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The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

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Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#11
I would say I'm not very healthy myself. I drink a lot, eat lots of sugar, meat and fat. I have thought about eating more healthy and have tried for a little while a couple of times. However I always fall back to eating unhealthy.

The reason for this is that I like eating unhealthy food. It tastes great and gives me joy. I don't mind not growing as old as I could when eating more healthy. This is because I wouldn't enjoy my life as much when I would.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#12
It's nice to advocate healthy living but I really think you're looking too much into the reason why people may not have found your video particularly interesting. Though you raise a discussion on a topic that may be worth exploring, all you've done is stereotype an entire community - which you yourself are an active participant.

Keep in mind, this is a tech community - people that want better living & health advice will seek it out.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#13
post #5

TL;DR: guy gets a comment downvoted on HN and responds by accusing the downvoters of having an unhealthy lifestyle. Is there any evidence that the average geek is less healthy than the average person? Here's a link to the comment in question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7763106

Instead of seeking that "evidence," consider this: is the average geek not supposed to be smarter than the average person? (Is this generality more acceptable because it's flattering? For that matter, is there any evidence of this, either? But for now, let's assume it's true.)

So on that assumption, which we grant temporarily, why then should we not expect these smarter people to make smarter lifestyle choices? Should we not expect geeks, in other words, to do better, not just the same as?

Or at the very least, to be armed with the correct information so that, when the time comes to make those choices, he at least recognizes when he is choosing poorly? Of course the real question is: how do we get people (smart people included) to choose wisely? This is the sixty-four thousand dollar questions.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#14
I think you are both right and wrong. I think geeks have a heard time hearing that they are wrong but I don't think that is why you were downvoted. Your comment looks extremely spammy. Firstly, it reads like one of those "This housewife lost gazillions pounds with this one secret trick. Click to find out more". Secondly, there are a lot of "do this one miracle thing and you will feel better/get thinner/whatever" miracle cures and most of them are bullshit. You claim your recipe is changing lives but what data do you have to back that claim other than a poorly conducted study (friends testimonies) on an extremely small sample size? Maybe we don't think you are a liar, but everyone pretending to be an expert and/or promoting some miracle cure has gotten really, really old.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#15
post #6

Just to pick on a tiny part of that post, consuming anti-oxidants hasn't been reliably shown to have any health benefits. If consuming anti-oxidants has any effect, it's not necessarily a positive one, since the body uses oxidation for various processes, for example the immune system. You might be consuming anti-oxidants aiming to benefit your health, yet be negatively impacting your immune system's ability to fight…

I hope you're being ironic, because this attitude is exactly what the article is declaiming.

Nope, not ironic.

But if your aim is to increase people's health, you're going to do a better job using accurate information.

The initial studies showing anti-oxidants have health benefits have struggled to be replicated, and new studies have shown anti-oxidants may be having negative health impact.

Edit: since a couple of people have asked, here's one fairly good source, there are others if you search. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22419320

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#16
post #6

Just to pick on a tiny part of that post, consuming anti-oxidants hasn't been reliably shown to have any health benefits. If consuming anti-oxidants has any effect, it's not necessarily a positive one, since the body uses oxidation for various processes, for example the immune system. You might be consuming anti-oxidants aiming to benefit your health, yet be negatively impacting your immune system's ability to fight…

I hope you're being ironic, because this attitude is exactly what the article is declaiming.

Why would he be ironic? Consuming too many antioxidants have been tested and turn out to have some pretty ugly negative effects, just like too much of anything else at all.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#17
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you're being ironic, because this attitude is exactly what the article is declaiming.

Nope, not ironic. But if your aim is to increase people's health, you're going to do a better job using accurate information. The initial studies showing anti-oxidants have health benefits have struggled to be replicated, and new studies have shown anti-oxidants may be having negative health impact. Edit: since a couple of people have asked, here's one fairly good source, there are others if you search. http://www.nc…

[deleted]

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#18
Nothing against the idea of healthy eating or smoothies for that matter but it just may be the claims made in your post that made it read like a testimonial you see on fitness sites or fad diets that may have triggered the ire of the folk reading it. It's nothing personal, and please don't take it that way and for the record I'm going to try this out( but that's because I like smoothies).

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#20
My wife has a PhD in nutrition and is also a dietitian, so I know a lot more than average about food and healthy eating.

It's gotten where I don't even click on the comments of any nutrition-related story I see on HN, because the volume of misinformation makes me sad.

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