Death by food pyramid

What Hacker News says

1. ricardobeatDec 2023
   Read the book “Death by food pyramid”. The pyramid you know is almost entirely wrong, carbs should not be the base, and fats should not be the tip.
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2. ChrisDutrowApr 2016
   Probably my favorite book is "Death by Food Pyramid". I can't remember if she went into this particular topic though.

   I don't know of any definative proof, which I think is what makes issues like this so dangerous. Scientific proof is a high bar when dealing with something this complex, pit that against powerful food lobbies and truths can stay buried for a long time.

   For me, it's been an observation of many cues, then making a personal decision about how I eat from that. One interesting place to start is corn: Most corn that you eat isn't the sweet corn you buy in the store and cook on the grill. It is very hard and must be broken down with lye before being eaten.

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3. LaurensBERAug 2015
   Very interesting study unfortunately the conclusions from the book has been debunked[0] a few times. It's a great example of how hard nutritional research is, even with an incredible big dataset and a bunch of very intelligent PHDs it's still very easy to come to the wrong conclusion.

   I can highly recommend "Death by Food Pyramid" though, it's a very honest look into food science and the author is very honest about what we know (not a whole lot for sure but we have some strong indications that some diets seem to produce better results) and what we don't know.

   [0] http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fal...

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4. scholiaJun 2015
   Many thanks for the nitpick: yes, it was USDA ;-)

   Denise Minger's book on the topic, Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health, is better than I expected...

   http://www.amazon.com/Death-Food-Pyramid-Politics-Interests/...

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5. cschmidtAug 2014
   I would have agreed with you completely before this summer. I had done weight watchers and lost weight, but as soon as I stopped tracking my diet (and restricting my calories), my weight drifted right back to where I started. Gary Taubes has a whole section in Why We Get Fat on how you can't keep weight off by temporarily restricting calories.

   This summer I've been reading a lot of books [1] on a low carb, moderate protein, high fat diet. It is called a LCHF or Keto diet. I now think that insulin resistance has a lot more to do with weight than I realized. I've lost 30 pounds this summer without counting calories (or weight watchers points). I just keep my carbs below 20g a day, and try not to eat too much protein. I'm not hungry, it doesn't take time to track, I feel really good, and the weight has some off so much faster than with weight watchers.

   [1] My summer reading, that has really changed my life:

   Why We Get Fat, by Gary Taubes

   http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259

   The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, by Nina Teicholz

   http://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/145...

   Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health, by Denise Minger

   http://www.amazon.com/Death-Food-Pyramid-Politics-Interests/...

   Keto Clarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet, by Jimmy Moore, Eric Westman MD

   http://www.amazon.com/Keto-Clarity-Definitive-Benefits-Low-C...

   I was really surprised that most of what the medical establishment says about diet is so incredibly backwards.

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6. bcheungApr 2016
   The book "Death by Food Pyramid" goes into great length about the history of how the food pyramid came to be and the story of how it got corrupted.
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