Re:Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for star...
by ska on Monday February 06, 2017 @12:01PM
(#13581431)
Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false.
It's not exactly correct, but it's a pretty good first approximation. As simplified heuristics go, it's much better than:
It is not how many calories you eat, it is where they come from.
If only because we don't actually understand the where & mechanisms very rigorously (notwithstanding all the violent handwaving surrounding many flavor-of-the-decade diet proponents)
About the best we can do with current science is (a better worded version of): How many calories you consume is important, and so is the nature of those calories, and when you consume them. Also something in there about calories being reductive, and other things matter.
In fact you can (and man do) do much worse for advice than Michael Pollans' summary: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.[1]" - but "food" is doing extra work here and human health is not the only consideration.
About the best we can do with current science is (a better worded version of): How many calories you consume is important, and so is the nature of those calories, and when you consume them. Also something in there about calories being reductive, and other things matter.
In fact you can (and man do) do much worse for advice than Michael Pollans' summary: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.[1]" - but "food" is doing extra work here and human health is not the only consideration.
1 -http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/unhappy-meals/