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Do we really need health advice from random unqualified people on the internet on Hacker News?

by SandB0x 12y ago

rayiner 12y ago
Weight loss is a market in need of disruption. 70% of American adults are overweight, and the solutions espoused by the establishment (eat less and exercise more) are technically correct but practically ineffective. Disrupting weight loss is potentially a hundred billion dollar industry, considering the huge medical expenditures and lost productivity that accrues from people being overweight.
- normloman 12y ago
  Leave it to the HN crowd to see an epidemic as a money making opportunity. Isn't it good enough just to help people?
  - throwaway283719 12y ago
    Is there something wrong with making money? If we always settled for "good enough" we wouldn't have half of the nice things we have today, and the potential to make lots of money is a great way of motivating people to push beyond "good enough".
  - abakker 12y ago
    It is, though pointing out that obesity is a high cost problem hardly suggests that it is we on Hacker News that need to make that money. If we help people lose weight in any way, we're going to save the country a lot of money in healthcare costs that could be spent elsewhere. Put another way, if the US finds a way to lose weight effectively, the results will have a strong positive impact on a variety of other services that the government provides that will be able to help more people with more available funding.
  - Justsignedup 12y ago
    You seem to equate disruption with for-profit. One does not necessitate the other. However, a proper disruption would be really good for saving people money as the current market is ripe with crazy fees and no progress.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > Leave it to the HN crowd to see an epidemic as a money making opportunity. The obesity epidemic has been recognized as a money making opportunity by major industries long before HN existed.
RockyMcNuts 12y ago
It's an unusual body/brain hack...he seems to have done it methodically and observed the outcome...it worked for him and he wrote up something detailed...that's the spirit of hacking! I don't think it's flagworthy but if it lacks quality vote accordingly!
- rsync 12y ago
  Given that this behavior is well preserved in all major world religions, I would hesitate to call it unusual. ..
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > It's an unusual body/brain hack... No, its not...intermittent fasting has been a fad in the last few years. There's nothing unusual about it. > he seems to have done it methodically and observed the outcome... I'm having trouble crediting something as a methodical study of a diet pattern change that doesn't have any indication of tracking the specific patterns of what is being eaten (or even quantification of total calories) before and after.
  - thoughtpalette 12y ago
    > No, its not...intermittent fasting has been a fad in the last few years. There's nothing unusual about it. Not everyone has heard about it. I found the article very interesting even though I'm not going to try it out.
    - dragonwriter 12y ago
      > Not everyone has heard about it. That's not the same thing as "unusual".
      - thoughtpalette 12y ago
        I agree to an extent. I consider it unusual, but the nature of that word is subjective.
Justsignedup 12y ago
As much as I hate saying this, most diets are pretty much identical. I don't see many diet suggestions from big orgs relying on massive multi-variable studies proving that their diet actually works vs anecdotes based on "well the numbers look right so it should work".
DanBC 12y ago
Some peoe on HN freaking love random unqualified people giving weird advice about diet and nutrition.
- emsy 12y ago
  The article's title is "Why I don't eat on Mondays" not "Why you shouldn't eat on Mondays". Also, intermittent fasting I fairly well researched and known for its benefits, so it's far from being a "weird advice".
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > The article's title is "Why I don't eat on Mondays" not "Why you shouldn't eat on Mondays". The title isn't the content. The whole article is a lead-in to a call to action in the the last 7 paragraphs which can be summarized as "you should choose one day a week and not eat on that day (it doesn't have to be Monday, though)". > Also, intermittent fasting I fairly well researched and known for its benefits [citation needed]
    - emsy 12y ago
      > The whole article is a lead-in to a call to action in the the last 7 paragraphs which can be summarized as "you should choose one day a week and not eat on that day (it doesn't have to be Monday, though)". No it can't > Whatever your weight loss goals, I can highly recommend giving intermittent fasting a try. Never does the author say that intermittent fasting should be followed by everyone.
MarioSpeedwagon 12y ago
Haven't you heard? Everybody is the same now, and nobody is to be trusted before anybody else. Can't judge. We're all heroes.
chestnut-tree 12y ago
There is some evidence that intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and improve your health. In fact, there have been a plethora of books on the subject. In the UK, this type of fasting diet became very popular after the BBC broadcast a (not very good) documentary about it in 2012. The presenter of the programme (Michael Mosley) then went on to write a best-selling book on the subject. If you're in the UK, you can still watch the programme on iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-20122013-3-eat-fast-and-live-longer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-201220... Here's the accompanying article from August 2012: The power of intermittent fasting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

Do we really need health advice from random unqualified people on the internet on Hacker News?

by SandB0x 12y ago

Do we really need health advice from random unqualified people on the internet on Hacker News?

Weight loss is a market in need of disruption. 70% of American adults are overweight, and the solutions espoused by the establishment (eat less and exercise more) are technically correct but practically ineffective. Disrupting weight loss is potentially a hundred billion dollar industry, considering the huge medical expenditures and lost productivity that accrues from people being overweight.

normloman 12y ago
Leave it to the HN crowd to see an epidemic as a money making opportunity. Isn't it good enough just to help people?
- throwaway283719 12y ago
  Is there something wrong with making money? If we always settled for "good enough" we wouldn't have half of the nice things we have today, and the potential to make lots of money is a great way of motivating people to push beyond "good enough".
- abakker 12y ago
  It is, though pointing out that obesity is a high cost problem hardly suggests that it is we on Hacker News that need to make that money. If we help people lose weight in any way, we're going to save the country a lot of money in healthcare costs that could be spent elsewhere. Put another way, if the US finds a way to lose weight effectively, the results will have a strong positive impact on a variety of other services that the government provides that will be able to help more people with more available funding.
- Justsignedup 12y ago
  You seem to equate disruption with for-profit. One does not necessitate the other. However, a proper disruption would be really good for saving people money as the current market is ripe with crazy fees and no progress.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > Leave it to the HN crowd to see an epidemic as a money making opportunity. The obesity epidemic has been recognized as a money making opportunity by major industries long before HN existed.

RockyMcNuts 12y ago

It's an unusual body/brain hack...he seems to have done it methodically and observed the outcome...it worked for him and he wrote up something detailed...that's the spirit of hacking! I don't think it's flagworthy but if it lacks quality vote accordingly!

rsync 12y ago
Given that this behavior is well preserved in all major world religions, I would hesitate to call it unusual. ..
dragonwriter 12y ago
> It's an unusual body/brain hack... No, its not...intermittent fasting has been a fad in the last few years. There's nothing unusual about it. > he seems to have done it methodically and observed the outcome... I'm having trouble crediting something as a methodical study of a diet pattern change that doesn't have any indication of tracking the specific patterns of what is being eaten (or even quantification of total calories) before and after.
- thoughtpalette 12y ago
  > No, its not...intermittent fasting has been a fad in the last few years. There's nothing unusual about it. Not everyone has heard about it. I found the article very interesting even though I'm not going to try it out.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > Not everyone has heard about it. That's not the same thing as "unusual".
    - thoughtpalette 12y ago
      I agree to an extent. I consider it unusual, but the nature of that word is subjective.

Justsignedup 12y ago

As much as I hate saying this, most diets are pretty much identical. I don't see many diet suggestions from big orgs relying on massive multi-variable studies proving that their diet actually works vs anecdotes based on "well the numbers look right so it should work".

DanBC 12y ago

Some peoe on HN freaking love random unqualified people giving weird advice about diet and nutrition.

emsy 12y ago
The article's title is "Why I don't eat on Mondays" not "Why you shouldn't eat on Mondays". Also, intermittent fasting I fairly well researched and known for its benefits, so it's far from being a "weird advice".
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > The article's title is "Why I don't eat on Mondays" not "Why you shouldn't eat on Mondays". The title isn't the content. The whole article is a lead-in to a call to action in the the last 7 paragraphs which can be summarized as "you should choose one day a week and not eat on that day (it doesn't have to be Monday, though)". > Also, intermittent fasting I fairly well researched and known for its benefits [citation needed]
  - emsy 12y ago
    > The whole article is a lead-in to a call to action in the the last 7 paragraphs which can be summarized as "you should choose one day a week and not eat on that day (it doesn't have to be Monday, though)". No it can't > Whatever your weight loss goals, I can highly recommend giving intermittent fasting a try. Never does the author say that intermittent fasting should be followed by everyone.

MarioSpeedwagon 12y ago

Haven't you heard? Everybody is the same now, and nobody is to be trusted before anybody else. Can't judge. We're all heroes.

chestnut-tree 12y ago

There is some evidence that intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and improve your health. In fact, there have been a plethora of books on the subject. In the UK, this type of fasting diet became very popular after the BBC broadcast a (not very good) documentary about it in 2012. The presenter of the programme (Michael Mosley) then went on to write a best-selling book on the subject. If you're in the UK, you can still watch the programme on iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-20122013-3-eat-fast-and-live-longer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-201220... Here's the accompanying article from August 2012: The power of intermittent fasting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549