Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#111

Post by maxander » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 7:25 PM UTC

mises wrote: post #27

It's worth noting for anyone that advocates this sort of diet that it is a luxury. Many people mention that you can make good food on such a diet, but it is doubtless time-consuming. What of those who work by the hour? And the ingredients are expensive. Many of the fancy foods on here come from Whole Foods, not HEB. Even if they become affordable, the time aspect is still important; most don't want to spend 2 hours c…

Noodles and fried tofu takes no longer to cook than a steak, and is just as good. A big pot of curried lentils can be set up in ten minutes, let simmer for about an hour, and lasts all week. Tacos with refried beans instead of hamburger is a straightforward substitute. The list goes on. (Nor am I sure that any of those are significantly less caloric than the equivalent meat dishes.)

I suspect that most people who think they can’t manage a vegetarianism, by experience or otherwise, are making the mistake of thinking that a “vegetarian diet” consists of just the vegetarian side-dishes familiar from a meat-eating diet. That is not true, and if you try to do it that way, of course it’s not going to work. A proper diet finds foods that fill the role of meat, one way or another.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#112

Post by perfunctory » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 7:32 PM UTC

mises wrote: post #27

It's worth noting for anyone that advocates this sort of diet that it is a luxury. Many people mention that you can make good food on such a diet, but it is doubtless time-consuming. What of those who work by the hour? And the ingredients are expensive. Many of the fancy foods on here come from Whole Foods, not HEB. Even if they become affordable, the time aspect is still important; most don't want to spend 2 hours c…

I am also trying to go without meat for a couple of months now and I too feel hungry more often than before. I didn't notice any affect on my performance though. So I wonder if that feeling of hunger is real or is it just some adjustment taking place and one gets used to it eventually. My main motivation though is not health but rather the fact that meat production is a massive contributor to climate change.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#113

Post by cozzyd » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 7:40 PM UTC

papermachete wrote: post #19

cozzyd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean a lot of these are readily available (lentils, walnuts, fava beans, kale, quinoa)

Yeah those few pretty much wrap it up. I'm never eating algae or cacti.

Canned nopal can be readily found at grocery stores around here (Chicago). I'm sure I could find algae easily enough if I tried...

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#114

Post by jamiegreen » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 7:51 PM UTC

maxander wrote: post #111

mises wrote: post #27

It's worth noting for anyone that advocates this sort of diet that it is a luxury. Many people mention that you can make good food on such a diet, but it is doubtless time-consuming. What of those who work by the hour? And the ingredients are expensive. Many of the fancy foods on here come from Whole Foods, not HEB. Even if they become affordable, the time aspect is still important; most don't want to spend 2 hours c…

Noodles and fried tofu takes no longer to cook than a steak, and is just as good. A big pot of curried lentils can be set up in ten minutes, let simmer for about an hour, and lasts all week. Tacos with refried beans instead of hamburger is a straightforward substitute. The list goes on. (Nor am I sure that any of those are significantly less caloric than the equivalent meat dishes.) I suspect that most people who thi…

May I respectfully disagree that fried tofu is as good as a steak.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#115

Post by Synaesthesia » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 8:23 PM UTC

CodeGlitch wrote: post #52

Synaesthesia wrote: post #42

Fava beans. You can make a very good falafel out of them and they’re cheap. I believe falafel is the future

I admit I've never had flafel - a quick google does make them look tasty. I'm going to definintly look into cooking some.

I make a lot and you preferably have to deep fry them but it’s easy if you have a food processor.

If you have a middle eastern take away near you maybe you can get some there.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#116

Post by Synaesthesia » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 8:25 PM UTC

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #61

fsloth wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Western world has a bit skewed view of food anyway, since most distribution is handled by large companies that optimize for their own profit, and this applies to producers as well. We couldn't survive without modern "food chains", but that does not mean the crops used by the modern processes are the only viable ones. Rather, they are the most popular ones for which the processes have been optimized for.

>Western world has a bit skewed view of food anyway, since most distribution is handled by large companies that optimize for their own profit Where in the world is food distributed by non-companies for no profit? Venezuela? Cuba?

Venezuela is actually capitalist, almost everything is privately owned and not government run.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#117

Post by mises » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 8:43 PM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #101

mises wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what type of carbs? When I say carbs, I mostly mean grains, potatoes. I know most everything contains at least some, but it's a bit of a colloquialism and hard to avoid. Some occasional beans, oats, etc. I tried eating more of these as part of a diet, and beans were somewhat of a help, but I still didn't feel the same. > A cup of kale has 6 grams I hate kale. Everyone pushes it as a superfood, but the texture is di…

Kale is really nice if you freeze it, boil it then put it in mashed potatoes. Throw a smoked sausage and a bit of bacon in and you're sorted. https://coquinaria.nl/en/dutch-winterfare/

And we're back to the time issue. Also, I'm not sure I should have to do that much to food (destroy the internal structure, cook it, and cover it up) just to make it palatable.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#118

Post by open-source-ux » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 8:45 PM UTC

mises wrote: post #27

It's worth noting for anyone that advocates this sort of diet that it is a luxury. Many people mention that you can make good food on such a diet, but it is doubtless time-consuming. What of those who work by the hour? And the ingredients are expensive. Many of the fancy foods on here come from Whole Foods, not HEB. Even if they become affordable, the time aspect is still important; most don't want to spend 2 hours c…

"It's worth noting for anyone that advocates this sort of diet that it is a luxury."

In what way is this diet a luxury? Some of the ingredients are not found in supermarkets and so not easily available. But beans, lentils, mushrooms, fruits are readily available at your local supermarket if you live Europe or the US.

Want to know what is a luxury? The world's consumption of meat, especially in Europe and US. I'm a meat eater, but we are eating more meat now that in any other time in history. We think such cheap and plentiful meat (on a daily basis for so many people) is how it's always been, but it's only thanks to industrial-scale farming we can eat meat so cheaply and with such abundance. And what a bunch of hypocrites we are on the subject (myself included). So many of us won't even consider reducing our meat consumption despite the proven role of animal agriculture in contributing to climate change.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#119

Post by SlowRobotAhead » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 9:06 PM UTC

Synaesthesia wrote: post #116

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Western world has a bit skewed view of food anyway, since most distribution is handled by large companies that optimize for their own profit Where in the world is food distributed by non-companies for no profit? Venezuela? Cuba?

Venezuela is actually capitalist, almost everything is privately owned and not government run.

>Venezuela is actually capitalist,

Really? Source? Because the government took over and controls the means of production. So you can see how I am confused by you saying that Venezuela isn’t “really” socialism.

Or you can answer the topic at hand. Where is food distuributon successful where “companies optimizing for profit” is not the case.

Re: Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

#120

Post by maxander » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

jamiegreen wrote: post #114

maxander wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noodles and fried tofu takes no longer to cook than a steak, and is just as good. A big pot of curried lentils can be set up in ten minutes, let simmer for about an hour, and lasts all week. Tacos with refried beans instead of hamburger is a straightforward substitute. The list goes on. (Nor am I sure that any of those are significantly less caloric than the equivalent meat dishes.) I suspect that most people who thi…

May I respectfully disagree that fried tofu is as good as a steak.

Certainly, I concur- the tofu is definitely better. :)

Sadly, we live in a world where everyone knows how to skillfully prepare beef, but no one knows how to do the same thing with tofu. I think that accounts for the difference. (Useful experiment: try a piece of raw beef, and then a piece of raw tofu. They’re both equally bad!)