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Ask HN: What should we eat?

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11–20 of 114 posts

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#11
post #10

My tendencies, which seem to work well: - Foods with less processing - more fresh stuff, less stuff that needs preservatives - High ratio of vegatables/fruit to meat - Less high-carb stuff, and always the low-gi versions (e.g. wholemeal/rye bread, brown rice) - Eat what you enjoy. Find a balance between healthy and tasty you can live with. - Indulging in stuff not on this list is serious business - it has to be reall…

The last is probably the most important. A snack should a treat; not a thing you do every day at 4pm.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#12
post #6

I personally believe we should be eating raw food. (plant based foods etc) and not meat, although I still do :| Some great points are: + Look at our teeth, they are made for eating plants/veggies and not meat, unlike lions etc. + Cooked foods kill the nutrients, unlike eating raw organic food. + Our digestive tract is long, apparently to process plant based foods, compared to a meat eating anmial like a lion, they ha…

This is incorrect and naive. Our teeth evolved to eat a wide verity of things, molars to chew plants, and incisors and canines to rip meat. Look at the diet of chimps, they eat whatever they can get their hands on, meat included. "Cooked foods are bad" is a crock. You can over cook foods, and maybe cooking some foods is bad, but cooking increases the nutritional value of many foods. Processing makes more nutrients av…

"specifically the no GMO part"

That's a huge unscientific leap to say that. We don't know GMO is safe. And it's certainly not logical to say that concerns about them are crap.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#13

I personally believe we should be eating raw food. (plant based foods etc) and not meat, although I still do :| Some great points are: + Look at our teeth, they are made for eating plants/veggies and not meat, unlike lions etc. + Cooked foods kill the nutrients, unlike eating raw organic food. + Our digestive tract is long, apparently to process plant based foods, compared to a meat eating anmial like a lion, they ha…

It seems to me that humans evolved as herbivores. I've never heard anyone argue that humans should be carnivores, but it seems like that's what you're arguing against.

1. Our teeth evolved to chew plants and veggies, true. As omnivores, we have to eat plants, not just meat. Plants are more difficult to digest, so most of our teeth resemble herbivores' teeth (chewing is the first step in digestion). Notice that we also chew meat just fine. I don't know anyone who can't chew meat because their teeth are too flat. We can even rip it right off the bone with certain teeth. Is that not an evolutionary adaptation?

My point is that just because we chew plants relatively well, that does not mean we also don't chew meat well.

2. Cooked foods kill the nutrients

Since I'm addressing the herbivore vs. omnivore argument, I'll ignore this one, as it obviously applies to plants and not meat.

3. Our digestive tract is long, apparently to process plant[s]...

Similar to #1. A long digestive tract may be necessary to process plants, but it does not preclude digesting meat.

4. Animal meat is the only food that gives us colesterol [sic].

.... which is okay in moderation. People can't survive on fruits alone, either. That doesn't mean that fruit should be eliminated from our diet.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#14
post #2

http://whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com/

I guess this is getting downvoted for being frivolous, but I think it's actually relevant (as well as pretty funny). Cooking for yourself is a lot healthier than always eating restaurant food, ready meals or takeaway. Of course you have to cook balanced, healthy dishes; the linked site seems to link mostly to such dishes.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#15
I figure if you eat things that's been around for thousands of years you'll probably be OK.

It seems that everyone agrees on:

- Lots of fruit and vegetables

- Legumes

- Fish twice a week or more

- Red meat but not for every meal

- Avoid highly processed foods

- Avoid dairy products

There doesn't seem to be any consensus on wheat products. Rice seems fine, and potatoes too if you don't deep-fry them.

Of course nobody knows for sure what the optimal diet is, and I guess 'optimal' is also going to depend on your DNA and the specific mix of bacteria you have in your gut right now.

Your body requires loads of different nutrients to live but many of them can be synthesized in your body using other nutrients if need be. If you really want the optimal nutrient mix you could always try cannibalism. Human flesh, by definition, has the exact mix of amino acids and other nutrients your body needs. Not sure if you should be cooking your human flesh or not though.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#18
post #4

This is the one I am following, and it's quite the opposite to the USDA recommendations: * The Paleo Diet ( http://amzn.com/0471267554 ) I don't know if that's the type of book you were looking for, but the authors' arguments and conclusions are based on their own scientific research.

Yes. This intro (and the whole site) gives a good overview of what a Primal diet entails: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-the-prima...

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#19

I figure if you eat things that's been around for thousands of years you'll probably be OK. It seems that everyone agrees on: - Lots of fruit and vegetables - Legumes - Fish twice a week or more - Red meat but not for every meal - Avoid highly processed foods - Avoid dairy products There doesn't seem to be any consensus on wheat products. Rice seems fine, and potatoes too if you don't deep-fry them. Of course nobody…

Avoid dairy products is not something everyone agrees on.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#20
Here's my diet which works very well for me:

- I prefer fish to meat

- I almost never eat red meat,

- I organize my meals to eat fish/meat only once a day - Lots of vegetables and fruits

- No desert, no cakes, no sweetie, no ice cream, no soda, no sugar (by "no" I mean on very rare occasions)

- Very little dairy products, especially no cheese at all. Milk is ok.

- No butter, ever would it be directly or indirectly

- No alcohol

- Avoid processed food

- Little or no bread

You need to understand there's no universally good diet, depending on the individual some diet work well and some don't. What matters is to eat different stuff and of good quality.

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