I’ve read so much on nutrition that my head feels like it is going to explode. The thing that sucks the most is there is no general consensus of what the “ideal” human diet is.
I’ve heard arguments for keto, paleo, veganism, Mediterranean, carnivore diet etc.
The crappy thing is that I can understand arguments for each school of thought. It also doesn’t help that each teacher preaches their lifestyle and the “true” way.
I wish there was a person or resource who is truly a centrist and can give pros and cons to each diet out there.
Redditors, how do you navigate the information overload?
The thing to remember is that, we are an omnivorous species. We have been able to thrive on many, many different types of diets, and it’s one of the things that makes us unique and adaptable, as a species
So anyone trying to claim that their way, is the only “true” way, you can pretty much ignore them.
As for information overload… when confronted with information, ask yourself, does this make sense? Do I see this playing out in reality?
There is no one size fits all diet.
Humans have evolved over many hundreds of thousands of years and have the genes to survive and thrive on the many kinds of food available all over the earth. Due to prehistoric necessity, humans can thrive for amazingly long periods of time with little or no food at all.
The rise of agriculture was only ~ 11 thousand years ago or so. Technology has dramatically changed our diet in just the past couple centuries. A blink of an eye when compared to how long we have existed. No wonder there’s controversy over the “Best” Diet. A lot of food that is commonplace everyday in any market would have been only available seasonally, or even rarely at all. Dosage makes the poison. Even too much water will kill you - in more than one way.
It seems there are diseases that are related to overabundance of certain foods - Type 2 Diabetes comes to mind - and even then there is a genetic component.
I have the genes to be able to eat tons of carbs with no problem, my partner does not. My children have mild dairy intolerance, their parents do not.
So back to where I started. There is no one size fits all diet.
I have been cross-referencing our world in data website statistics that use WHO and U.N data on diets around the world and longevity. Along with some other databases readily available on the internet on health stats. It really is very interesting. I won’t go into what exactly my thoughts are, so as to not start any drama on here. But there are some amazing correlations to think about. Suffice to say, some official “recommendations” about diet are not that correlated with longevity. In fact some things are all over the place or contrary to popular opinion. Fascinating. However what is very well correlated with longevity is access to good water and sanitation.
https://ourworldindata.org/diet-compositions
If anyone has any reason to doubt their stats please let me know. Obviously there is some truth to the saying “lies, damn lies and statistics” so I don’t take any particular stats as the whole truth.
There does seem to be a bell curve in some food groups going on. Which leads us back to a “balanced” diet approach. More or less is not always better. Some countries that do well in longevity and have more varied diets do have certain illnesses more prevalent in their societies like obesity or years lived with certain conditions. So there are trade offs to think about but that will need more investigation. I am more certain about some macros from this data but there is a lot of nuance still.
Happy hunting!
Toying with the idea of a database/spreadsheet with all this data on if I can’t find an online version.
Blue Zone diet. Real food. Those are the people living the longest with long health spans. Cut the oils, processed foods, fast food, frozen meals. I find some fish is good. Beans are good. Root vegetables like purple potatoes, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, carrots, radishes, etc. Throw in cruciferous vegetables and leafy greens. Brown rice and veggies. Fermented foods like sauerkraut. Yogurt. Bananas. Soy milk. Nuts. Fruit in limited quantities. Ground flax seed. You can swap out some of the non-vegan items for similar items, like soy yogurt. I’ve been delving deeply into diet for the last 15 years or so and have literally tried every single diet. And this is where I landed for maximum health and nutrition. Again, eat real food. Much of this food is what our grandparents were eating. And they were generally in better shape than us. (minus things like infectious diseases and poor healthcare) Also, throw in intermittent fasting since we’ve programmed ourselves to eat way too much these days. Esp. in the US. Unless you are naturally slim to begin with. I am currently in the best shape of my life.
The more overly-detailed it sounds, the less I pay attention to it.
Prepare most of your meals yourself using fresh ingredients and don’t eat too much and you’re probably doing better than 90% of the world.
Also, eat some pizza and fried chicken every now and then. It’s delicious. Don’t deny yourself that joy. It’s only a problem if that becomes your everyday diet.
I think there is a lot of noise coming from random people who really aren’t qualified to be giving nutritional advice, or wild extrapolations created from small studies. There is some nuance for sure, but I think it has been made out to be much more complicated than it really is. If you look at actual recommendations (and I’m not talking about bloggers and YouTubers or authors trying to sell you their supplements) most are fairly similar.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/dietary-guidelines
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-dietary-changes-extend-life-span
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28446499/
I personally consume a diet high in whole plant foods, and low in added sugar and animal products. That has the most evidence behind it.
Anything without reproducible mechanistic reasoning that accounts for variables can be regarded as inconclusive, only usable for providing direction of future research. So that means virtually all nutritional research won’t give you a conclusive answer. FFQ and surveys are just anecdotes, which means epidemiology which is the current determinant factor of dietary dogma is not conclusive as we have been led to believe. Watch out for appeal to authority. Watch out for Gell-Mann amnesia effect. Don’t accept 2nd+ hand sources. Don’t blindly trust anyone.
It does seem like dietary “positions” have become somewhat polarizing like a religious belief.
I tend to just stick with real food. Whole foods as much as possible (almost always). Fruit, veggies, grains, nuts…you can’t really go wrong with the basics. You get all you need in a balanced amount of these foods. I eat a small amount of meet and very little dairy or oils. I make my own salad dressings, and even my own snack bars.
Try not to overthink it, and don’t try to follow a “diet”. Just eat the things that are doubtless in nutrition. Lots of green leafies, whole grains, etc.
Wisdom is seldom found in extremes. Follow experts in the nutrition field (not chiropractors or psychologists trying to sell their carnivore or keto diet books). What is best for one won’t be best for the other. You also don’t need to pick a “diet” with a fancy name.
If you look at most “diets” what are some overlaps? Usually it’s protein, fruit and vegetables, healthy fats, etc.
Just read the dietary guidelines from any developed country and you’ll get pretty close. There’s not one “ideal” human diet because different people have different goals, different levels of athleticism, different medical conditions that may indicate dietary modifications, etc.
Generally if some influencer is telling you “all you thought you knew about XYZ is wrong” they’re full of shit. Saying there’s no consensus of what constitutes a healthy diet is like saying there’s no consensus on climate change because a loud minority of quacks are out there denying it.
>keto, paleo, veganism, Mediterranean, carnivore
Including veganism here is kind of a category mistake. It’s an ethical position, not a specific diet