Dear Lemmings, what is your personal approach to human diet?

BigBlackCockroach@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 73 points –

I know there are a lot of fad diets and then there is calorie counting as a more science based approach. I myself do calorie counting and follow a strict diet in order to avoid overeating. How do you eat all day, you follow a system?

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Whole food plant based diet. I also try to limit the amount of carb intake to maintain a healthy mix. Some people go WFPB and end up eating mostly bread and pasta which isn't great. I also try to go zero SOS (salt, oil, sugar).

Why salt, and Oil of all rhings?

I mean fat is good for us.

The exception is of course if there is an underlying medical problem (high blood pressure, overweight, ...).

Fat good. Oil bad. Oil is a highly concentrated extract that we aren't very capable of processing. If I want fat, I'll eat olives, nuts, avocado, etc. I can stuff myself with food for the same amount of fat and calories as two tablespoons of oil.

There is absolutely no evidence that we "aren't very capable of processing" oil. Eating whole foods is good. Oil is fine.

If you consume oil then you are not following a whole food diet. Oil is a processed or refined ingredient, therefore not a whole food. Obviously, you (as in you personally) can eat whatever you please, but I choose to follow a WFPB diet as intended and that includes no refined ingredients like salt, sugar and pressed pills, or processed ingredients like vegetable oils and such.

That's got very little to do with my comment. Obviously, you (as in you personally) can eat whatever you please, but if you make biological claims about it you ought to back them up with evidence.

What does "as intended" mean? You mention bread and pasta in an earlier comment; do you understand that flour is also a processed ingredient? And that baking is a means of processing food? Oil can be as simple as just being squeezed out of whole seeds or fruit, that's no more processing than grinding, cooking, or peeling something.

Flour (which I avoid) is not processed, it is ground just like nut butters (which I also avoid) are not processed. High quality olive oil comes from squeezed olives, which makes it refined. The problem with refined oils is it's unatural concentration, which I've already covered. Vegetable oils and such are 100% processed.

As for backup you can read all about it from the experts instead of some random guy on the Internet. I recommend Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn and Dr. Michael Greger.

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Virgin Extra Olive Oil of course.

No processed crap neither.

All oil follows the same concept. It's fat concentrated in pure form. If you're starving, and I mean literally starving, then oil will save your life. Most of us aren't starving so that extra concentrated punch of fat and calories is not only unnecessary, it is unhealthy.

Nobody just drinks oil by itself. We typically combine it with foods with very little fat, e.g. as salad dressing. Oil adds flavour, increases satiety and doesn't spike blood sugar. It is a perfectly fine ingredient.

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Do you ever miss salt?

I never liked salt, so I didn't really miss it. No salt doesn't mean no seasoning. In fact, I season my food far more now than I did before. Leaning on salt for seasoning leaves a lot of complex flavors out of recipes.

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