Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

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hn_throwaway_99

Another example of something that feels pretty awesome that is also good for you. I strongly believe that, in the US in particular, we somehow developed this warped Puritanical idea that things that are "good for you" need to be painful or taste bad. We've also managed to often replace things that are both exquisitely wonderful for the senses and good for you with "cheap knock off" versions that are worse for you in all areas, both health-wise and experience-wise. Think a delicious dark chocolate (consensus seems to be lots of antioxidant benefits) vs a Hershey bar that is loaded with more sugar and tastes slightly of vomit.

Some more things that feel wonderful and are good for you that many Americans seem to have trouble appreciating for some reason:

1. sleep

2. a delicious meal with lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc.

3. a massage

4. exercise with friends (e.g. a jog or walk through the park, or a game of tennis).

5. a bike ride

I would add (controversially) "the sun" to that list.

The sun is delicious. The sun is also good for you. The sun makes you look good.

And yet Americans have an almost belligerent attitude towards the sun. Hats, sunscreen, long sleeved shirts, umbrellas. Adults, children, everyone is perpetually hiding from the sun, and they look kinda sickly.

Can the sun give you skin cancer? Yes, of course. (In the same way a sauna can give you a heart attack i suppose). But the benefits to overall wellness are incredible.

I guess it doesn’t help that many Americans are white European descendants that live in subtropical/tropical/mediterrannean climates.

Can’t you still benefit from sunlight with sunscreen on? I wonder what the risk curve for skin cancer from sun exposure looks like.

Generally, I agree, but "feels good" doesn't translate well between individuals. To many, eating a jelly donut "feels good", at least in the short term. Most people don't excel at long term thinking, and so whether one feels good probably isn't a great metric for whether one is doing something beneficial.

Another thing is that I personally wouldn't consider 4 out of the 5 things you listed to feel good, and in a few cases I don't even find them to be linearly beneficial. The kind of cardio exercise you mentioned (all exercise is cardio BTW) is something I don't enjoy before or after. Things like bike riding have both positives and negatives, and I am not a fan of the high cortisol state that results. I'm not saying riding bikes is bad, but if I was totally oblivious to the health benefits, I would find it to be a slog once I got over the novelty

Biking results in high cortisol? Doesn’t exercise reduce stress hormones? I’m assuming you’re saying exercise causes short-term spikes in cortisol?

> fruits

One that only belongs in careful moderation.

Edit: I'm getting downvoted, so I'll elaborate. The sugar content of fruit is not great for you. The beneficial effects of the fiber and vitamin content do not offset the detrimental effects of the sugar.

Treat fruit as you would a dessert. In moderation.

Fruits are fine occasionally, but they aren't a health food. Fructose is totally contraindicated. People need to keep this in mind when suggesting to eat plenty of fruits. There is no need to do so even from a Vitamin C standpoint.

Fruits have other vitamins. And aren’t they also a good source of antioxidants?

You can get those vitamins from other vegetables that are less deleterious. Even beef contains pretty much everything you need but without the liver toxicity of fructose.

As far as antioxidants go, yeah... those are totally overrated. The human body, with the exception of Vitamin C, creates its own antioxidants. Adding exogenous antioxidants isn't particularly beneficial and can also come with some drawbacks. Any benefit you get from fruit antioxidants is outweighed by fructose. Sure, feel good about getting some anthocyanins and whatever from the occasional blueberries, but by no means do you need those, and don't pound blueberries every single day.

Vegetables are too, and they're overwhelmingly better for you.

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