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Comment by mathgeek | Hacker News Reader

Can you link the sources for your claims? I'm asking sincerely, as I'm sure people interested in the topic will want to see the research.

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I can't find a link for that now, especially since most sources on the internet claim otherwise. But I do recall reading something like that.

The gist of it was, that there is no observable correlation between the intake of saturated fats consumed, and heart disease. There is however correlation between consumption of meat products and heart disease. A point was made specifically that balancing the diet with vegetables specifically counteracts these negative effects.

If you're interested, the book Big Fat Surprise talks a great deal about how fat (other than trans fat) isn't bad for you.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Fat-Surprise-Healthy/dp/145162...

I also recommend reading Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat: http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259

This book is kind of a joke among people who are seriously interested in nutrition. There is some decent information in there, and the research Taubes is doing now actually seems like it might be pretty good, but the book has some really bad conclusions that are not supported by science. It's a good intro book, but take it with a big grain of salt.

Interesting. What do the serious nutrition folk recommend? (Also if there's anything specific for skinny low-appetite folk...)

It really depends on your goals and what you are looking to learn. It sounds like maybe you are trying to put on weight, in which case I can't recommend whole milk enough :) But if you want to be more specific about what you'd like to learn I can recommend some resources.

Gaining weight is a part of it, but I'm also curious about understanding things like, the relationship between low blood sugar and brain function, low blood sugar and sleep, stuff like that. Will be happy with anything you can point me to, thanks so much!

Sorry I took so long to get back to you. The stuff you are talking about is very complicated, and short of recommending you go read a bunch of textbooks front to back, I'd suggest just starting with some basic nutrition to get a foundation there, before getting into stuff like blood sugar + brain function.

This article will give you a good primer on nutrition with a focus on gaining weight:

http://www.barbellmedicine.com/potpourri/584/

If you have any other specific question I'd be happy to chat through them but HN is probably not the best venue. My contact info is in my profile, I love talking about this stuff so feel free to reach out.

Not OP but I think the burden of proof is on the people saying an entire macronutrient group is bad.

I'd say that when it comes to nutrition, the burden of proof is on anyone making a claim. I think it's a good thing to require proof from anyone trying to tell you that eating or not eating something will be beneficial.

My problem with things being "good" or "bad" is that it's divorced of context. Carbs are not good or bad, but they are certainly bad in certain contexts and good in certain contexts. Different diets can be effective for different things. Some people are actually trying to gain weight, some people only need to change body composition, some people tolerate high fat well, some people don't etc.

So I agree with you, and my point is not to say that carbs are good for you or bad for you, but that anyone saying a major macronutrient group is good or bad without context has a large burden of proof.

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