Hacker News Reader

In my opinion, from their inception in the early 1970's, the official US food recommendations have been flat wrong, captured by the food industry from the start. The Food Pyramid and its successors, for instance, are far from an ideal diet, and actively harmful to people like me.

I don't want the same people who made those decisions to have the power to force me to eat more of this or less of that. Even if they happen to be right now on a particular issue that is not their track record.

If I were to eat according to USDA recommendations, or even the recommendation of the American Diabetes Association, I think my diabetes would be out of control, compared to being held in remission by a low carb diet.

I agree with some of the sentiment, but I do disagree on a couple of notes: 1. I don't think white rice needs a tax, nor would I consider it a "fatty product". I end up eating white rice probably 4/7 days of the week, paired with whatever vegetables we bought, and either a legume (chickpea, lentil, black bean) or tofu/seitan. If I didn't prep anything, I'll pop a bit of rice in the instant pot and mix it with peanut butter and nutritional yeast in the bowl. I love brown rice, but for a couple of reasons we mostly eat white rice, and I would still consider us healthy people. We do Quinoa and oats a lot as well. I think the main problems with white rice apply to any food. I could get just as fat over-eating brown rice or quinoa. Grains, no matter which you choose, should be just a component of your meal.

2. I'll keep this one short since I rambled for way too long about rice, I think eating more than one piece of fruit per day is fine. Depending on what is in season, my personal tastes sometimes have me missing my fruit target, but I still think having an extra apple or some berries is a way better snack than anything but maybe some raw vegetables. Juice, and dried (with sugar added) fruits are unhealthy except in moderation, but fruit shouldn't be lumped in with those. The fiber helps slow the digestion, and they are vitamin-bombs.

>why not brutally enforce cut down of sugar in sweet items (including softdrinks, ice cream, chocolates, cakes, etc.) by 50%? To he11 with the taste - sugar is as bad as cocaine when it comes to addiction.

No it's not.

>Not only artificial sugar but even the propaganda about stuffing our mouth with fruit needs to stop -- more than 1 fruit (e.g. banana or apple or orange) per adult is excessive in terms of sugar.

I'd love to see a source for that statement and you seem to be ignoring the effects of the fiber in apples and oranges on digestion (i.e. insulin spikes).

>Finally, not only sugar, low sodium levels need to be enforced.

Outdated and incorrect.

>Would also be nice to charge 100% tax on deep fried items and fatty products such as cheese and white rice (in developed nations).

And you completely lost me. There's nothing wrong with cheese and white rice. Like almost any food, in moderation they are fine and healthy. Also, I stay in very good shape; can I please opt out of your 2x tax on my occassional serving of french fries?

>Frankly speaking, all unhealthy foods should be sold with a clear and bold "THIS FOOD PRODUCT IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH" type of warning -- similar to labels on cigarettes.

Except the definition of what's bad for you seems to change about every ten years. Again, moderation is key.

> I'd love to see a source for that statement and you seem to be ignoring the effects of the fiber in apples and oranges.

How many people peel their apples or take the seeds out of their oranges, which reduces the amount of fiber?

>How many people... take the seeds out of their oranges

...Everyone? Are you saying that you eat the seeds? What?

Either way, no one is developing diabetes because they eat three peeled apples on a daily basis. C'mon.

Yeah, I eat the seeds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And yeah, assuming the rest of your diet is healthy, eating a few apples won't make you diabetic. The problem is a broader lack of knowledge about what is healthy. People will eat a lot of garbage, and then eat a few apples and think that it offsets all of the pizza/burgers/soda/etc they ate somehow.

Watch this show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Eaters

>Yeah, I eat the seeds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ha, well more power to you brother.

>And yeah, assuming the rest of your diet is healthy, eating a few apples won't make you diabetic. The problem is a broader lack of knowledge about what is healthy. People will eat a lot of garbage, and then eat a few apples and think that it offsets all of the pizza/burgers/soda/etc they ate somehow.

Sure, people tend to be pretty ignorant about how this stuff works on any level. When I see someone talk about fibrous fruit in the same vein as refined sugar though... I feel someone has to call that out.

The thing with the sodium was debunked like a hundred times already, how long is this myth gonna last? Beside a temporary spike in blood pressure, there is nothing wrong with eating salt.

https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-salt-scam-1973d73dccd

> For far too long the greedy, unethical food corporations have been profiting off our health.

Nonsense. As knowledge of nutrition has advanced, companies have adapted to demands from consumers to produce healthier food options. See: salads at McDonalds.

This idea that there was some magical past where food was healthy and abundant is not supported by fact. My parents grew up on farms in Canada in the 40s/50s, and food security was still very much a big issue - the amount of time they spent just to ensure everyone had adequate food was staggering vs. the ease with which anyone can buy inexpensive, high-quality food at the supermarket today.

Yes, many products have far too much sugar in them. The right approach is to stop buying those products and force manufacturers to reformulate them as they realize their market is drying up, and you already see this happening at a huge scale.

I'm concerned that any action on sugar will drive up artificial sweetening. I don't believe that's a good alternative.

I've recently come across content that discuss palatability, food triggering your reward center, and how we're maybe meant to consume a bland diet: https://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode.... I've posted this link before, in another thread. I'm a big fan of the message.

All in all, it's hard to say. I don't think the public has a good understanding of what "healthy" and "good" food actually is. Schools of thought say there's nothing more dangerous than mixing carbs and fats, while fats and protein and carbs and protein are "good."

Nutrition science doesn't help make things any clearer, on a weekly basis you can find studies contradicting each other.

I suppose I'll add: there are particular diets (macronutrient combinations, unprocessed - food preparation) more effective for fat loss where palatability doesn't trigger fat storage, than say maintenance of body weight with good nutrition.

> why not brutally enforce cut down of sugar in sweet items (including softdrinks, ice cream, chocolates, cakes, etc.) by 50%? To he11 with the taste

A lot of the processed stuff sold in the US would actually taste better with less sugar in it, I bet. I found the taste of sugar pretty much overpowering in a lot of sweets.