4 ms·

I've read a few books on nutrition that are not in the same "ideological" agenda at all (e.g. How Not To Die, Why Proteins Don't Count). The book I'm going to

by Pooge 1y ago

I've read a few books on nutrition that are not in the same "ideological" agenda at all (e.g. How Not To Die, Why Proteins Don't Count). The book I'm going to read next is called The Diet Myth. I wonder if some people here read it and could share their opinions. It's mostly because I'm physically active and would like to understand more how the body works (including nutritionally). But, the more I read different ideas, the more I think that there is absolutely no consensus—for good reasons—on how to lose or gain weight. I'm expecting to get downvoted by the HN crowd because people don't want to hear anything beside "calories in - calories out", but I hope to start a polite discussion.

purple_turtle 1y ago
"calories in - calories out" is blatantly true, the problem is how to achieve it with small annoyance and willpower investment. Or with at least disable one. (Like answer "vastly increase your income" is blatantly true answer to "how to stop being poor" while not being sufficient to achieve anything)
- Pooge 1y ago
  I'm just going to say that I vastly prefer the—subjective—measure of eating healthily than counting calories.
  - purple_turtle 1y ago
    The problem is that many people so fat that they unable to move under own power claim to be eating healthily.
    - Pooge 1y ago
      Yes well it's the same thing as an alcoholic saying that they're not alcoholic. I said "subjective" but we have a pretty good idea of what constitutes a healthy diet—and it's one that contains a lot more vegetables than the average human eats as the original comment advised.
  - const_cast 1y ago
    Which method works best varies person to person. But how they work, in the context of weight loss, is identical. That being, lower calorie consumption. This goes for intermittent fasting, too. The trouble is that eating healthy is hard, expensive, and time consuming. People largely don't want to do it. Counting calories can work for those people, as it may allow them to continue to eat the foods they love.
    - Pooge 1y ago
      > The trouble is that eating healthy is hard, expensive, and time consuming It definitely is time consuming because you have to cook your own meals (which a lot of people in my country do in any case). But "hard and expensive"? I don't believe it. I guess it could be expensive if you live in a country where vegetables and fruits are expensive, but this is not the case in my country—and I live in one of the most expensive countries in the world. And I guess it could be hard if you're a picky person or addicted to sugar/salt. Eating out and prepared meals are the best way to spend your money on unhealthy food.
- jacknews 1y ago
  Sure, conservation of energy, but are the colories actually going in, and how, and how many coming out? Some people can eat and eat and stay slim, even without much exercise.
  - purple_turtle 1y ago
    > Some people can eat and eat and stay slim, even without much exercise In my experience people described this way typically do not eat as much. For example they often drink much less calories or eat a lot on parties, but do not snack massively on typical day. In rare cases they have something weird with health or metabolism (parasites or severe health issue that as side effects results in severe weight loss).
  - Pooge 1y ago
    > Some people can eat and eat and stay slim, even without much exercise. This is me. Around 10 years ago I ate McDonald's and kebab at least once a week and was very much considered slim. Now I eat healthily and almost always of my own cooking. I also exercise, but that's for my health and not my weight. But I also eat much much more now than I did 10 years ago.
vincekerrazzi 1y ago
I found this book absolutely fascinating because it filled in a lot of gaps that traditional nutrition wisdom seems to ignore, or hasn’t adequately answered to my satisfaction. Calories in calories out? Sure. But then why do genetically identical twins respond differently to the same food? A huge facet of this book is understanding the difference in effect between genetics, epigenetics and microbiome on our bodies. It’s hugely focused on experimental results and meta analyses of the effects our micro biome has on us, and it’s compelling. Anecdotally I’ve found a number of the suggestions in the book very helpful for my wellbeing. Highly recommend the book, mostly because it’s a very different approach to a tired subject area.

by Pooge 1y ago

purple_turtle 1y ago

"calories in - calories out" is blatantly true, the problem is how to achieve it with small annoyance and willpower investment. Or with at least disable one. (Like answer "vastly increase your income" is blatantly true answer to "how to stop being poor" while not being sufficient to achieve anything)

Pooge 1y ago
I'm just going to say that I vastly prefer the—subjective—measure of eating healthily than counting calories.
- purple_turtle 1y ago
  The problem is that many people so fat that they unable to move under own power claim to be eating healthily.
  - Pooge 1y ago
    Yes well it's the same thing as an alcoholic saying that they're not alcoholic. I said "subjective" but we have a pretty good idea of what constitutes a healthy diet—and it's one that contains a lot more vegetables than the average human eats as the original comment advised.
- const_cast 1y ago
  Which method works best varies person to person. But how they work, in the context of weight loss, is identical. That being, lower calorie consumption. This goes for intermittent fasting, too. The trouble is that eating healthy is hard, expensive, and time consuming. People largely don't want to do it. Counting calories can work for those people, as it may allow them to continue to eat the foods they love.
  - Pooge 1y ago
    > The trouble is that eating healthy is hard, expensive, and time consuming It definitely is time consuming because you have to cook your own meals (which a lot of people in my country do in any case). But "hard and expensive"? I don't believe it. I guess it could be expensive if you live in a country where vegetables and fruits are expensive, but this is not the case in my country—and I live in one of the most expensive countries in the world. And I guess it could be hard if you're a picky person or addicted to sugar/salt. Eating out and prepared meals are the best way to spend your money on unhealthy food.
jacknews 1y ago
Sure, conservation of energy, but are the colories actually going in, and how, and how many coming out? Some people can eat and eat and stay slim, even without much exercise.
- purple_turtle 1y ago
  > Some people can eat and eat and stay slim, even without much exercise In my experience people described this way typically do not eat as much. For example they often drink much less calories or eat a lot on parties, but do not snack massively on typical day. In rare cases they have something weird with health or metabolism (parasites or severe health issue that as side effects results in severe weight loss).
- Pooge 1y ago
  > Some people can eat and eat and stay slim, even without much exercise. This is me. Around 10 years ago I ate McDonald's and kebab at least once a week and was very much considered slim. Now I eat healthily and almost always of my own cooking. I also exercise, but that's for my health and not my weight. But I also eat much much more now than I did 10 years ago.

vincekerrazzi 1y ago

I found this book absolutely fascinating because it filled in a lot of gaps that traditional nutrition wisdom seems to ignore, or hasn’t adequately answered to my satisfaction. Calories in calories out? Sure. But then why do genetically identical twins respond differently to the same food? A huge facet of this book is understanding the difference in effect between genetics, epigenetics and microbiome on our bodies. It’s hugely focused on experimental results and meta analyses of the effects our micro biome has on us, and it’s compelling. Anecdotally I’ve found a number of the suggestions in the book very helpful for my wellbeing. Highly recommend the book, mostly because it’s a very different approach to a tired subject area.