting is cool, exercise often.
- tobylane 7y ago
  I’d like to see lower carbon cost become an important goal of keto dieters. Eggs, fish, etc count for keto as I understand it. I don’t like the fetishisation of red meat.
  - asdf21 7y ago
    I hope farmed fish has a low carbon cost because I'm not trying to poison myself with mercury.
    - fucking_tragedy 7y ago
      Farmed salmon is often high in mercury[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsbtit20DLo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsbtit20DLo
      - asdf21 7y ago
        Sheesh, how does that even happen? Does Hg just spontaneously appear? Sorry, can't watch video at work.
        philipkglass 7y ago
        Farmed salmon usually has fish meal (sourced from wild-caught fish that has lower economic value) as a significant part of its diet. Those wild-caught fish concentrate organomercury compounds like other wild fish, and the compounds pass on to farmed salmon who eat them.
        fucking_tragedy 7y ago
        I haven't watched it in a few months, but salmon farming happens in net-enclosed partitions of natural bodies of water that are polluted with industrial waste. Pesticides are sprayed directly into the farms in order to combat disease. The pollution from the farms themselves makes the situation even worse as time goes on. Here's a resource[1] for anyone who is curious but doesn't want to sit through a YouTube video. [1] https://livingoceans.org/initiatives/salmon-farming https://livingoceans.org/initiatives/salmon-farming
  - jumpman500 7y ago
    I'd like people to stop pitching diets as a way to fix climate change. It makes people take global warming less seriously and it won't help enough to matter.
dragontamer 7y ago
USDA only updates their dietary guidelines every 5 years. Its simple, specific, and well researched advice. So I like to share it with people who are interested in living healthier. https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ Yes, the food pyramid is dead, and there are other changes that come and go through the years. The issue is that "eat your veggies" is so boring it won't make any news. ----------- > A healthy eating pattern includes:[1] > A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups—dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy, and other > Fruits, especially whole fruits > Grains, at least half of which are whole grains > Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages > A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), and nuts, seeds, and soy products > Oils > A healthy eating pattern limits: > Saturated fats and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium Dark Green is "Spinach / Kale", red/orange is carrots and tomatoes, starchy is corn or potatoes. There are also survey results in how well the US Population overall is doing. USA doesn't eat enough veggies, and eats too much refined grains (white bread). The typical American needs to reduce refined grains, increase whole-grains, increase veggies, and increase fruits in their diet. ------------ EDIT: Can someone explain why I've gotten a lot of downvotes? I'm genuinely curious. I don't think I've said anything close to controversial here.
- thrower123 7y ago
  Anything that skirts near advocating anything other than vegetarianism tends to be unpopular. Few things bring out such zealotry as food choices. In a world that is largely out of control, it is something that people can take control of, and they often twine that choice around their very identity.
  - whenchamenia 7y ago
    Deciding what needs to be popular stinks of authortarianism. Price in the external costs and let people decide for themselves.
thrower123 7y ago
If you want to be fit, the best results I've had are to eat meat and vegetables, and not much else. Going fully vegetarian is just too joyless.
- codr7 7y ago
  You need to eat animal corpses to feel happy? Could be worse, I guess. It's perfectly possible to cook great food with and without meat and dairy. But change is difficult, especially after clinging to this kind of BS for a while.
  - thrower123 7y ago
    If your ethics require it, fine. I've got no such hang ups. It's vastly easier to have a balanced diet if you don't restrict yourself from high-quality sources of nutrition.
    - codr7 7y ago
      What is it about vegan sources that make them lower quality? If anything, they're higher quality since they're closer to the source; whatever you get out of meat has already been used once. Which is also why raising animals to eat meat is so wasteful.
  - dang 7y ago
    Please don't take HN threads further into flamewar, especially on ultra-worn flamewar topics. We're trying to avoid those here, because the discussions they lead to are always predictable and get nastier as they go along. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - codr7 7y ago
      I do realize I'm balancing a thin line by even touching the subject, but I have no intention of starting wars. I find it highly questionable to derive happiness from killing animals, and I think most people do once they find the courage to look reality straight in the eyes. If we can't even talk about it, how are we ever going make progress?
nostromo 7y ago
I get that there's too much back-and-forth on diet advice -- but I also don't see why we should throw out the scientific method and go all-in on a journalist's non-scitentific advice. Besides, bread and sugar are made from plants and they'll make you fat. A lot of people would lose weight eating more animal products including eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and meat.
- electriclove 7y ago
  With his definition, things like bread and sugar wouldn't count as food so they would fail the first rule.
- Mikeb85 7y ago
  Meat is also very calorically dense. And I think the advice to eat plants means when they're still unprocessed. Vegetables in their unprocessed form have a good amount of nutrients with relatively few calories.
danenania 7y ago
"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Even this seemingly simple advice can change depending on metabolism and exercise habits. As someone with a fast metabolism who exercises a lot, it's difficult to impossible for me to each too much whole/non-processed food. The more I eat (including meat/proteins, vegetables/fruit, carbs, fat, and non-junk food calories in general), the better and stronger I feel, both physically and mentally. My challenge is the opposite: if I'm not fairly disciplined about eating nutritionally dense foods every few hours during the day, I won't be at my best. So for me it's more like "Eat food, as much as you can, with as much nutritional density and variety as possible".

by giarc 7y ago

galangalalgol 7y ago

As long as we don't call corn syrup or bleached wheat flour plants, sounds good.

asdf21 7y ago
Veggies, not grains.
munk-a 7y ago
No sorry, you're thinking of the great American vegetable of ketchup.
- whenchamenia 7y ago
  Pickled tomato syrup?

chrisco255 7y ago

I think to the contrary, and agree with Amber Heard, "Eat meat. Not too little. Mostly fat." http://www.empiri.ca/p/eat-meat-not-too-little-mostly-fat.html?m=1 http://www.empiri.ca/p/eat-meat-not-too-little-mostly-fat.ht... But ultimately what we should all agree on is: eat less processed foods, less sugar, don't overeat, fasting is cool, exercise often.

tobylane 7y ago
I’d like to see lower carbon cost become an important goal of keto dieters. Eggs, fish, etc count for keto as I understand it. I don’t like the fetishisation of red meat.
- asdf21 7y ago
  I hope farmed fish has a low carbon cost because I'm not trying to poison myself with mercury.
  - fucking_tragedy 7y ago
    Farmed salmon is often high in mercury[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsbtit20DLo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsbtit20DLo
    - asdf21 7y ago
      Sheesh, how does that even happen? Does Hg just spontaneously appear? Sorry, can't watch video at work.
      - philipkglass 7y ago
        Farmed salmon usually has fish meal (sourced from wild-caught fish that has lower economic value) as a significant part of its diet. Those wild-caught fish concentrate organomercury compounds like other wild fish, and the compounds pass on to farmed salmon who eat them.
      - fucking_tragedy 7y ago
        I haven't watched it in a few months, but salmon farming happens in net-enclosed partitions of natural bodies of water that are polluted with industrial waste. Pesticides are sprayed directly into the farms in order to combat disease. The pollution from the farms themselves makes the situation even worse as time goes on. Here's a resource[1] for anyone who is curious but doesn't want to sit through a YouTube video. [1] https://livingoceans.org/initiatives/salmon-farming https://livingoceans.org/initiatives/salmon-farming
- jumpman500 7y ago
  I'd like people to stop pitching diets as a way to fix climate change. It makes people take global warming less seriously and it won't help enough to matter.

dragontamer 7y ago

USDA only updates their dietary guidelines every 5 years. Its simple, specific, and well researched advice. So I like to share it with people who are interested in living healthier. https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ Yes, the food pyramid is dead, and there are other changes that come and go through the years. The issue is that "eat your veggies" is so boring it won't make any news. ----------- > A healthy eating pattern includes:[1] > A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups—dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy, and other > Fruits, especially whole fruits > Grains, at least half of which are whole grains > Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages > A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), and nuts, seeds, and soy products > Oils > A healthy eating pattern limits: > Saturated fats and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium Dark Green is "Spinach / Kale", red/orange is carrots and tomatoes, starchy is corn or potatoes. There are also survey results in how well the US Population overall is doing. USA doesn't eat enough veggies, and eats too much refined grains (white bread). The typical American needs to reduce refined grains, increase whole-grains, increase veggies, and increase fruits in their diet. ------------ EDIT: Can someone explain why I've gotten a lot of downvotes? I'm genuinely curious. I don't think I've said anything close to controversial here.

thrower123 7y ago
Anything that skirts near advocating anything other than vegetarianism tends to be unpopular. Few things bring out such zealotry as food choices. In a world that is largely out of control, it is something that people can take control of, and they often twine that choice around their very identity.
- whenchamenia 7y ago
  Deciding what needs to be popular stinks of authortarianism. Price in the external costs and let people decide for themselves.

thrower123 7y ago

If you want to be fit, the best results I've had are to eat meat and vegetables, and not much else. Going fully vegetarian is just too joyless.

codr7 7y ago
You need to eat animal corpses to feel happy? Could be worse, I guess. It's perfectly possible to cook great food with and without meat and dairy. But change is difficult, especially after clinging to this kind of BS for a while.
- thrower123 7y ago
  If your ethics require it, fine. I've got no such hang ups. It's vastly easier to have a balanced diet if you don't restrict yourself from high-quality sources of nutrition.
  - codr7 7y ago
    What is it about vegan sources that make them lower quality? If anything, they're higher quality since they're closer to the source; whatever you get out of meat has already been used once. Which is also why raising animals to eat meat is so wasteful.
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't take HN threads further into flamewar, especially on ultra-worn flamewar topics. We're trying to avoid those here, because the discussions they lead to are always predictable and get nastier as they go along. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - codr7 7y ago
    I do realize I'm balancing a thin line by even touching the subject, but I have no intention of starting wars. I find it highly questionable to derive happiness from killing animals, and I think most people do once they find the courage to look reality straight in the eyes. If we can't even talk about it, how are we ever going make progress?

nostromo 7y ago

I get that there's too much back-and-forth on diet advice -- but I also don't see why we should throw out the scientific method and go all-in on a journalist's non-scitentific advice. Besides, bread and sugar are made from plants and they'll make you fat. A lot of people would lose weight eating more animal products including eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and meat.

electriclove 7y ago
With his definition, things like bread and sugar wouldn't count as food so they would fail the first rule.
Mikeb85 7y ago
Meat is also very calorically dense. And I think the advice to eat plants means when they're still unprocessed. Vegetables in their unprocessed form have a good amount of nutrients with relatively few calories.

danenania 7y ago

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Even this seemingly simple advice can change depending on metabolism and exercise habits. As someone with a fast metabolism who exercises a lot, it's difficult to impossible for me to each too much whole/non-processed food. The more I eat (including meat/proteins, vegetables/fruit, carbs, fat, and non-junk food calories in general), the better and stronger I feel, both physically and mentally. My challenge is the opposite: if I'm not fairly disciplined about eating nutritionally dense foods every few hours during the day, I won't be at my best. So for me it's more like "Eat food, as much as you can, with as much nutritional density and variety as possible".