You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

Brillyant comments on Stupid Questions, 2nd half of December - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: Bound_up 23 December 2015 05:31AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (186)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Brillyant 28 December 2015 04:09:25PM 0 points [-]

There is no evidence to think this is true, especially if you were eating less to the extent that it's near torture.

I used the word "torture" to communicate that I understand the difficulty of the initial phase of dieting. It's an exaggeration. It can be very uncomfortable—physically and psychologically—to eat less than you are used to. It's not actually torture.

What I think happens instead is that most people find that dieting continues to be quite difficult. Some of them stop eating less than they want. Some (a much smaller proportion) maintain eating less than they want, but it's a considerable ongoing effort. Some attempt to automate the effort in ways which result in anorexia or bulimia.

Interesting.

I think people ought not eat what they want, but instead eat with they need from a nutritional basis. This isn't that difficult to do within most people daily caloric budget, though it may require a drastic change in the types of foods consumed—which can be very uncomfortable.

This is my guess as to why most diets fail. People just don't wanna eat the proper foods. They could eat raw vegetables, fruits, lean meats, etc. to stay within their caloric budget and get proper nutrition, but they don't value the benefits vs. the psychological value of eating a less nutritious diet.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 01 January 2016 01:34:15PM 0 points [-]

I think people ought not eat what they want, but instead eat with they need from a nutritional basis.

How do you tell what you need? The sorry state of nutritional science has been frequently remarked on here -- what do you think?

I tell from my subjective sensations, i.e. I eat what I want when I want it. It doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me.

Comment author: Brillyant 01 January 2016 10:14:03PM *  0 points [-]

How do you tell what you need? The sorry state of nutritional science has been frequently remarked on here -- what do you think?

We can make some educated guesses about "better" or "worse" diets.

While nutrition is complex, we have pretty thorough information available on most foods, and we can build a common sense diet that satiates and provides a good basis of the nutritional components we need.

As an example, have anyone who isn't start eating 5 servings of raw vegetables, 3 servings of fruit, 2 liters of water and 1 protein shake per day. They can eat whatever else they'd like as long as they consume these items. Adjustments can be made to accommodate individuals. Scheduling meals can be used to aid the process.

In my experience, this is (a) easy to do and (b) will significantly change someone's diet by adding guaranteed "good" calories into the daily equation (versus just saying "no" to bad stuff). I think simple steps like this can be used to transform a diet into one that is intentionally (more) nutritious.

Comment author: Lumifer 04 January 2016 05:37:35PM 0 points [-]

and 1 protein shake per day

WTF?

Since when a protein shake (mostly soy protein and sugar) is food and even mandatory food?

Comment author: Brillyant 05 January 2016 02:39:26AM 0 points [-]

I'm not sure I'm catching your drift.

First, you can get a very pure whey protein with very little sugar.

B) I'm not saying it's mandatory. I'm saying a protein shake, along with fruits, vegetables and water, is a good, reasonable, nutritious base of foods on which one can build a diet. There are many routes.

Protein is specifically important in gaining lean muscle, which aids BMR.

Comment author: Lumifer 05 January 2016 05:53:14AM 0 points [-]

I don't understand why this set (fruits + veggies + protein shake) is a good base.

It's not mandatory as you can drop elements from it, add others and still get a good diet. It's not complete as if you eat nothing but that, you'll die pretty soon from nutritional deficiency. It's a weird combo of real food (fruits & veggies) and an isolated food-like product (protein).

Comment author: Brillyant 05 January 2016 01:14:25PM 0 points [-]

You forgot water. It's a good base for lots of reasons. It's simple. It's cheap. It nutritious.

As I said, you can eat whatever you'd like in addition to this, but starting a habit of eating simple, cheap, nutritious things everyday is a great way to lose weight. It satiates and provides nutrition. It will give you energy and leave less room in your diet for garbage.

And again, as I said, there are many routes to achieving proper nutrition.

isolated food-like product (protein).

An essential macro-nutrient in a simple, quick form.

Comment author: Lumifer 05 January 2016 04:05:13PM 0 points [-]

Water is excellent, though I have doubts that it's nutritious :-)

is a great way to lose weight

I am sorry, are we talking about ways to lose weight? I thought we were talking about a general, to borrow a term from paleo people, Way of Eating, the goals of which are much more wide-ranging than just losing weight.

If you want to lose weight, I feel an excellent starting point is "Eat less, exercise more". Start there, then adjust as needed.

A bit more specifically, in my experience carbs do not satiate well (unless you eat enough to fall into a food coma), fats are more satiating.

An essential macro-nutrient in a simple, quick form

Just like white sugar?

In any case, I don't eat macro-nutrients, I eat food.

Comment author: Brillyant 05 January 2016 04:44:03PM 0 points [-]

If you want to lose weight, I feel an excellent starting point is "Eat less, exercise more". Start there, then adjust as needed.

Ha. I agree. That's from somewhere waaaaay up the thread.

Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 05 January 2016 04:19:33PM 0 points [-]

Just like white sugar?

Sugar isn't essential.

Comment author: Lumifer 05 January 2016 05:38:01PM 0 points [-]

Whey protein isn't essential either :-P

Yes, I know, technically speaking carbohydrates are not essential and you can live on a diet of fat and protein. That has issues with both practicality and health, though.