You'd Be Happier If You Ate Less | Hacker News Reader

You'd Be Happier If You Ate Less

vice.com

15 pointssusan_hall16 comments

Right from the abstract of the first study linked, the authors say that they haven't at all indicated that eating more fruits and veg makes you happier.

"Effects may be bidirectional given that optimists are likely to engage in health behaviors associated with more serum antioxidants, and more serum antioxidants are likely associated with better physical health that enhances optimism."

But I guess "happy people are more likely to eat well" isn't a very interesting headline....

Yeah, well... you know, it's a vice.com article we're talking about here.

No, this is false. Spreading this idea is very harmful, please stop.

Eating low-quality foods is bad for people's health, and makes them unhappy. When people do that, they instinctively compensate for the low nutrient density in those foods by eating more, which has negative effects. But if you simply reduce quantity without replacing the junk food with healthier stuff, that isn't an improvement; that's malnutrition.

I hate to ask the silly question of "Did you read the article?", but it specifically said to eat more fruits and veggies, and all caloric restriction was done "with regular nutrition consultations to keep them on track".

Nothing in the article recommended eating low quality foods.

Yes, I did read it and saw that the part of the intervention that actually worked was changing diet content rather than quantity. But the headline is "you'd be happier if you ate less", and that is a false and pernicious statement.

I hope this is true, because I'm about 3 months and ~30 pounds into my own diet and I'm not any happier. I'm not miserable like I thought I would be, but I certainly find myself less patient and less pleasant than before.

I'm doing fine with the actual dieting, though. No harsh cravings, rarely feel that hungry, etc.

I can tell you for me it really did make a change, but it took me about 6 months to really feel it.

In October 2015 I was at +110 pounds from today and had to take indigestion medicine to sleep at night, as I gradually changed my diet they became less and less needed. Eventually I discovered I don't need them at all anymore.

Now I find myself craving 'healthier' meals. Most nights for dinner I have greek yogurt, apples, pears, berries, and a little cheese. I honestly couldn't feel better.

A few nights ago I decided to eat one of my old favorite snacks, Cheetos and was left feeling hungover in the morning. I know it's anecdotal evidence, but my experience is the lifting of depression was very gradual and in the last three months or so I've been in the best over all mood of my life.

Keep the diet up and try your hardest to find an exercise that doesn't feel like work. Mine was biking, and I firmly believe that to be my source of happiness in life along with a clean diet and good health.

I would suggest add (more) reasonable exercise, after-workout hormones can be almost magical experience :)

Anecdote: It takes a really long time to adapt to this. Probably a year or two.

The article abstract has more detail. http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/mobile/article.aspx?articlei...

The people involved were in the upper range for healthy BMI or into the overweight range. It's not surprising healthier weight makes people happier. This doesn't mean that people of low/medium healthy BMI would be happier on a calorie restrictive diet. It would be interesting to know what the BMI range was at the end of the study. Did they just get people into the low/medium healthy range or did they dip lower than that?

More importantly, though, how did they get people to stick with a 25% calorie reduction for 2 years? That's like the holy grail for weight loss research. Almost no one stays with a diet long term.

Whether the findings have merit or not (I'm willing to believe its true), the sticking point is getting people to change even if that change will directly benefit them. As many things culture-bound, you have to start with the young, those already eating are mostly set on the ways and there isn't much of a chance to change them.

It's like changing attitudes toward education, spending habits, rules of society, racism, etc. We all will recognize what's better, but will have difficulty executing, either individually or as a society.

So, good news, but... how does it help people in practice?

I fail to accept the notion that people are stupid sheepish weaklings that have no willpower over their own body and mind. Some might believe this and then act in this fashion, but most have the potential to do almost any change with their life, be it eating habits or something else.

I stopped smoking after university, not easy but perfectly doable. That was 12 years ago. No cravings anymore or any thoughts. Detest the smell like all others (that's actually easy part). Same for very good friend, he never touched cigarette and he was quite a smoker back then, till one day when he stopped just out of blue. And we're nothing special, just common folks. If we could do it, most can do it too. But not with the attitude you describe, that's for sure.

Let's not try to save humanity in the first step, and just focus on yourself. Self-discipline is not a curse word, it means a lot of mental strength and power in long run

To which of the studies are you referring? I don't believe there are any medical professionals recommending people reduce caloric consumption by 25%, and the rest of the behavior has already been heavily encouraged for decades.

A) marginally less. I can assure you as a borderline anorexic it is not fun to be calorie deprived daily.

B) I found the proportion of fruits and vegetables to be much more enlightening in terms of mood improvement, even if the results disappear when looking at the actual study. The clickbait title is annoyingly typical for vice's text "journalism".

Did they account for the likely correlation between wealth and fruit consumption?

> You'd Be Happier If You Ate Less

Yes, and the poor would be wealthier if they had more money.

What is garbage like this article doing on HN?

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