What do you know is good?

[Narz]

There is much that is claimed to be good. Take diet for instance. Any combination of foods from only fruit to only meat and everything in between is claimed by some group to be the way to eat. Same with any other aspect of life, behavior, beliefs.

I've known, befriended and often cohabited with many extreme individuals (for instance a guy who ate nothing but fruit for months & another guy who ate nothing but meat for months, hence the example) who go back and forth from extremes (wanting to be full-time web designers to living without electricity, etc.)

Ultimately claiming knowledge is tricky and generally the smarter one is the more hesitant one is about it. Hence Socrates famous statement.

However whether we waffle or not there are things we believe, we merely need to watch our behavior & habitual thought patterns.

So anyway, here are some of my "I'm pretty damn certain these things are good" in no particular order.

Feel free to add your own & argue about each others (adding scientific validation is welcome)

1. Laughing w one's friends (for just the right amount of time)
2. Not eating late @ night
3. Mindful exercise
4. Self-acceptance (while also not putting up w/ bullfeathers from yourself)
5. Meaningful work
6. Cats & dogs (from an environmental standpoint ok, they're bad but from a human emotional standpoint they're good)
7. Designating time to spend in nature

I'll add more later. Nothing exactly surprising or unusual shared by me so far but it's still good to remind myself of these things.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Not eating late @ night

It's 2:30 am here and I am munching on corn chips while watching Star Trek: Voyager. For me it is not late, as I live by a different schedule.

I assume you're looking at this from a health angle. Just please remember that not everyone's "late at night" is actually when it's dark out.

 

[Snerk]

Pinning down specific actions as good (or bad) can be a strenuous exercise. There's always context, different nuances, and various cause and effect to consider. We should try to do good, but proving our actions as objectively "good" is probably futile.

1. Laughing w one's friends (for just the right amount of time)
2. Not eating late @ night
3. Mindful exercise
4. Self-acceptance (while also not putting up w/ bullfeathers from yourself)
5. Meaningful work
6. Cats & dogs (from an environmental standpoint ok, they're bad but from a human emotional standpoint they're good)
7. Designating time to spend in nature

1. It was a horrible racist joke
2. The person is underweight and malnourished
3. Busted knees or something
4. Gjengis Kahn accepting himself for who he is
5. Julius Caesar finding meaning in his campaign in Gaul
6. Sucks for the environment and local small animal population
7. By driving your range rover in it

Sure I'm being anal but it's all a matter of perspective.

 

[civvver]

Actually meal timing has no effect on weight gain or loss. It's made up. Studies have debunked this time and time again. All that nonsense about don't skip breakfast, jump start your metabolism and don't eat late at night cus it slows your metabolism, is just that, nonsense. It's simply because people who eat breakfast tend to have better habits so it's a correlation, not a cause, and also people who eat late at night it's usually watching tv, mindlessly eating snacks, so again it's habits causing a correlation, not a cause.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-skipping-breakfast-bad
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/does-nutrient-timing-matter
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/eating-at-night

I think there's a line somewhere about the best diet being, eat a variety of foods, mostly plants. I tailor mine a little into three basic rules:
1. Eat sufficient amounts of protein (most people don't eat enough, eat at least 100g a day as a minimum, and if training/exercising you should eat around 0.7-0.8g of protein per lb of body weight)
2. Eat a variety of foods, not too much or too little (if your goal is lose weight/fat, eat less. If it's put on weight/muscle, eat more)
3. Eat foods you like (there's no such thing as super foods so don't force yourself to live off acai berries and spinach if you hate them. If you love bananas, go bananas. If brocoli is your thing have at it. Don't like meat? Find, there are plenty of alternatives, you won't stick with a healthy diet if it's full of gross foods)

Things I know to be good:

Sex. It's a biological need (to procreate). You don't actually need to procreate but you still should be fulfilling your biological side of it. Tons of studies show how it's healthy for you. I'm talking about the physical aspect, not just intimacy. It's important and gets neglected in many western societies probably cus our pilgrim puritan forefathers thought it's naughty and needs to be confined to the marriage bed. Just be responsible about it.

Sleep. Most people do not get either enough or high enough quality. Sleep is essential for your body to regulate hormones which affect all sorts of other things to do with your health.

Taking time for yourself/de-stressing. Stress is probably the biggest health issue in western society. It leads to overeating and weight gain, hurts your sleep, hurts your relationships, work ethic and product, all sorts of negatives. Stress comes from ancient times in our evolution when it was a fight or flee mentality, where we had to be on a heightened alertness level to physically survive. We had to be constantly finding food sources and avoiding danger. To live at that constant alert level now is very unhealthy for your mind and body.

Subjective things:
Peanut butter
Beer
Cheese
Video games
Poker
Basketball

 

[Birdjaguar]

Most things in moderation
Breyer's Vanilla ice cream
Touching living things

 

[Snerk]

Touching living things

You're due in court in november.

 

[civvver]

Haggen daz vanilla is the one true vanilla. Depending on the variety breyer's might not even contain egg yolks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/...breyers-ice-cream-was-you-know-ice-cream.html

Gums are far inferior to using actual eggs as emulsifiers.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Haggen daz vanilla is the one true vanilla. Depending on the variety breyer's might not even contain egg yolks.

Egg yolks have no place in vanilla ice cream.

 

[Birdjaguar]

You're due in court in november.

No more horseback riding for you young man.

 

[MaryKB]

Actually meal timing has no effect on weight gain or loss. It's made up. Studies have debunked this time and time again. All that nonsense about don't skip breakfast, jump start your metabolism and don't eat late at night cus it slows your metabolism, is just that, nonsense. It's simply because people who eat breakfast tend to have better habits so it's a correlation, not a cause, and also people who eat late at night it's usually watching tv, mindlessly eating snacks, so again it's habits causing a correlation, not a cause.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-skipping-breakfast-bad
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/does-nutrient-timing-matter
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/eating-at-night

I think there's a line somewhere about the best diet being, eat a variety of foods, mostly plants. I tailor mine a little into three basic rules:
1. Eat sufficient amounts of protein (most people don't eat enough, eat at least 100g a day as a minimum, and if training/exercising you should eat around 0.7-0.8g of protein per lb of body weight)
2. Eat a variety of foods, not too much or too little (if your goal is lose weight/fat, eat less. If it's put on weight/muscle, eat more)
3. Eat foods you like (there's no such thing as super foods so don't force yourself to live off acai berries and spinach if you hate them. If you love bananas, go bananas. If brocoli is your thing have at it. Don't like meat? Find, there are plenty of alternatives, you won't stick with a healthy diet if it's full of gross foods)

Things I know to be good:

Sex. It's a biological need (to procreate). You don't actually need to procreate but you still should be fulfilling your biological side of it. Tons of studies show how it's healthy for you. I'm talking about the physical aspect, not just intimacy. It's important and gets neglected in many western societies probably cus our pilgrim puritan forefathers thought it's naughty and needs to be confined to the marriage bed. Just be responsible about it.

Sleep. Most people do not get either enough or high enough quality. Sleep is essential for your body to regulate hormones which affect all sorts of other things to do with your health.

Taking time for yourself/de-stressing. Stress is probably the biggest health issue in western society. It leads to overeating and weight gain, hurts your sleep, hurts your relationships, work ethic and product, all sorts of negatives. Stress comes from ancient times in our evolution when it was a fight or flee mentality, where we had to be on a heightened alertness level to physically survive. We had to be constantly finding food sources and avoiding danger. To live at that constant alert level now is very unhealthy for your mind and body.

Subjective things:
Peanut butter
Beer
Cheese
Video games
Poker
Basketball

I like what you wrote, and I'd add "sunlight" and "fresh air" to your must-haves list. There's enough evidence how sunshine can affect your mood, and breathing stale air can lead to lots of problems. And some kind of activity too, doesn't have to be a lot, but you shouldn't sit in a chair all day every day.

I feel with foods, there are some things. Like for example, unsaturated fat is good, but saturated and trans fats are bad. They don't affect your weight differently, but they can have a different effect on your heart health.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Cooking for other people and sharing a meal and conversation with them is good.
Finding something you like doing and/or think is worthwhile and getting paid to do it is wonderful (and rare).

 

[TheMeInTeam]

"Good" is not an absolute property unto itself so this is really difficult beyond just stating preferences/opinion.

1. Laughing w one's friends (for just the right amount of time) --> what is the "right" amount of time? If this gets to be a moving goalpost it's pretty convenient!
   
2. Not eating late @ night --> definitely wise if you mean "near bedtime" and have reflux issues.
   
3. Mindful exercise --> as in exercising while avoiding injury?
   
4. Self-acceptance (while also not putting up w/ bullfeathers from yourself) --> sure
   
5. Meaningful work --> How does one decide/assign meaning?
   
6. Cats & dogs --> They can be fun
7. Designating time to spend in nature --> I don't care about this at all but I know people who do

It all comes down to one's utility function(s) really.

 

[civvver]

Egg yolks have no place in vanilla ice cream.

Sorry but you definitely in the minority.

https://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/08/how-many-eggs-should-i-use-to-make-ice-cream.html

They swapped egg yolks for gums like guar gum and carob gum or whatever as an emulsifier cus it's cheaper. Eggs have better body and flavor, make it more luxurious. It's why haggen daz is so good.
Bryer's natural vanilla and haggen daz have 4/5ths of the same ingredients, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, then haggen daz has eggs, bryers has tara gum, whatever that is!

I like what you wrote, and I'd add "sunlight" and "fresh air" to your must-haves list. There's enough evidence how sunshine can affect your mood, and breathing stale air can lead to lots of problems. And some kind of activity too, doesn't have to be a lot, but you shouldn't sit in a chair all day every day.

I feel with foods, there are some things. Like for example, unsaturated fat is good, but saturated and trans fats are bad. They don't affect your weight differently, but they can have a different effect on your heart health.

Yes sunlight is quite good, our bodies cannot produce vitamin D without it. Low vitamin D levels can lead to depression.

 

[MaryKB]

Breyers should not be allowed to call what it creates "ice cream."

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Bryer's natural vanilla and haggen daz have 4/5ths of the same ingredients, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, then haggen daz has eggs, bryers has tara gum, whatever that is!

If you have bad reactions with eggs, it's a strictly superior ingredient. Seems to be some kind of plant.

Egg is probably the superior ingredient for most preferences, assuming it doesn't outright get you sick. But if it does it's nice that there are alternatives.

 

[Lexicus]

Y'all are tripping because the best ice cream ever is:

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I'm incapable of knowing what is good.

 

[Socrates99]

God made beer because he loves us and wants us to be happy.

Often attributed to Ben Franklin but supposedly he never actually said it. Personally I'm a brewer so beer fits but I think it applies to any harmless vice. Enjoy life.

 

[ulyssesSgrant]

"Good" is not an absolute property unto itself so this is really difficult beyond just stating preferences/opinion.

It all comes down to one's utility function(s) really.

I have no idea what it means to be an "absolute property unto itself". Can you give an example of something that is that kind of property and explain what makes it "absolute unto itself"?

Good doesn't have anything to do with one's utility functions. You can have whatever stupid utility functions you want, it would still be good to help those less fortunate than yourself. If you have a utility function that suggests otherwise, your utility function is bad and you should get a new one that doesn't suck. Utilitarians SMH.

 

[Ferocitus]

Sleep. Most people do not get either enough or high enough quality. Sleep is essential for your body to regulate hormones which affect all sorts of other things to do with your health.

There are many viruses and some parasites that can hijack human circadian rhythms to their advantage. What you believe is a beneficial amount of sleep, or what you think is the best time of day or night to sleep and rise, may actually be of more benefit to hostile organisms that reduce your overall health and lifespan.