I think few people would disagree with the statement, but the real questions are how many grams of veggies per day? How many different veggie types per week? How do I know if it's enough to actually reduce my risk? etc.
Seconded. From what I have seen in terms of research and experienced, eating vegetables is pretty much the only thing we know for sure is a safe bet. There are tons of controversial things that can be debated, but I have never seen any credible source say "eat less veggies".
> Ask five different doctors and you'll get five different responses as to what are the accepted parameters in a healthy diet.
You really wont. It'll be pretty much advice about eating a varied diet, not too much fat, salt, or sugar, with a lot of vegetables and a wide range of fruit and veg.
Exactly. Is cheese good or bad? What about eggs? Are beans bad? How much fish can I eat before I get mercury poisoning? Is pork better than beef?
I'm attracted to the idea of the mediterranean diet, but getting enough produce for the week and using it before it goes bad, while also cooking for small children, is challenging.
> An optimal diet includes a mixture of foods that provide dozens of different nutrients in appropriate amounts and in the right proportions.
I wonder if we're any close to understanding what these "right" proportions are, and whether they are at all close to what is recommended by the USDA (which I believe is 45-65% carbs, 10-35% protein and 20-35% fat).
I doubt its quite so straightforward. If you eat less veggies and replace them with doughnuts amd beer then im sure you're probably more likely to die sooner. Replace them with organic pastured meats, particularly organ meats, then Im not so convinced.
There is much more to health than the amount of vegetables you eat, including genetics, and it is imposssible to properly test them in isolation.
I doubt its quite so straightforward. If you eat less veggies and replace them with doughnuts amd beer then im sure you're probably more likely to die sooner. Replace them with organic pastured meats, particularly organ meats, then Im not so convinced.
There is much more to health than the amount of vegetables you eat, including genetics, and it is imposssible to properly test them in isolation.
>I've sometimes wondered what a diet of one or two big meals of meat per week, with the occasional handful of nuts and berries on other days would be like.
Assuming your general health and all, if you were careful in your nutrient profile, there's no reason you couldn't try it for, say, a week and and see how you felt.
It's not just "tons", it's exclusively vegetables which is probably fine as long as you make sure your diet is balanced.
However only drinking "juices" certainly for 3 months seems a bit wacky (of course it still depends on the specific fruits/vegetables). Chances are you'll consume significantly more sugar and significantly less protein and fat (of course fiber deosen't seem to matter..) compared to actually eating those vegetables/fruits directly. Which seems like a horrible idea..
I agree that the average American consumes more than the recommended daily intake, but the recommended daily intake is complete bullshit. It's 50g, it should be more than double that. It's a class issue: protein is expensive.
The red meat stuff is controversial. From everything I've read, including the China Study, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of red meat in an otherwise healthy diet is probably fine. Who knows though. There definitely isn't clear science there.
I totally agree that in general vegetable intake needs to increase. Fruits are ok, but not great because of the fructose. I don't really think fruits are a necessary part of a healthy diet, but they certainly can be.
I tried to figure this out a few weeks ago and was similarly confused. A lot of people on the internet seem to promote extreme diets, (paleo, veganism, etc.) but these guys also seem to open themselves up to really weird health problems (ex. Gout, rapid tooth wear & decay for vegans).
Anyway, since I didn't want to spend all my time researching this or become a doctor, I just looked up the USDA guidelines and tried to eat more in line with that.
3 meals a day, minimal snacking, home-cooked food, ~2400 calories per day (for my body & weight loss goals), 3+ servings vegetables, 2-3 servings fruits, 2-4 servings dairy, some meats and eggs, etc.
The USDA site even gives you recommendations to eat certain amounts of specific types of vegetables weekly (greens, starchy vegetables, orange vegetables, etc.) which I assume is an attempt to abstract things out a bit so we can worry less about levels of specific micronutrients
There's also an app called MyFitnessPal that lets you log food intake by scanning barcodes with your phone's camera and tracks some nutrients (vitamin a, c, potassium, iron, a few more)
The problem is that people have been saying that fruits and vegetables are good for you for a long time, so conscientious who exercise and go to the doctors and take the medicines they're prescribed will also disproportionately eat more fruits and vegetables. With health, the conventional wisdom is the hardest thing to test and is where you really need controlled trials, or at least natural experiments where people eat more or less vegetables for extrinsic reasons.
The "seven a day" recommendation seems to be baseless myth. Nobody can figure out where it came from. Surveys find no correlation to life span or health beyond two servings of vegetables a day.
> I mean in principle it can be done through careful meal planning (and perhaps some supplements) but most people just don't have time for that.
That's not true.
25% of your plate should be proteins (lentils, beans, tofu, tempeh, seitan, peas ...), 25% whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat bread, whole grain pasta), 30% vegetables (variety of colors to get different nutrients), 10-15% fruit (apple, banana, berries), 5-10% fats (avocados, nuts, seeds, or a drizzle of olive oil).
That's it. Variety is the key. The only supplement you need is B12, which you can get from either pills or fortified milk, yogurt, cereals, and other sources.
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