11 ms·

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Retric 13y ago
Like most diet advice that's still way to simplistic. Eat a wide range of minimally processed foods avoiding anything your allergic to. Eat animals not just fat and meat. Things like brains, bone marrow, intestines, cartilage, and liver are all part of a nutritious diet. Again, eat most of the plant not just the most high energy parts. But also a wide range of plants and plant types potato's, rice, soy, and grains are just the tip of the iceberg. Remember if your not starving you don't need to focus on maximizing energy consumption.
- loup-vaillant 13y ago
  > Like most diet advice that's still way too simplistic. It's not. It's minimalistic, it's insufficient, but it is in no way misleading: following this advice is invariably better than not following it. Your criticism doesn't disagree in any way. Are you sure you replied to the right comment? Ninja edit, maybe?
EC1 13y ago
You mean mostly meat and some plants.
- rsl7 13y ago
  No. Nobody means mostly meat.
  - sethammons 13y ago
    Aside from, you know, those that do. Like the Inuit. According sourced material via Wikipedia, due to the complete and utter lack of any formal agriculture, "[t]raditional Inuit diets derive approximately 50% of their calories from fat, 30-35% from protein and 15-20% of their calories from carbohydrates, largely in the form of glycogen from the raw meat they consumed." Tubers, berries, seaweed and the like make up very little of their diet. From the intro on Wikipedia: According to Edmund Searles in his article "Food and the Making of Modern Inuit Identities," they consume this type of diet because a mostly meat diet is "effective in keeping the body warm, making the body strong, keeping the body fit, and even making that body healthy".
    - rsl7 13y ago
      So a diet of mostly wild caught raw meat. Sounds totally doable.
- oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
  Health aside, for reasons of sustainability, I think that's a bad idea.
  - gress 13y ago
    Once health is aside, so is sustainability.
    - garrettgrimsley 13y ago
      No, while the length of the human lifespan consuming a certain product might be reduced the environmental impact that the person's diet had remains. Meat production has very real environmental impacts.[1] Switching to a vegetarian diet, or even to a meat that consumes less resources to produce[3], drastically reduces one's environmental impact.[2] Meat consumption also has direct fiscal impacts by way of the increased cost of treatment for those that consume meat. If the price of grain increases because of an increased demand for meat then the world's poor will be the ones most negatively impacted.[4] Disclaimer: I currently consume all forms of meat, including beef. [1] https://woods.stanford.edu/environmental-venture-projects/consequences-increased-global-meat-consumption-global-environment https://woods.stanford.edu/environmental-venture-projects/co... [2] http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS09-05.pdf http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS09-05.pdf [3] http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-800-million-people-grain-livestock-eat http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-80... [4] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.htm...
      - gress 13y ago
        I see that you are convinced that meat consumption is detrimental to health. Also health and lifespan are not the same thing.
        garrettgrimsley 13y ago
        My post was addressed at your claim that "Once health is aside, so is sustainability." I believe that I it made clear that this is not the case. Your view is myopic and selfish, as it ignores the very real effects that a meat-eater diet has on other humans and the environment. I did not imply that health and lifespan are the same, and I even addressed them separately. My beliefs are based in well-documented evidence. Eating meat has a strong positive correlation with increased healthcare costs.[1] Whether or not meat has a negative impact on health only has a bearing on the costs of healthcare for meat-eaters, which is a minor point that I mentioned as an aside. It does not have a bearing on the environmental impacts of a meat-eater diet. You are nitpicking minor details of my post. Perhaps instead of vaguely implying that I'm mistaken you should produce evidence that contradicts me. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2012/03/12/bad-news-for-red-meat-lovers/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2012/03/12/bad-news-...
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
Try telling that to a Tibetan or an Inuit, they would starve to death.
- yaketysax 13y ago
  What's "ok" to eat can depend on your ancestry. It makes no sense to point at different populations and say "it must be ok since they're doing it".
  - sethammons 13y ago
    I've read that Inuit have a larger liver. I wonder if this is a case of genetics or if increasing the percent of meat in your diet leads to a larger liver.
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      Agriculture is a recent invention, only about 10kya old, and many cultures never adopted it for various reasons. It makes sense that evolution has had a bit of time to work its random magic on plant eaters.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Who said anything about ancestry? The developed western world bias on HN is disturbing. What you eat depends on what you can get from the land you live in. You can't grow much above 4,000 meters or near the arctic, obviously. Indians are mostly vegetarian because you can grow alot in India, the much of the rest of the world isn't so lucky (I always crave veggies whenever I tour in high country because they are so unavailable).
    - eshvk 13y ago
      > Indians are mostly vegetarian because you can grow alot in India "mostly"? I would love to know where this statistic was pulled from? Personal experience living in India for 5 years suggests that only Brahmin Hindus and a few other castes are purely vegetarian. Every one else eats meat albeit not as frequently as Americans. Wikipedia stats suggests 20-40% (a huge variance).
sheri 13y ago
To add context to this comment, it comes from Michael Pollan, who coined it in the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma". http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/ http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/
- grinich 13y ago
  Also recommend his other book, In Defense of Food.
jdminhbg 13y ago
> Eat food. Question begging. > Not too much. Question begging. > Mostly plants. Actual recommendation, although vague and unsupported.
- pbreit 13y ago
  It's a quote. That makes perfect sense. Give it a rest.
- dredmorbius 13y ago
  If you read Pollan's actual formulation, he deconstructs it further: • Eat food: real, minimally processed produce, grains, or meats. As opposed to highly-processed, vaguely food-like substances. • Not too much: addresses the point that, at least as concerns obesity, quantity is crucial. So get that quantity right. • Mostly plants: here arguments vary, but Pollan's big on vegetables (less so grains and such), and the complex compounds, many apparently helpful, they provide. His books are quite a delight to read. I recommend them strongly.

Like most diet advice that's still way to simplistic. Eat a wide range of minimally processed foods avoiding anything your allergic to. Eat animals not just fat and meat. Things like brains, bone marrow, intestines, cartilage, and liver are all part of a nutritious diet. Again, eat most of the plant not just the most high energy parts. But also a wide range of plants and plant types potato's, rice, soy, and grains are just the tip of the iceberg. Remember if your not starving you don't need to focus on maximizing energy consumption.

loup-vaillant 13y ago
> Like most diet advice that's still way too simplistic. It's not. It's minimalistic, it's insufficient, but it is in no way misleading: following this advice is invariably better than not following it. Your criticism doesn't disagree in any way. Are you sure you replied to the right comment? Ninja edit, maybe?

EC1 13y ago

You mean mostly meat and some plants.

rsl7 13y ago
No. Nobody means mostly meat.
- sethammons 13y ago
  Aside from, you know, those that do. Like the Inuit. According sourced material via Wikipedia, due to the complete and utter lack of any formal agriculture, "[t]raditional Inuit diets derive approximately 50% of their calories from fat, 30-35% from protein and 15-20% of their calories from carbohydrates, largely in the form of glycogen from the raw meat they consumed." Tubers, berries, seaweed and the like make up very little of their diet. From the intro on Wikipedia: According to Edmund Searles in his article "Food and the Making of Modern Inuit Identities," they consume this type of diet because a mostly meat diet is "effective in keeping the body warm, making the body strong, keeping the body fit, and even making that body healthy".
  - rsl7 13y ago
    So a diet of mostly wild caught raw meat. Sounds totally doable.
oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
Health aside, for reasons of sustainability, I think that's a bad idea.
- gress 13y ago
  Once health is aside, so is sustainability.
  - garrettgrimsley 13y ago
    No, while the length of the human lifespan consuming a certain product might be reduced the environmental impact that the person's diet had remains. Meat production has very real environmental impacts.[1] Switching to a vegetarian diet, or even to a meat that consumes less resources to produce[3], drastically reduces one's environmental impact.[2] Meat consumption also has direct fiscal impacts by way of the increased cost of treatment for those that consume meat. If the price of grain increases because of an increased demand for meat then the world's poor will be the ones most negatively impacted.[4] Disclaimer: I currently consume all forms of meat, including beef. [1] https://woods.stanford.edu/environmental-venture-projects/consequences-increased-global-meat-consumption-global-environment https://woods.stanford.edu/environmental-venture-projects/co... [2] http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS09-05.pdf http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS09-05.pdf [3] http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-800-million-people-grain-livestock-eat http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-80... [4] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.htm...
    - gress 13y ago
      I see that you are convinced that meat consumption is detrimental to health. Also health and lifespan are not the same thing.
      - garrettgrimsley 13y ago
        My post was addressed at your claim that "Once health is aside, so is sustainability." I believe that I it made clear that this is not the case. Your view is myopic and selfish, as it ignores the very real effects that a meat-eater diet has on other humans and the environment. I did not imply that health and lifespan are the same, and I even addressed them separately. My beliefs are based in well-documented evidence. Eating meat has a strong positive correlation with increased healthcare costs.[1] Whether or not meat has a negative impact on health only has a bearing on the costs of healthcare for meat-eaters, which is a minor point that I mentioned as an aside. It does not have a bearing on the environmental impacts of a meat-eater diet. You are nitpicking minor details of my post. Perhaps instead of vaguely implying that I'm mistaken you should produce evidence that contradicts me. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2012/03/12/bad-news-for-red-meat-lovers/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2012/03/12/bad-news-...

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

Try telling that to a Tibetan or an Inuit, they would starve to death.

yaketysax 13y ago
What's "ok" to eat can depend on your ancestry. It makes no sense to point at different populations and say "it must be ok since they're doing it".
- sethammons 13y ago
  I've read that Inuit have a larger liver. I wonder if this is a case of genetics or if increasing the percent of meat in your diet leads to a larger liver.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Agriculture is a recent invention, only about 10kya old, and many cultures never adopted it for various reasons. It makes sense that evolution has had a bit of time to work its random magic on plant eaters.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  Who said anything about ancestry? The developed western world bias on HN is disturbing. What you eat depends on what you can get from the land you live in. You can't grow much above 4,000 meters or near the arctic, obviously. Indians are mostly vegetarian because you can grow alot in India, the much of the rest of the world isn't so lucky (I always crave veggies whenever I tour in high country because they are so unavailable).
  - eshvk 13y ago
    > Indians are mostly vegetarian because you can grow alot in India "mostly"? I would love to know where this statistic was pulled from? Personal experience living in India for 5 years suggests that only Brahmin Hindus and a few other castes are purely vegetarian. Every one else eats meat albeit not as frequently as Americans. Wikipedia stats suggests 20-40% (a huge variance).

sheri 13y ago

To add context to this comment, it comes from Michael Pollan, who coined it in the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma". http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/ http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/

grinich 13y ago
Also recommend his other book, In Defense of Food.

jdminhbg 13y ago

> Eat food. Question begging. > Not too much. Question begging. > Mostly plants. Actual recommendation, although vague and unsupported.

pbreit 13y ago
It's a quote. That makes perfect sense. Give it a rest.
dredmorbius 13y ago
If you read Pollan's actual formulation, he deconstructs it further: • Eat food: real, minimally processed produce, grains, or meats. As opposed to highly-processed, vaguely food-like substances. • Not too much: addresses the point that, at least as concerns obesity, quantity is crucial. So get that quantity right. • Mostly plants: here arguments vary, but Pollan's big on vegetables (less so grains and such), and the complex compounds, many apparently helpful, they provide. His books are quite a delight to read. I recommend them strongly.