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How do I distinguish good from bad nutritional advice?
Even though it is not a peak interest of mine, I am inundated with nutrition advice, much of which is conflicting.
For example, I hear in some places that eating wheat, soy, or dairy is bad for most people, in other places that this concern is essentially alarmist. I hear some places that I need to eat tomatoes/acai berries/red wine/wheat grass etc. I hear other places that this is pretty unimportant, and that so long as the balance of foods is good there is a lot of leeway in my diet. I hear some places that cooking destroys the nutrients in food, and others that it actually increases the nutritional content. I hear some places that meat is bad for me, others that is part of a balanced diet.
Further, both sides of each issue back up their stories with references to literature, and dietary studies seem to give conflicting results, or else the same information can be interpreted differently by different people.
In this question, I am not asking for specific nutrition information about any of the above topics. I am curious how, short of becoming an expert myself, I can learn to understand the consequences of my nutritional decisions in an accurate and quantitative way.
I acknowledge that I will not be able to understand the consequences of nutrition to the same level of precision that I am used to as a physics student. Nonetheless, I would like to have information as complete and unbiased as possible about how different sorts of diets will affect my health. What are the best sources for this sort of information? Given a source, how can I judge the accuracy of its advice?
For example, I hear in some places that eating wheat, soy, or dairy is bad for most people, in other places that this concern is essentially alarmist. I hear some places that I need to eat tomatoes/acai berries/red wine/wheat grass etc. I hear other places that this is pretty unimportant, and that so long as the balance of foods is good there is a lot of leeway in my diet. I hear some places that cooking destroys the nutrients in food, and others that it actually increases the nutritional content. I hear some places that meat is bad for me, others that is part of a balanced diet.
Further, both sides of each issue back up their stories with references to literature, and dietary studies seem to give conflicting results, or else the same information can be interpreted differently by different people.
In this question, I am not asking for specific nutrition information about any of the above topics. I am curious how, short of becoming an expert myself, I can learn to understand the consequences of my nutritional decisions in an accurate and quantitative way.
I acknowledge that I will not be able to understand the consequences of nutrition to the same level of precision that I am used to as a physics student. Nonetheless, I would like to have information as complete and unbiased as possible about how different sorts of diets will affect my health. What are the best sources for this sort of information? Given a source, how can I judge the accuracy of its advice?
lifestyleadvice
If in doubt, just remember that even salads can contain loads of sugar and salt; and that milk and eggs can contain high amounts of saturated fat. Stay away from foods with hydrogenated fats. That's what goes in meat and stuff that bulks out food to make it look bigger.
I don't see what the problem is. The only bad nutritional advice are the ones that want you to take fad diets, and starve yourself from eating carbohydrates. That's how you collapse.
I can sum it up in a sentence
You will know when you're not eating right, so you don't need other people to tell you how to eat "good".