The more I read about nutrition science, the more that I’m convinced that there is no consistent scientific proof of what foods are good or bad for us. This allows people who believe strongly that X diet or Y maricle food is THE answer to cherry-pick from a body of studies that show a wide range of findings and then someone else who believes that X and Y are bad and that Z is the true answer can cherry pick their own supporting studies. Actually, it’s kind of baffling and seems to me to point to humanity’s ability to survive and thrive on any number of diets. (It’s also sort of interesting to read those “the world’s oldest people’s advice for long life” articles and see things like smoking, eating bacon, walking, not eating bacon, not walking, etc, etc advised. Basically, genes and luck)
One thing has been confirmed for sure: smoking will shorten your life.
psych
100% genes and luck
we all want to control our destiny. when people do things that are " good" in a disciplined manor they feel a sense of control and power. but it is out of our hands. just stay away from toxic chemicals, wars, natural disasters etc…
that is not to say you do not need medical interventions like appendix surgery or antibiotics etc… but eating a cheese burger will not shorten your life and eating lettuce and carrots for lunch will not help you.
Does “luck” also include not gorging yourself to death on fast food and sugar?
Pretty sure no amount of luck and genes can keep you alive if literally the only food you consume is celery.
LOL, romani.
@BunsenBurner , smoking is not a food. Also, I didn’t say health habits or factors for that reason–keeping a healthy weight, not smoking, engaging in physical activity, all have strong links to positive health outcomes. What I said is that I have yet to see any evidence of a “jackpot” diet (using the non-weight loss definition) or food in terms of health outcomes. There’s no strong body of literature that suggests, for example, that we should all go paleo or vegan or whatnot for better health, at least not in the same way that there’s a strong evidence-base for quitting smoking, not being obese, etc.
Actually, there are some things that almost all diet ideologies, however much they disagree on other things, tend to agree on, like eating more vegetables and avoiding bad carbs like added sugars and bad fats like partially hydrogenated trans-fats.
“100% genes and luck
we all want to control our destiny. when people do things that are " good” in a disciplined manor they feel a sense of control and power. but it is out of our hands. just stay away from toxic chemicals, wars, natural disasters etc…"
The point isn’t to just live for a long time. Modern medicine can keep us alive for a very long time. The point is to live WELL for a long time. I’d like to be running marathons in my eighties. In fact, I’d like to be doing triathalons in my eighties. I would like to keep at least most of my brains intact, if that isn’t asking for too much. I don’t want to dodder into old age, based upon my genes. There is an increasing number of people out there that are doing exceptional athletic feats, even as they are aging. How does that happen, genetics? I don’t think so.
There are things you can do to help yourself. To paraphrase a poster on cc (very badly, I might add), everyone carries a bag of crap around (ie genetics). You can add to the bag, or you can take away from it. So why do you want to add to your genetic bag of crap?
“Actually, there are some things that almost all diet ideologies, however much they disagree on other things, tend to agree on, like eating more vegetables and avoiding bad carbs like added sugars and bad fats like partially hydrogenated trans-fats.”
That seems pretty consistent!
If any research should be publicly funded, it should be what monsanto does. I can’t think of any research more important to humanity. But instead we have NASA. Sigh
It’s interesting though… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment#Health_and_lifestyle
Side note: There’s only 2 people born in the 19th century who are still alive today.
BunsenBurner
"not gorging yourself to death on fast food and sugar? " that is what I mentioned earlier, that people hear something like that some much they take it as gospel.it is a myth. eating fast food is not bad for you neither is sugar. that falls under the flat earth mentality! people say it so much it becomes true.
Eating a diet high in sugar and other refined carbohydrates and hydrogenated fats most definitely contributes strongly to the development of type II diabetes and obesity, which carry additional risk of morbidity and mortality. Eating a cookie isn’t going to kill you, but eating a diet high in sugar and other crap day in and day out will kill you quicker than your genes may have intended for you to die under normal circumstances. We have seen obesity and type II diabetes skyrocket, and we are now seeing it in children, and you cannot attribute childhood type II diabetes and its accompanying sequelae to genes or luck.
Not true. Your genes may make it easier to get (type 2) diabetes and high blood pressure, leading to higher risk of other adverse health effects like heart attacks, but such behaviors like eating and exercise habits will affect whether you actually do get diabetes and high blood pressure.
There is no magic bullet with diet and such, for a lot of reasons.Genetics does play a role, if most of us ate the diet in places where they eat meat and live off dairy products with few vegetables, many of us would be in trouble. Those who couldn’t handle that kind of diet would die off and not reproduce, leaving a population that can handle it. One of the things that to me make for good nutritional advice is those people who say use what works for you, within guidelines. There are those whose bodies seem adapted to a high carb diet, eating grains and such, whereas other do better on a diet with more protein. Exercise is another area, some people do well with Aerobics others with more interval or strength training. There are people who practice something called ‘deliberate fasting’ where they only eat in roughy an 8 hour window, others, especially women, may not do well with it. Low fat diets can cause serious health problems, fats are needed both by the brain and to synthesize hormones, it all depends on the person.
On the other hand, anyone who says it is all genetics is lying through their teeth and is trying to justify bad eating by saying it doesn’t matter. If you are someone who has cancer on both sides of the family, then not smoking, and eating a diet that keeps inflammation down and exposure to some kinds of additives, will add to your life. Jim Fixx, the original guru of running, died at a very young age, and people pointed at him as a sign that being in shape didn’t do anything; yet he outlived several generations of men in his family, his father and grandfather died much younger than he did (and he had started out overweight and smoked, before taking up running, mind you. It is why it is so important to tailor what you are eating to who you are, why it isn’t one size fits all.
As far as eating sugar and/or fast foods, ocassionally having candy or a fast food burger won’t hurt you. But as regular eating, both will shorten the lifespans of the person doing it, compared to what it would be if they ate it in moderation.
hear are a couple more myths
https://www.yahoo.com/health/10-biggest-nutrition-myths-ever-124324999958.html
^ I wouldn’t believe a list of myths on Yahoo health.
sorghum, not sure why not??? if you said not to listen to yahoo on politics agreed…but this is not agenda driven!
I like these “food face offs”. I’m also sick of hearing about cauliflower (grilled cheese where every part is made of miraculous cauliflower!) so here is one where cauliflower loses, hehehehe.
http://www.prevention.com/content/which-healthier-broccoli-or-cauliflower
I like cauliflower with tempura batter or smothered in butter and breadcrumbs and baked!