JosephBuchignani comments on Announcing the Quantified Health Prize - Less Wrong

50 Post author: Zvi 02 December 2011 06:01AM

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Comment author: RichardKennaway 07 December 2011 11:07:19AM 2 points [-]

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -- Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food, a book which I have not actually read, but which pretty much describes my attitude to all of the diet fads around (including geek fads like paleo), and my actual eating habits.

If you eat paleoish with 5-6 servings of diverse fruits and vegetables daily, you might only be deficient in [list of nine (ten in women) nutrients]

And paleo is "great"?

Comment author: JosephBuchignani 07 December 2011 01:48:04PM 0 points [-]

Paleo is a big tent with many suboptimal stalls.

Plant nutrition is more difficult to optimize than animal sources. Plants are not strictly necessary, and become completely optional once comfortable starch intake is achieved.

Yes, paleo is great. No, it is not a fad, although it contains various fads.

Fad: "a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., especially one followed enthusiastically by a group."

Paleo is no more a fad than are herbal remedies. Neither are temporary phenomena.