#1

This is a rather amusing take on some popular trends in diet advice, from one of my favorite channels, Viva Longevity! previously known as Plant Chompers. Peter Attia and various influencers are name-checked and there’s commentary about PA’s “Outlive”.

Have we been LIED to about meat?

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#2

What amount of influence does the government-specified food pyramid have on your dietary choices?

  • Substantial
  • Moderate
  • Minimal
  • None

0 voters

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#3

I wish there was a poll or statistics about the following:

1)What is the percentage of population that is influenced by the food pyramid in certain countries, such as: the USA, France, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Italy, China, India.

2)What percentage of the population expresses confidence in their government health authorities in various countries, such as above.

3)How do the average diets differ from their food pyramids in those various countries

4)What is the state of health of the population of those countries, BMI levels, rates of preventable deaths, lifespan, causes of death and other health measures

5)What are the healthcare expenditures by country, as a percentage of GDP and per capita

6)What are the expenditures by country on health education and prevention care as a percentage of GDP and per capita

I’m sure some of these statistics can be chased down. Some probably not reliably. The results might be interesting and instructive.

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#4

Given the enormous amount of meat smuggling into mainland China, one can only conclude that ‘internet influencers’ in China are just as reprehenisible in their recommendations as they are in the US.

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#5

I think the food pyramid stuff has trickle-down effects. Sure, none of us on this forum are consulting the food pyramid. However, the guidelines do influence what doctors tell their patients, what is written on packaging information, what ends up being promoted, and what people talk about.

Culture plays a MASSIVE part. I’ve never seen a restaurant in the USA selling pig brain, but that’s very common in Vietnam. The USA is also a highly individualistic society and people are generally non-compliant and don’t like being told what to do, and especially don’t like the government and authority figures telling them what to do.

Genetics matters a lot too; China has the highest rate of diabetes, even worse than the USA, and it takes a lot less effort to make a Han Chinese become pre-diabetic than it does for a western caucasian.

That said, American food is also almost uniquely trash IMO. I think it’s the amount of processing, high caloric density, ease of eating (it’s soft, no need to chew etc) and it’s addictive as hell, tricking you into over-eating.

And this guy nitpicking on protein consumption levels is silly, because Attia doesn’t ever say that the protein calories don’t count or that they’re somehow magic, nor does he say that people with kidney failure should consume high protein. He’s right about the protein bars being horrible though.

However, I do agree with his point that you have for-profit healthcare, and for-profit public health messaging. I’d also add a third: you have for-profit food industries also. So you have this crazy cycle where food companies essentially bully and lobby everybody so that junk is prevalent, and then you have a healthcare system that will let you pay $500/month for an injection to offset the damage from the junk food.

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#6

I don’t think the Australian pyramid is too bad.

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#7

26 minutes to make his point! What a waste of time.

This video should have been much shorter. All he had to do was repeat what Michael Pollan said, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” I would add “and exercise.”

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