Good for you today, bad for you tommorrow.

[Clement]

Red meat is bad for you, then suddenly it's good, alcohol is bad for you, then its good again.....wait for it......now it's bad, no wait its good! vitamin pills are bad for you last week, this week they are a vital supplement, eating fish great for the brain! eating fish now terrible because of mercury levels, vegetables great! vegetables covered in pesticides! eggs full of cholesteral, dont have too many, wait! have loads cos they are full of nutrients!

Why is this important information allowed to be so badly delivered to the public by so many vague sources?

Shouldn't there be some kind of official mouth-piece for these food and health matters? i'm becoming so incredibly confused, i don't know whats what anymore, do you find this a problem at all?

 

[El_Machinae]

Yeah, it's frustrating, I can see that. People tend to not care about food science, because it's so tough to popularise (or else people become 'true believers' of specific food theories). What's frustrating is that 90% of these finicky things don't matter, because they're just fine-tuning the obvious. Eat vegetables. Eat fruit. Each some of the other stuff. The basics haven't changed: we need to eat massively more vegetables than normal people do.

As well, doing science around food is slow & hard, and it's (imo) underfunded. There's a pretty large public good potential from good science in food, but there's no specific profiting entity (other than taxpayers) from the knowledge. That said, we know the trick to healthy food: more vegetables and fruit. But people won't do it, and we'd rather get confused about whether flax oil is better than salmon oil (etc.)

Eventually, I hope, there will be good formulas found for the micronutrient markets that will help improve our lives. I suspect that the micronutrient science will have a decent way to go before it outclasses "eat more veggies, stupid"

 

[sav]

I read New Scientist regularly (benefit of a wife who works in the magazine market), and the number one thing I've got from it is that most often, old wisdom is best when it comes to basic stuff like, what to eat.

Eat some veges, eat some meat, eat some yummy stuff, but most of all, be moderate. I lost almost 20kg doing that.

But when it comes to rest of science, screw that old time crap. String theory is awesome.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Moderation is really the biggest key. You can eat all the right stuff, but eat too much of it and still have weight and health problems! Its kind of like that chemistry adage that everything and nothing is poisonous, its all about dosage. Have a slice of pizza, but don't have four slices. Have a glass of wine, but not a pitcher. And of course have some sense. Eat a veggie salad, but down drown it in dressing.

 

[Tee Kay]

Moderation is really the biggest key. You can eat all the right stuff, but eat too much of it and still have weight and health problems! Its kind of like that chemistry adage that everything and nothing is poisonous, its all about dosage. Have a slice of pizza, but don't have four slices. Have a glass of wine, but not a pitcher. And of course have some sense. Eat a veggie salad, but down drown it in dressing.

 

[azzaman333]

Moderation is really the biggest key. You can eat all the right stuff, but eat too much of it and still have weight and health problems! Its kind of like that chemistry adage that everything and nothing is poisonous, its all about dosage. Have a slice of pizza, but don't have four slices. Have a glass of wine, but not a pitcher. And of course have some sense. Eat a veggie salad, but down drown it in dressing.

I agree with Cheezy, except the four slices of pizza part. Four is definitely the optimal number of pizza slices to eat for dinner.

 

[Tee Kay]

I agree with Cheezy, except the four slices of pizza part. Four is definitely the optimal number of pizza slices to eat for dinner.

Bloh, four is too one too many, unless it's really really good pizza.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Surely it is a function of both the radius and the slice angle?

 

[Bill3000]

But when it comes to rest of science, screw that old time crap. String theory is awesome.

pfft, if you like unfalsifiable theories

 

[azzaman333]

Bloh, four is too one too many, unless it's really really good pizza.

It's hard to wreck a pizza badly enough for me not to want at least 4 slices.

Surely it is a function of both the radius and the slice angle?

Good point. I amend that to 4 slices is the minimum optimal number, which can vary depending on radius and slice angle.

 

[Kozmos]

So you the loop quantum gravity type then?

 

[W|M]

The best portion of pizza to eat is the entire pizza!

 

[Dachs]

The best portion of pizza to eat is the entire pizza!

What the foreigner said.

 

[Earthling]

Surely it is a function of both the radius and the slice angle?

No. Four is the answer. Those variables you adjust to suit the rule. It's a perfect social convention, you can get two slices as a first helping and then get more.

 

[Narz]

Like ElMac said, don't sweat the details too much. Certain things I avoid, noteably refined sugar in any form, most vegetable oils, meat (except occasionally some salmon) & dairy products except butter, highly refined salt (except in small quantities). Beyond that I pretty much eat whatever I want. I try to eat green vegetables with every meal (unless I'm eating just a melon or something).

 

[azzaman333]

The best portion of pizza to eat is the entire pizza!

Some pizzas are too large to eat entirely in one sitting, unless you're a fat slob.

 

[W|M]

I'm about 5'8 and just under 140lb, and have never been able to not eat an entire pizza I've seen for nearly 10 years!

 

[Bast]

What you eat today, you wear on your face tomorrow. Stick to fresh fruits and vegetables. Seriously.

 

[azzaman333]

I'm about 5'8 and just under 140lb, and have never been able to not eat an entire pizza I've seen for nearly 10 years!

Therefore making you a fat slob.

 

[W|M]

My BMI is about 20, therefore making me a thin slob!