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Comment by anexprogrammer | Hacker News Reader

It's nice to see something resembling common sense in the media on food. There's been far too much "avoid this" only to be told the opposite a decade later.

I've tried to ignore all the food claims as I've gone through life. If we do anything it's to prefer basic foods over processed. The longer the ingredient list, or the more packed with sugars, the less likely it is to go in the trolley. I never switched from butter and full fat cheese as the alternatives taste terrible, the other half tried low fat spreads for ages, but hated them.

As we've done more cooking and baking we've rediscovered how poor most of the mass produced ones are. Especially bread and cake.

At 50 after the age related checkup, my blood work was excellent. Proves little of course. I still got the lecture on low fat though! I suspect everyone has to get it.

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After 4 months of high fat low carb diet after questionable cholesterol levels, I went in for a checkup. My numbers were pretty optimal. HDL high, LDL low, had halved my triglycerides to 70. In 4 frick'n months. And I'd lost 40 lbs. The PA and nurses came in and threw me a little party congratulating me.

And then I told them how I did it and got a long long long lecture on why I should be on a low fat diet :/

Similar story here, for everything that they test for in the bloodwork, results markedly improved (as well as weight loss). But if you tell them how you achieved it, its "Well you should eat less fat, especially saturated."

Same story here. The doctor was really excited about a rare "win". The nurses were too, until I told them how I did it. Then they were horrified. Didn't seem to bother the doctor though.

I always say doctors are just regular people that went to medical school at one point. They don't remember everything they learned and they aren't gurnteed to learn new stuff.

Curious: which specific high-fat / low-carb plan did you follow? I'm planning on starting such a lifestyle change and wonder which ones work well.

I ate whatever meat I found appealing, always used olive oil, coconut oil, or butter. Then lots of vegetables, but limiting carbs to < 50g on days I run and < 20g on days I don't. So no starchy veges and fruit only when I was jones'n for something sweet, I'd eat some fruit.

I saw a TV show a couple of years ago about which nation's national diet is the healthiest. I admit I don't remember them giving sources for their claims, but France was high up the list of healthiest, even though they eat a lot of saturated fat. The point is they eat real food rather than processed food.

I also read recently that the French have one of the lowest rates of heart disease.

Having looked at the data a lot of different ways, I'm fairly certain that the health of the French is a result of low stress levels and strong social connections. Your mental state plays a huge role in your health, to the point that someone who takes slightly better care of their body because they worry about their health will end up less healthy than someone who is carefree and relaxed.

If you're correct, I'm screwed.

It is known as the French Paradox.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox

I recall a few of the pieces stemming from the recent sugar story and the multi nation study. France couldn't be included as it would give the wrong result. I seem to remember that they had data from 20 or 30 countries most varying markedly from the preferred answer.

They drink a lot.

I doubt they drink as much as the British or Americans.

Your doubts lead you astray. The French and British have about the same alcohol consumption per capita (who drinks more depends on exactly what year you're looking at and what dataset you're using), but they're both about 30% more than the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_c...

It shouldn't be surprising, really. There are a lot of people in the US who don't drink at all for religious reasons, and the consumption of alcohol is more heavily restricted by law.

Also likely depends on what they drink... do the French drink mostly wine?

I think this is sound advice. I've been pretty much following this rule. Basically nothing is off limits as long as it isn't processed, home made apple pies and good spaghetti. Of course in moderation :)

Edit: Would like to clarify this means you have to make the apple pie too from scratch.

Hah. Apple pie led to obsessive asking from the kids when they were younger.

Not a conversation I was going to help with, I'd never refuse more mum's apple pie. :)

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