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> Except that "balanced diet" means absolutely nothing. I feel like it means to simply eat food in moderation. People who are severely obese aren't obese becau

> Except that "balanced diet" means absolutely nothing. I feel like it means to simply eat food in moderation. People who are severely obese aren't obese because they eat slightly too much saturated fat or eat a few extra potato chips beyond the recommended serving. Who otherwise have great diets except for a mixup here and there with their ratios. We're talking about many people who have seriously unhealthy eating habits that are extremely high in things like saturated fat, sugar and sodium. We're not talking about people who are eating 30% of their calories from fat when it should be 20%, we're talking about people who are absolutely blowing the recommended daily limits for fat and sugar out of the water by crushing soft drinks and making junk food a huge portion of their diet.

x0x0 13y ago
But what foods and in what ratios. That is the central question. Severely obese people already know the answer (put less everything into the hole in the middle of their face). For the rest of us, we have to decide (as above), what to eat and in what ratios, and if we should worry about our LDL and HDL cholesterol scores on our annual bloodwork. Also, I wonder if the science relating those to heart disease is any more sound than the science saying salt is bad (only true for chf / high blood pressure / a few other cases), etc.
- brandon272 13y ago
  My point is that the "health crisis" people are talking about has nothing to do with the rest of us. If you take those with extreme diets out of the equation, there is no health crisis. There's just people who are generally healthy wringing their hands over whether to have 2 slices or 3 slices of bacon, wondering if they are getting that perfect ratio in their diet. At which point I'm not sure it's worth the mental stress to be worrying about such things. Some things aren't within our control. There are people who will surely get their ratios "perfect" (whatever perfect is) and still die an early death of heart disease because of their genetics.
  - x0x0 13y ago
    well, if cholesterol is linked to heart disease, and if that can be effectively reduced via diet, it's probably worth our while to care, especially in your 30s on while you can still affect change

x0x0 13y ago

But what foods and in what ratios. That is the central question. Severely obese people already know the answer (put less everything into the hole in the middle of their face). For the rest of us, we have to decide (as above), what to eat and in what ratios, and if we should worry about our LDL and HDL cholesterol scores on our annual bloodwork. Also, I wonder if the science relating those to heart disease is any more sound than the science saying salt is bad (only true for chf / high blood pressure / a few other cases), etc.

brandon272 13y ago
My point is that the "health crisis" people are talking about has nothing to do with the rest of us. If you take those with extreme diets out of the equation, there is no health crisis. There's just people who are generally healthy wringing their hands over whether to have 2 slices or 3 slices of bacon, wondering if they are getting that perfect ratio in their diet. At which point I'm not sure it's worth the mental stress to be worrying about such things. Some things aren't within our control. There are people who will surely get their ratios "perfect" (whatever perfect is) and still die an early death of heart disease because of their genetics.
- x0x0 13y ago
  well, if cholesterol is linked to heart disease, and if that can be effectively reduced via diet, it's probably worth our while to care, especially in your 30s on while you can still affect change