Ask HN: What should we eat? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#81

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 2:27 PM UTC

snprbob86 wrote: post #57

"I get anxious" In my highly unscientific opinion: That's worse for you than anything you could ever eat. Stop eating when you are full. Avoid excessive junk food. Try to eat fruit and vegetables more than occasionally. Reserve the cheeseburgers and onion rings for the celebration of Friday. Hold that celebration with friends and family more often than just Friday. Drink some wine or a beer. Laugh about it. Don't dwe…

I get your point, and I appreciate it. I could do worse than what you advise.

But I'd prefer to dismiss my anxiety through solid information rather than abandoning the concern and adopting what seems to be a "sensible" approach to diet founded on a cultural melange of how we ought to eat and drink.

If I can do something to reduce the chance that I get cancer--or that my wife gets cancer--then that's worth fretting.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#82

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 2:31 PM UTC

larrywright wrote: post #80

As a number of other people have pointed out, the prevailing opinion on what is good and what is bad changes regularly. I'm inclined to go with Michael Pollan's advice of "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." as a good place to start. Skip most processed foods (ie, anything in packaging). Also pass on refined sugars (HFCS, etc). Drink lots of water instead of soda. Eat fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meats, eggs, et…

Yeah, that's sort of how I've been leaning as well, but Taubes's book tosses a wrench in Pollan's indictment of animal proteins for me.

It would be nice to see direct treatment of each of these approaches by someone with expertise.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#83

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 2:33 PM UTC

eavc wrote: post #78

I'm surprised and disappointed at how many of the recommendations here are pure anecdote, intuition, or folk wisdom. If I wanted to eat based on common sense or a fad diet, I'd do so. I was hoping to be pointed to something more scientific. Walter Willet's book is probably a good recommendation, but Pollan (as well as Taubes) have so impugned the track record of nutritional epidemiology that I think a resource that d…

Why is this getting downvoted?

Read my original post, read the responses. It's not that I'm not appreciative that people are trying. I'm genuinely surprised that answers of the sort I was looking for seem to be lacking.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#84

Post by zoomzoom » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 2:42 PM UTC

eavc wrote: post #78

I'm surprised and disappointed at how many of the recommendations here are pure anecdote, intuition, or folk wisdom. If I wanted to eat based on common sense or a fad diet, I'd do so. I was hoping to be pointed to something more scientific. Walter Willet's book is probably a good recommendation, but Pollan (as well as Taubes) have so impugned the track record of nutritional epidemiology that I think a resource that d…

I'm surprised that you are so naive about what being "science-minded" on this issue means. There is so much variation in human physiology and digestive tract composition that a universal "healthy" diet is probably even more backwards of a notion than the USDA recommendations. What will be best for you to eat needs to be determined by your experiments with various different diets and will depend on how much you exercise and many other factors. Until we understand more about the bacteria that live in our body and how we interact with them, "science" is not going to be any better than folk wisdom. There is nothing wrong with eating the foods that have proven to work over 100,000+ years of human society.

I see several themes in the advice on this thread - don't eat too much, eat whole foods, and drink water. I have to say that this is probably the most scientific advice you will find.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#85

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 3:01 PM UTC

zoomzoom wrote: post #84

eavc wrote: post #78

I'm surprised and disappointed at how many of the recommendations here are pure anecdote, intuition, or folk wisdom. If I wanted to eat based on common sense or a fad diet, I'd do so. I was hoping to be pointed to something more scientific. Walter Willet's book is probably a good recommendation, but Pollan (as well as Taubes) have so impugned the track record of nutritional epidemiology that I think a resource that d…

I'm surprised that you are so naive about what being "science-minded" on this issue means. There is so much variation in human physiology and digestive tract composition that a universal "healthy" diet is probably even more backwards of a notion than the USDA recommendations. What will be best for you to eat needs to be determined by your experiments with various different diets and will depend on how much you exerci…

No need to be disingenuous. You don't know me from Adam, so your surprise is just rhetorical. Mine was genuine and aimed at getting additional responses, maybe responses more in line with the intent of the OP.

In adjacent sentences, you say that there are no probably no universals, science can tell us nothing, but that we have certain foods that are proven to work.

Yes, there are common themes in this thread, and that can be useful sometimes. But there were common themes in popular opinion about flat earth, Adam's ribs, and the four humors as well.

Again, without the context provided by an expert, things that are factually incorrect can seem incredibly persuasive.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#86

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 3:17 PM UTC

modeless wrote: post #25

shib71 wrote: 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…

Fine, but personal diet anecdotes aren't what eavc is asking for. What trustworthy sources are these decisions based on?

Thanks, modeless. You seem to understand where I'm coming from.

Is this something you are personally interested in as well or were you just passing through?

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#87

Post by chipsy » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 3:22 PM UTC

lionhearted wrote: post #41

thesnark wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would just like to point out that oatmeal has a glycemic index of about 50 (out of 100). That's for plain oatmeal with nothing added, not the instant stuff or the sugar laden version most people end up with.

Ah yes, use whole oatmeal instead of instant oatmeal - it actually doesn't take much longer to cook. Definitely stay away from the sugary junk. The real advantage to oatmeal is that the fiber is quite high - this has many advantages, a big one being that you'll feel full and satisfied for the first part of the day. Also, 300 calories of oatmeal is 56 grams of carbohydrates, but only 1 gram of sugar [1]. Correct me if…

The ratio of fiber/sugar is high, but by any other index(fiber/total carbs or fiber/calories) it's terrible. (doesn't stop me from having it on rare occasions though)

A complete picture of the benefits and drawbacks of oatmeal, like any other food, has to acknowledge that:

-It's carb-heavy -The carbs are from grain and thus glutenous -Total nutrition is low(compared to say, an avocado)

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#88

Post by js2 » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 3:31 PM UTC

The best answer I can give you is to spend some time on http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/ -- Stephan's own diet (which you can divine with a little reading) is based on his survey of food science. He provides references for everything. The closest thing you'll find to a "diet" is a list of real foods:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/real%20fo...

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#89

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 3:31 PM UTC

alexfarran wrote: post #77

I recommend Eat Drink and Be Healthy for credible advice grounded in scientific research http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Drink-Be-Healthy-Harvard/dp/068486...

Thanks, Alex. Yours is one of the few answers in the entire thread that attempts to give me what I'm looking for.

Do you know of any other resources that more directly address the criticisms of nutritional science set forth by Taubes and Pollan?

Re: Ask HN: What should we eat?

#90

Post by eavc » Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 3:32 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #88

The best answer I can give you is to spend some time on http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/ -- Stephan's own diet (which you can divine with a little reading) is based on his survey of food science. He provides references for everything. The closest thing you'll find to a "diet" is a list of real foods: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/real%20fo... Good luck.

Cool. Thank you. Another good answer.