It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
josvisser.substack.com
It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#2Blog makes some good points with limited application of this knowledge problem. Sometimes it is a a knowledge problem like not having the knowledge (read: experience) or critical skills to make the time to research or do a trade study on the right approach. Even if given the time, the wrong decision or action might still be taken. But then you have the knowledge for next time.
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#3> the color coding program was completely misguided because it assumed that we didn’t know what healthy food was. I challenged the nutritionist to an experiment: Make two plates of food, go into the restaurant at lunch time, and ask people to point out the healthier plate. My bet was that if you did not purposefully make it very tricky, people would unfailingly point to the right plate.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
I used to struggled with weight most of my young years. No matter what I did I achieved incremental advances at best. At some point I decided to start "counting calories", something that I used to frown upon.
To my shock some foods that I ate that I considered "healthy" weren't so much so. This isn't even counting the fact that most experts can't even agree what is healthy or not, and opinions change over time.
Just like with coding, there are some black/white examples where the average person could make an easy distinction, but then there is a wide range of greys in the middle where people might not really know what's "good/bad".
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#4OP indeed misunderstood the color coding program by treating it as a knowledge problem. Looks to me like it was much more about "nudging": It's one thing to decide for yourself, in your head, whether to have the tofu bowl or the fries for lunch. It's another to have both next to each other in the cafeteria, one authoritatively labeled with a green, the other with a red dot. Sure you can still choose the fries, but it will feel much more directly like "bad choice" than without the markers.
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#5OP indeed misunderstood the color coding program by treating it as a knowledge problem. Looks to me like it was much more about "nudging": It's one thing to decide for yourself, in your head, whether to have the tofu bowl or the fries for lunch. It's another to have both next to each other in the cafeteria, one authoritatively labeled with a green, the other with a red dot. Sure you can still choose the fries, but it…
It could have been combined with calorie counting and exercise/steps efforts too
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#6OP indeed misunderstood the color coding program by treating it as a knowledge problem. Looks to me like it was much more about "nudging": It's one thing to decide for yourself, in your head, whether to have the tofu bowl or the fries for lunch. It's another to have both next to each other in the cafeteria, one authoritatively labeled with a green, the other with a red dot. Sure you can still choose the fries, but it…
Hasn't the nudging theory been pretty thoroughly debunked at this point?
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#7OP indeed misunderstood the color coding program by treating it as a knowledge problem. Looks to me like it was much more about "nudging": It's one thing to decide for yourself, in your head, whether to have the tofu bowl or the fries for lunch. It's another to have both next to each other in the cafeteria, one authoritatively labeled with a green, the other with a red dot. Sure you can still choose the fries, but it…
Hasn't the nudging theory been pretty thoroughly debunked at this point?
It hadn't yet been at the time this program was in practice. I wager the enthusiasm for nudging was probably around its peak at the time we're talking, somewhere early 2010s?
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#8> the color coding program was completely misguided because it assumed that we didn’t know what healthy food was. I challenged the nutritionist to an experiment: Make two plates of food, go into the restaurant at lunch time, and ask people to point out the healthier plate. My bet was that if you did not purposefully make it very tricky, people would unfailingly point to the right plate. I wholeheartedly disagree. I u…
Is a three-colour code going to tell you what's healthy?
I think I'd prefer a standard nutrition label, since I'd guess that a mushroom battered in almond meal and deep fried in olive oil is probably made of three green ingredients but will end up red in combination.
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#9> the color coding program was completely misguided because it assumed that we didn’t know what healthy food was. I challenged the nutritionist to an experiment: Make two plates of food, go into the restaurant at lunch time, and ask people to point out the healthier plate. My bet was that if you did not purposefully make it very tricky, people would unfailingly point to the right plate. I wholeheartedly disagree. I u…
I had a similar experience. I think counting calories really does help in recalibrating your instincts around food. It even pushes you toward healthier options. It also naturally pushes you toward less calorie dense food. I remember a conversation with myself where it really clicked “I could eat this massive salad with ground beef and balsamic and feel full for hours or I can eat two microwave burritos and still feel hungry.”
Re: It's a knowledge problem Or is it?
#10> the color coding program was completely misguided because it assumed that we didn’t know what healthy food was. I challenged the nutritionist to an experiment: Make two plates of food, go into the restaurant at lunch time, and ask people to point out the healthier plate. My bet was that if you did not purposefully make it very tricky, people would unfailingly point to the right plate. I wholeheartedly disagree. I u…
I think part of the problem here is that “healthy” in a nutritional quality sense is orthogonal to “healthy” in a caloric density sense.