Haven't really researched this topic too much, but I am curious - is there a preponderance of evidence that suggests certain diets are the healthiest? Is vegetarianism the best way to go, or is it better to have a mix of meat and veggies? (etc, etc) What does the evidence suggest?

Stop it...you're making me hungry...

Fruits and vegetables
Fish
Beans
Nuts and seeds
Herb and spices
Healthy oils

The one generally not eaten by the Americans or British.

Ultimate wrote:The one generally not eaten by the Americans or British.

Yay, I'm Canadian!

The problem with diet advice is that one size does not fit all. Factors such as genetics, amount of physical activity, climate etc. play a large part in what your body needs and can tolerate.

Macroinvertebrate wrote:Haven't really researched this topic too much, but I am curious - is there a preponderance of evidence that suggests certain diets are the healthiest? Is vegetarianism the best way to go, or is it better to have a mix of meat and veggies? (etc, etc) What does the evidence suggest?

The German health institution currently has a project running which is educating the public with regard to a healthy diet. In general it promotes this (allegedly supported by a large amount of scientific data): You should eat 5 times a day, 2x focus on fruits, 3x focus on vegetables, small portions as addition to your regular meals. Drink plenty of water and/or fruit juices. Combine the portions with other food that supplies your daily need on vitamins etc. There's tables which show you what your body needs so you can adjust your taste in food to those. Once you've worked on your personal diet you can further improve your now healthier lifestyle with sports, fresh air, good sleep etc etc. Ideally that is, I'm trying to live as healthy as possible without throwing all the fun stuff completely out the window...pizza, alcohol...that kind of stuff

As for meat, it's certainly not unhealthier if you drop eating animals and make sure you substitute whatever may lacking with other foods. Exuberant meat consumption is certainly unhealthy...but so is drinking 30 bottles of water a day.

Sorry if my answer isn't providing any specific documented research but I believe it is broad enough to not contradict what any nutritionist would tell you.

Godless Infidel wrote:The problem with diet advice is that one size does not fit all. Factors such as genetics, amount of physical activity, climate etc. play a large part in what your body needs and can tolerate.

Not to mention budget. Some of the healthier choices seem a bit more costly and the food tends to go bad rather quick compared to the cheaper alternatives.

Sonoran Lion wrote:

Godless Infidel wrote:The problem with diet advice is that one size does not fit all. Factors such as genetics, amount of physical activity, climate etc. play a large part in what your body needs and can tolerate.

Not to mention budget. Some of the healthier choices seem a bit more costly and the food tends to go bad rather quick compared to the cheaper alternatives.

Thats one reason the freezer is my friend. I keep a whole host of frozen veggies, meats and other goodies on hand.

They are costlier. I was a bit depressed going through a gas station looking for something somewhat healthy. The very few things that were'nt terrible were 2-3 times as much as the horrible for you items.

Sonoran Lion wrote:Not to mention budget. Some of the healthier choices seem a bit more costly and the food tends to go bad rather quick compared to the cheaper alternatives.

Absolutely. Not all of it though, if you pay attention you can often find some cheaper fruits/veggies that are also qualitatively not on garbage levels. I just snatched 2 pounds of delicious clementines for around 50 cents at the local supermarket

Ultimate wrote:Thats one reason the freezer is my friend. I keep a whole host of frozen veggies, meats and other goodies on hand.

I have a very small freezer compared to the available spaces I have in my fridge
Stupid me thinking I wouldn't need more room to freeze stuff

Grace wrote:
1. 4 - 5 glasses of water a day

I live in the sub tropics and it's summer. If I only drank 4 to 5 glasses of water per day I'd end up in the hospital on a drip!

Paleo (no grains) + 1/2 your body weight in kilos/10 = liters of water per day.

AlohaChris wrote:Paleo (no grains) + 1/2 your body weight in kilos/10 = liters of water per day.

And I thought I drank a lot of water each day (around 3-4 L).

This topic is one that has the greatest level of bulldust attached. It needs true skepticism.

For a start, the human body is remarkably resilient when it comes to diet. If other things are right, the diet can be quite abused with no serious consequences in the short term. For example : if you stop eating anything with vitamin C, it takes at least 3 months before the symptoms of scurvey kick in.

Of course, if you eat too many calories over a period of years, you will get fat. If you eat lots of saturated fats, or transfats, then over a period of decades you may get heart disease. But apart from extreme situations like that, you can take quite strong liberties with diet.

Most of the 'miracle' foods we read about come from studies which might report, to pick numbers out of the air, that with an average diet you have a 2 in 10,000 chance of developing disease X. If you eat miracle food Y every day, your chances drop to 1 in 10,000. So you have cut your chances of suffering from X in half. Yay!

Quite simply, things like that do not matter much. The best advice is from Michael Pollan, who claims this sums up everything he ever learned about food : "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

In the 20th Century, average life span globally more than doubled. For most of the world, food habits hardly changed at all. The increase in longevity came from medicine, vaccines, and hygiene.

In other words, if you have a food fetish, get over it. Enjoy your food. Enjoy life. Concentrate on things that actually matter.

Correct. The human animal is an omnivore. I've had vegans say "people aren't supposed to eat animal products!"...really? Look at the teeth and the digestive tract and the need for iron from meat as opposed to iron from other sources which the body treat differently. We're meant to eat anything.

Ultimate wrote:

AlohaChris wrote:Paleo (no grains) + 1/2 your body weight in kilos/10 = liters of water per day.

And I thought I drank a lot of water each day (around 3-4 L).

That's correct. 70kg/2=35 35/10= 3.5L/d

AlohaChris wrote:

Ultimate wrote:

AlohaChris wrote:Paleo (no grains) + 1/2 your body weight in kilos/10 = liters of water per day.

And I thought I drank a lot of water each day (around 3-4 L).

That's correct. 70kg/2=35 35/10= 3.5L/d

I misread your post. I read "1/2 your body weight in kilos = 10 liters of water a day." In my defense it was very late and I was trying to get a project done