Cycling UK Forum

I have never taken any interest in any specific or prescribed diet. I luckily haven't felt the need to, as I am relatively healthy and fit, I keep active and have never had any health related issue from 'diet' or weight.(yet)

But as I get older I am inclined to read the hotly argued debates on this forum (which seem to create more fall outs than religion and politics put together) and try to understand the basics in food nutrition etc.

I loved the Grant Peterson book 'Just Ride', but during the nutrition/science bit I couldn't really have any opinion on it as I don't know what is 'true' and what is hokum. It seems that 2 completely diametric views about food can be presented with great persuasion and seem equally plausible to me. I just don't have an opinion on it, as I can't hold one with any surety of why I would be holding it, except that someone else said it. I've opted out of holding an opinion on it!

Anyway, the reason I am posting up is that Grant Peterson has a book all about diet coming out in the new year, and the title alone is sure to provoke stir up some reaction... 'Don't Jog, Eat Bacon' .
Here's his blog about it
http://eatbacondontjog.com

I also followed the link in there to a science text book from the 70's that Peterson rates highly.
http://www.mitodascalorias.com/wp-conte ... e_Diet.pdf
It has some great historical chapters about stone age man (for want of the correct terminology), but generally it seems to be advocating a high protein diet similar to Atkins (if I skim read it correctly?)

With all the advances in human knowledge it still seems that we don't know for certain, that much about what a human should eat.

Is it just the diet scientists and money making corporations making this more complex than it needs to be?
Could it just be a case of simply listening to your body and making your own mind up?

Could it just be a case of simply listening to your body and making your own mind up?

Just look around at the bodies next time you walk down the High Street and wonder if they should make their own minds up.
If I ate what I wanted then I would look like that too.

Be wary that a sport's diet and a sport's weight is not the same thing as a healthy diet and a healthy weight. Also nutrition is more than just weight gain/loss and energy, food does other things and probably some that we dont even know about.

beardy wrote:

Could it just be a case of simply listening to your body and making your own mind up?

Just look around at the bodies next time you walk down the High Street and wonder if they should make their own minds up.
If I ate what I wanted then I would look like that too.

Be wary that a sport's diet and a sport's weight is not the same thing as a healthy diet and a healthy weight. Also nutrition is more than just weight gain/loss and energy, food does other things and probably some that we dont even know about.

So what advice would you be giving these people in the High Street? Eat certain things (if so, what?), or just eat less?

They already know what to do and it is their problem. I know what to do and dont always do it because it is much more pleasant to do the wrong thing.
When I do the wrong things I put on weight, if I show control I dont. My diet might be quite healthy if I only ate half as much but if I was to cut down half of the Bounty bars that has a greater effect than half of the apples.

There are possibly some people out there who are special cases but most of them are just like me and I would be like that too, if I didnt show some control.

Sooper8 wrote:With all the advances in human knowledge it still seems that we don't know for certain, that much about what a human should eat.

I would argue that as a species we know exactly what we should eat. The main issue with society is that the profit-making organisations that benefit from getting the general public to eat a specific thing have a more effective method of achieving that than scientists and/or doctors. If we want the healthy, scientific answers we, as ordinary members of society, have to search for them; the quick-fix dieters have to avoid the adverts if they don't want to follow the latest fad diet such as the Paleo Diet. To push the point further, have you taken Grant Peterson's concepts to a HCP-registered Dietitian for their opinion on it or will you be following it because you admire his previous work?

As beardy says: "Just look around at the bodies next time you walk down the High Street and wonder if they should make their own minds up." Surely (and any exception must be proving the rule!) there's not a single fat person on the proverbial high street who truly believes they are eating healthily? Of course they know what they should be eating but its easier, and probably more enjoyable, for them to eat too much of the "wrong thing" and not exercise enough to balance that.

Gary Taubes suggested over five years ago (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/oct/28/healthandwellbeing.features1) that exercise wasn't the answer to losing weight, and laid the blame firmly on the shoulders of Jean Mayer for society thinking that it does. Anyone can read that Guardian article and believe it all, reject it all, find flaws in it or pick out the bits you like: the choice is yours. I often wonder if a major obstacle is the confusion between losing weight and losing fat - that you can be thinner yet heavier if you exercise. Certainly the obsession with BMI doesn't help as it confuses the public by encouraging them to concentrate on weight rather than shape.

Ultimately, I feel that the fight to make society thin has been given up by successive governments, they are now just trying to get the public to be as healthy as the public want to be, irrespective of the overall financial cost to society of them not being healthy. For example, the reluctance to make truly effective cycling routes a priority in major cities of the UK is almost a dereliction of duty given how much healthier the population could be if they were encouraged to cycle more. The obstacle seems to be that no-one can force us to eat what we don't want to eat, and society has too many pressures and stresses that are alleviated by comfort eating and drinking.

Couple of things from your post Penfolds11...

I didn't say , or imply I will be following Grant Petersons diet advice. In fact I made it quite clear that I didn't understand the section in 'Just ride' about diet, therefore can't form an opinion on on something I 'don't get'.
For info, I have no intention of following it.

And secondly, both you and Beady say that it is obvious what we should eat, but neither of you are willing to state the 'obvious'.

I like to keep it basic.

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

I am sure that I will not agree with a lot that is on the following page, especially as its advice is based on a presumption of what people are eating at the moment which will not apply to all individuals.
However for probably more than 80% of the population it is valid.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pag ... ating.aspx

The majority of people who are eating badly will be having too much sugar, fat, salt, refined and processed food.

They will be having not enough fruit, veg and wholegrains.

Sooper8 wrote:Couple of things from your post Penfolds11...

I didn't say , or imply I will be following Grant Petersons diet advice. In fact I made it quite clear that I didn't understand the section in 'Just ride' about diet, therefore can't form an opinion on on something I 'don't get'.
For info, I have no intention of following it.

And secondly, both you and Beady say that it is obvious what we should eat, but neither of you are willing to state the 'obvious'.

When I made the point about taking the diet to a dietitian for advise, it wasn't meant as an accusation but an example that society doesn't question mainstream media reports with the experts who know the facts. Reading Flat Earth News or Bad Science would show anybody that news outlets are not prioritising accuracy anymore.

I'm very happy to rewrite it as: "To push the point further, would followers of Grant Peterson's concepts take his bacon diet to a HCP-registered Dietitian for their opinion on it or will they simply follow it because they admire his previous work?" It means the same thing to me but I can see how the original sentence may be misconstrued because I personalised it.

As for stating the obvious, well, why would I? It's obvious, isn't it!