Live data from Hacker News

Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

cell.com

91–100 of 119 posts

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#91

I've read a lot of, often conflicting, dietry guidance. I have realised one very important thing: humans will very easily accept that something they enjoy is bad for them (see fat, sex etc.) So listening to what people say is bad for them is stupid. Instead I have taken a simpler approach: I observe the lifestyles of people who are healthy and live a long time. I have observed that eating simply "good, old-fashioned"…

I'm sorry - this is naive advice. Generalized, this would mean that we shouldn't innovate or develop anything new at all (if what's worked previously is the ONLY way it should work).

Especially, with something related to diet and nutrition, there is an ever evolving need to alter our habits with the way our lifestyles changed. The kind of life your grandmother led is vastly different than the way you do now.

Similarly, carbs were great when as a culture we embraced agriculture, started working the fields and were able to secure food supplies for emergencies and the next generation. Now, farm productivities have shot up, fewer of us are working directly on growing food and there's abundance of food choices all around. We no longer need the easy glucose that we needed earlier. So, it is important that we change our dietary choices if we want to lead healthier lives.

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdatum, but I play competitive basketball on a very low carbohydrate diet ( necessary seems necessarily false. The missing concept (in the brief quote in your comment) might be "fat adaptation", which takes (in my experience) 2-4 weeks (details: http://www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/the-art-and-science-of... ) One certainly can fuel activity with carbohydrates, but a fat-adapted person should have no trouble with…

The book The Lore of Running covers this as well. For normal day to day things this is fine. However, it is extremely understudied with minimal evidence it works for everyone. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.runnersworld.com/newswire/d... It is still unclear, and dubious to claim, that you can operate at 80+ percent VO2 max on hard work outs. Maybe for short workouts or workouts with bursts of activity e.g. basketba…

I wonder if many people have tested VO2 max like this. Anecdotally, I know that I have a very difficult time getting my heart rate over 150 if I don't consume carbs, while I can easily get it 160+ if I've consumed carbs. I don't notice a qualitative difference, except during HIIT exercise, but I believe there is a subtle one based on my heart rate.

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#94
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drown everything in olive oil. Good, European protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) type olive oils. They're delicious. And you get full rather quickly. That feeling lasts. And I'm fairly certain the plant fat is not what's making us jiggly

Satiation from fat varies per individual. Typically it does not satiate any more than carbs (calorie for calorie) and lead to easy over consumption.

> easy over consumption

I heard this for years and years, but it doesn't pass the sniff test for me.

Go try to eat a stick of butter. Drink some straight cream. Chew on the fat that comes with your beef roast. Sip sausage grease. Drink straight olive oil.

All of these things are hard to do. If I get past two or three hundred calories with any of them, I am workin for it.

I have this drink in the morning, 240 calories of butter and coconut oil in tea, and oh my goodness is that thing substantial. Finishing it is sometimes a bit of work.

But how easy is it to drink 300 calories of sugar and not notice it? Veeeeeeeeeery easy.

I think the idea that what makes food easy to overconsume is volume... I think this idea is so obviously wrong that I wonder if it was ever tested. It certainly doesn't seem subjectively true. Everyone knows rich food is hard to eat!

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#95
post #58
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drown everything in olive oil. Good, European protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) type olive oils. They're delicious. And you get full rather quickly. That feeling lasts. And I'm fairly certain the plant fat is not what's making us jiggly

Why so many labels in your oil? Isn't extra virgin sufficient?

Actually, no. A large majority of "olive oil" sold is either fake or adulterated. Those extra labels he mentions are to identify genuine and clean olive oil.

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#96
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes about a week of < 20g/carbs a day for the body to go into ketosis. This is born out by buying keto strips and testing your urine.

I can achieve 'dark purple' on strips in two to three days without drastic dietary or exercise extremes. This is one of my biggest sticking points with articles that make generalizations about body functions. There are always outlying examples and exceptions.

You probably already know this, but in case other readers don't, the depth of color on keto sticks is NOT a measure of "how deeply in ketosis" you are.

The depth of color indicates how concentrated ketones are in your urine, which is impacted by (1) the amount of ketones your body is producing, and, very importantly, (2) your hydration level (i.e. how diluted your urine is).

For newbies, if the stick is pink AT ALL, congrats, you're in ketosis. Don't make the depth of color a big goal.

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#97
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At most, your brain can run with 75% ketones/25% glucose. Other organs (kidneys, red blood cells, cornea) need about 15-25 grams/carb per day. If you do not get glucose from diet, your body will build it (gluconeogenesis). Must see if you want to understand/practice keto right: https://www.youtube.com/user/chrismasterjohn/videos

I started a keto diet 2 weeks ago. As far as my research into keto goes eating too much carbs kicks you out of ketosis (duh!) and eating too much protein triggers gluconeogenesis which also kicks you out of ketosis. Which is a shame because I'd be happy to eat fatty steak and fatty pork all the time! Keto guidelines generally say 30g carbs per day and that's what I'm going to stick to (net carbs; I want to eat avocad…

What was your motivation for starting the keto diet?

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#98
post #11

Note that this is probably not what you are thinking (low-carb, very-low carb or even keto diets are good for your healthspan). The lowest quintile in this study were consuming 46,4% of kcal from carbs (that's about 230 gram of carbs for a 2000 kcal total intake). Not even close to low carb by today's standard in the health blogosphere. The authors make this explicit in the discussion section: >>> However, the absenc…

[deleted]

Re: Dietary Carbohydrates Impair Healthspan and Promote Mortality

#99
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Satiation from fat varies per individual. Typically it does not satiate any more than carbs (calorie for calorie) and lead to easy over consumption.

> easy over consumption I heard this for years and years, but it doesn't pass the sniff test for me. Go try to eat a stick of butter. Drink some straight cream. Chew on the fat that comes with your beef roast. Sip sausage grease. Drink straight olive oil. All of these things are hard to do. If I get past two or three hundred calories with any of them, I am workin for it. I have this drink in the morning, 240 calories…

> Go try to eat a stick of butter. Drink some straight cream. Chew on the fat that comes with your beef roast. Sip sausage grease. Drink straight olive oil.

I haven't tried sausage grease (hard to get the temperature right?), but I have happily done all the others, and the only reason I don't today is because I don't want the calories.

Not everyone is the same.

Post reply on HN