3 ms·

"just learn to eat a healthy and balanced diet". Can anyone recommend an authoritative compendium of what that is please? Preferably linking to multi-year stat

"just learn to eat a healthy and balanced diet". Can anyone recommend an authoritative compendium of what that is please? Preferably linking to multi-year statistically significant studies that take into account the obvious externalities ( local weather, amount of exercise, genetics, time of eating etc). I don't really want to make nutrition research another time-consuming hobby, but I don't want to unnecessarily kill myself faster either.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago
I see comments like this a lot, and I think it's pretty disingenuous to jump from the garbage diet most people have and claim the only worthwhile improvement is one supported by rock solid conclusive scientific support. Nutrition science is in a pretty bad state, but that doesn't mean you should continue eating baconators.
- polymatter 13y ago
  well, without solid scientific support I am loath to enact major lifestyle changes with an uncertain gain long into the future. especially when there are so many competing mutually exclusive theories of which lifestyle change is 'correct', so I'd have to decide on what was the best theory at the time. and then I might go through years of misery and _still_ not get any gain. I make some effort to favor variety of fruit & veg, favor drinking water before eating, don't binge eat. Other than that, I'm just not willing to make that lifestyle change unless you can show me this isn't the modern equivalent of witchcraft superstition. and even then, the research would just give me a more informed opinion and I decide to eat baconators and accept a 10% increase in heart disease.
  - nazgulnarsil 13y ago
    You've made some changes based on the most well supported bits of systematic reviews of epidemiological and intervention studies. Is the place you have stopped optimal in terms of effort:reward? You're going to be eating daily for the next several decades at least, small amounts of effort amortize pretty well.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

I see comments like this a lot, and I think it's pretty disingenuous to jump from the garbage diet most people have and claim the only worthwhile improvement is one supported by rock solid conclusive scientific support. Nutrition science is in a pretty bad state, but that doesn't mean you should continue eating baconators.

polymatter 13y ago
well, without solid scientific support I am loath to enact major lifestyle changes with an uncertain gain long into the future. especially when there are so many competing mutually exclusive theories of which lifestyle change is 'correct', so I'd have to decide on what was the best theory at the time. and then I might go through years of misery and _still_ not get any gain. I make some effort to favor variety of fruit & veg, favor drinking water before eating, don't binge eat. Other than that, I'm just not willing to make that lifestyle change unless you can show me this isn't the modern equivalent of witchcraft superstition. and even then, the research would just give me a more informed opinion and I decide to eat baconators and accept a 10% increase in heart disease.
- nazgulnarsil 13y ago
  You've made some changes based on the most well supported bits of systematic reviews of epidemiological and intervention studies. Is the place you have stopped optimal in terms of effort:reward? You're going to be eating daily for the next several decades at least, small amounts of effort amortize pretty well.