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Comment by KozmoNau7 | Hacker News Reader

Fad diets here, fad diets there, fad diets everywhere.

Don't eat this, only eat that, don't eat at these times, only eat at these times, fast, don't fast.

It's been going on for decades, and it's both silly and counterproductive.

There is no easy shortcut to losing weight and being in good health. It takes discipline and dedication, and a complete lifestyle change. Yes, it's hard, but we just have to deal with that, instead of thinking we can somehow cheat our way to it.

Eat less, move more. I'm not going to try to get more detailed than that, because then everyone will just start nitpicking, based on their own pet theories.

"Move more" is the most important part. Almost everyone in western society is moving way too little. Our sedentary lifestyles are killing us. Stand up at your desk. Go for a walk instead of watching a movie. Start riding a bike. Take the stairs. Doesn't matter, just move.

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In my experience of having lost fifty pounds and having kept most of it off for a year or two now, "move more" is significantly less important than "eat less". (For overall health I'm sure it's very important, here I'm specifically talking about losing weight.) I increased my activity only a little bit, by adding a 10-30 minute walk.

And while "eat less" is important, it's secondary to "eat what". My rule of thumb was (and is) "It's almost impossible to control how much you eat. Controlling what you eat is merely very difficult." In other words, your primary target is changing your diet from unhealthy foods to healthy foods, and you will "eat less" in calories as a result. If you keep eating junk food and try to control exactly how much junk food you eat you will have a much harder time.

To elaborate a bit more, I try to stick with the No S Diet (http://nosdiet.com/), especially the part about "no snacks". I used to be extremely prone to snacking, and it would almost always be snacks of a very unhealthy variety.

So I cut out snacks almost completely, but I still let myself eat a burger+fries or a pizza once in a while. But they count as a full meal plus a bit ekstra, so my next meal will have to be smaller to compensate. Seems to be working out.

But the biggest difference for me was changing my sedentary lifestyle. Standing as my desk, always taking the stairs, riding a bike everyday. It adds up.

Fad diets here, fad diets there, fad diets everywhere. Don't eat this, only eat that, don't eat at these times, only eat at these times, fast, don't fast.

It's been going on for decades, and it's both silly and counterproductive.

You start off complaining about fad diets and now you link to your diet which is the very epitome of a fad diet. Is there any medical research behind this diet?

What makes it a fad diet? All it says is to cut out second helpings, empty carbs and snacks. That's it.

It doesn't try to set up weird rules or "superfoods". It's simple and straight-forward, which makes it much easier to adhere to. It's not a diet, it's a permanent lifestyle change.

While moving more is important for overall health, specifically to weight loss it isn't the answer. What and how much a person eats is going to affect their weight much more that how much they move, barring someone running marathons or similar extra ordinary exercise routines.

This is pretty well established science at this point. Again, like you said, I'm not going to go into details on the things people should eat. I think different people need to find what works for them, their body, palette and schedule.

You say to eat less, but the question is, what do you eat less of? You still need calories. Let's say you cut back your diet so you only eat 1000 calories of doughnuts. That's eating less, yet I guarantee you will still be sick.

This is a huge problem. Way too much diet advice takes the concept of a "balanced" diet for granted, while descriptions of what that means tend to be at least one of:

1) uselessly vague (eat "a variety" of foods, eat sugar "sparingly", get "enough" fiber, and so on; "eat lots of colors" is actual dietary advice that has been given by credentialed dietitians),

2) driven by some fringe/fad theory of nutrition, or

3) based on unrealistic or parochial assumptions of which foods are readily available/affordable.

I feel like "eat less" is the most important part. I have no evidence to back this up but I doubt you'll ever outrun the surplus calories you eat. It's much easier to just not eat that muffin.

I wasn't trying to downplay the importance of eating less. But by changing to a more active lifestyle, you pull your body out of the sedentary energy conserving mode, which in my completely unscientific anecdata seems to improve how your body uses the energy you take in.

Yes, discipline is needed, but knowledge helps too, because it shows some of the directions in which discipline may be applied, for example:

One can learn that carb and fructose-rich foods are addictive and cause diabetes when consumed in excess.

One can learn that drinking alcohol just before eating causes the liver to prioritise metabolising alcohol and the other calories go into visceral fat (the so-called 'beer belly').

One can learn that eating just before bed or when one is normally asleep puts strain on the heart and causes fat to be laid down (importance of circadian rhythms).

One can learn that people who aren't even slightly fat are killing themselves from drug overdose, which may seem irrelevant until one recalls that many people eat for comfort. (So this is a personal/mental problem as well as a physiological one.)

Can you elaborate on that:

“One can learn that people who aren't even slightly fat are killing themselves from drug overdose, which may seem irrelevant until one recalls that many people eat for comfort. (So this is a personal/mental problem as well as a physiological one.)“

Well, people eat for comfort and pleasure, as well as for calories, and some people get addicted to food. So I think if we understood addiction and how to cure it then this might automatically solve the obesity epidemic as well as the drug problem.

All of those are absolutely miniscule when compared to the effect of undermoving and overeating.

The carb/fructose thing is scaremongering. Type 1 diabetes is genetic, type 2 partially genetic, and is not caused solely by carbs/fructose. One of its factors is a generally poor-quality diet, but saturated/trans fat intake plays a larger role than sugars. And all of that is completely dwarfed by the influence of obesity on the risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.

Drinking alcohol does make your body prioritize metabolizing it first, but alcohol also slows down digestion and can make you feel fuller for longer, leading to a decreased food intake. "Beer belly" is a myth.

Eating at night or before going to be is not unhealthier than eating during the day. That has been debunked countless times.

Food addiction is a real thing, however. And unlike tobacco or alcohol, you can't go "cold turkey" (haha) on food and just stop eating. You need rules, motivation and backup.

This is the best FAQ I've found is this: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=34...

Yes, it's SA, notorious for its bad comedy forums. But the exercise and diet forum is seriously quality stuff, with hundreds of success stories of fat nerds getting in shape, and keeping it.

Cold turkey sounds like a healthy diet :-)

But seriously, the idea that saturated fat causes type II diabetes is news to me. Can you provide an explanation and/or sources? Thank you.

In the end it has to do with calories in and calories out. That is why a wholesome plate full of vegetables is great for feeling full whilst keeping calorie intake low.

Also adding seeds to everything means better gut bacteria and adds fiber to a meal. I use a mix of pumpkin seeds, flax, sesame, and sunflower seeds and add it to as many meals as I can.

Calories in calories out over simplifies what is a complex issue. It is not "just" that. You even kind of contradict that statement yourself by your later paragraph.

Edited that. I add seeds to as many meals and snacks as I can (both healthy and unhealthy) to add fiber and use the seeds as a sort of prebiotic.

Well, it’s sortof just that. But it’s like saying “the key to safe driving is to avoid accidents.” It’s completely true... but probably not helpful advice for a person who is having trouble avoiding accidents.

Is it really that difficult to identify what foods are garbage and what foods are not?

I don't know if it's fair to call this a fad diet, considering they have been eating in this manner literally since the time of the buddha(~500 BC).

For them it's obviously not a fad, it's a lifestyle they've been keeping up for hundreds of years.

In a western context, with the way it's sold in this article, it's certainly a fad diet.

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