it was about nutrition. it started with the fact that proteins, fats and sugars all have different energy densities and so how much weight you gain is dependent on what the food is, which is all fair. but then i made the mistake of saying “your weight won’t go up by more than the weight of the food, anyway.” and that spiralled out of control completely. apparently that’s wrong and you can gain infinite weight from one chocolate bar.
as usual for this person they felt that i refused to take the “holistic” view into account.
a more recent conversation started with them talking about some sort of blood sugar sensor that athletes use and when i said “that’s interesting, what’s it called?” they started talking about gut microbes.
There’s almost some truth to it. Certain foods, like salts and carbs, in certain situations, like low salt/carb diets, can have a ripple effect. 100g of carbs, or a few grams of salt, can cause your body to retain water. The effect being that you gained several pounds from eating just a few (hundred) grams of certain foods.
However, for your body to retain that water, you must also consume said water.
Well, nutritional science doesn’t have a great track record. While a lot of bullshit is justified using the word “holistic”, it is also true that nutrition and in general our metabolism are affected by so many factors that a reductionist approach to nutrition more often than not fails to give actionable insights, especially if you move away from very broad statements. It doesn’t help that every few years, some core concept of nutritional science is discovered to be the result of lobbying.
it was about nutrition. it started with the fact that proteins, fats and sugars all have different energy densities and so how much weight you gain is dependent on what the food is, which is all fair. but then i made the mistake of saying “your weight won’t go up by more than the weight of the food, anyway.” and that spiralled out of control completely. apparently that’s wrong and you can gain infinite weight from one chocolate bar.
as usual for this person they felt that i refused to take the “holistic” view into account.
a more recent conversation started with them talking about some sort of blood sugar sensor that athletes use and when i said “that’s interesting, what’s it called?” they started talking about gut microbes.
There’s almost some truth to it. Certain foods, like salts and carbs, in certain situations, like low salt/carb diets, can have a ripple effect. 100g of carbs, or a few grams of salt, can cause your body to retain water. The effect being that you gained several pounds from eating just a few (hundred) grams of certain foods.
However, for your body to retain that water, you must also consume said water.
Eventually you’ll turn into a black hole.
Aka, “Keep science and evidence out of this”
Well, nutritional science doesn’t have a great track record. While a lot of bullshit is justified using the word “holistic”, it is also true that nutrition and in general our metabolism are affected by so many factors that a reductionist approach to nutrition more often than not fails to give actionable insights, especially if you move away from very broad statements. It doesn’t help that every few years, some core concept of nutritional science is discovered to be the result of lobbying.