Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mycall 32 days ago
People can get fat by eating too much healthy food.
8 comments

That's the problem with the definition of "healthy". No single food is "healthy" on it's own. It's a wrong way to look at it and why most people fail at finding a good diet. There's no super food you can just eat unlimited amounts of.

A diet can be healthy if it's the nutrient combination of different foods that result in certain number of calories, protein, fat, carbs, minerals and vitamins per unit of time.

You also have to adjust those numbers over time based on input and output. Your body’s energy system isn’t closed.
The more colorful the plate, generally; the better it is for you.
That's why Skittles-based diets tend to perform so well!
> People can get fat by eating too much healthy food.

It's a lot harder, as many of the comments mentioned, because of caloric density and lack of appetite hacks (sugar, salt).

A can of Mountain Dew is 170 kcal + 46g of sugar.

A navel orange is ~75 kcal + 13g of sugar + 3.2g of fiber + 1.25g of protein.

So take someone from Appalachia with a 4 can / day habit (modest), and that's ~10-12 oranges. That's a lot of oranges to not get sick of eating.

Which is where I think the sugar + salt difference comes in.

It's far easier to overload on the same food when it's stuffed with these appetite attractants than a caloric equivalent of healthy food, because the health food will taste more similar (read: like itself), which will eventually get boring.

Wasn't there just a study, that many fat kids are fat because of fruit juices?

Healthy in a way, but surprisingly a lot of sugar ( either added or from the fruits)

Fruit juices are not healthy in any way, precisely because of the sugar density and lack of fiber which leads to easy overconsumption.

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/139/6/e20170...

>Pediatricians should support policies that seek to reduce the consumption of fruit juice and promote the consumption of whole fruit by toddlers and young children already exposed to juices.

Fruit juice isn’t considered healthy. It has worse health outcomes than soda
There was a study comparing big and small eaters with and without obesitas. Turns out that skinny people who eat a lot eat also eat a lot of fat and protein and that fat people who eat almost nothing eat mostly carbs and sugar.
Link to the study would help that claim, when you have a chance.
I think there's a bit of a caveat there, because that basically means eating reasonably high calorie food in sufficient quantities that starts violating the "healthy food" definition.
You'd have to eat a lot of broccoli
I consumed +11lbs (5.1kg) of food yesterday for only 2,500kcal

If you have a stomach and appetite that are capable of consuming the 15 to 20 lb you need to eat 3,500 to 4,000 calories of similar foods, you ought to call a research lab

Nuts are healthy to eat, its easy to eat 4000 calories of nuts. Healthy doesn't mean low calories.
In what world does that prove you cant get fat eating "healthy" or "whole" foods?

1) you didnt eat the most calorie dense foods

2) you dont need crazy calories to get fat, just above your burn rate.

What part are you confused about?

2500 kcal is waaaayyy above the TDEE of most people (especially most women - who hover around 1200-1500 TDEE; but even for men, 2000 TDEE is quite common for a regular office worker lifestyle). So most people would get quite fat quite rapidly eating that.
Not really the fiber and stuff is normally too filling
Some fibers are not very filling, they just go through the guys quickly and you are hungry again a couple of hours later.
name the fibers, the meal and the quantity

if you one broccoli head with one pound of icecream then sure, you will feel hungry again quite soon

It is for some people, it's not for some other. I could get overweight overeating carrots and lettuce if I was not controlling myself constantly.
true but you'll struggle getting tons of calories out of whole foods. This is why mass gainers are popular, underweight people find it hard to gain weight so they dirty bulking using fast food which is often calorie dense.

Eating healthy food alone isn't solution, you need to make your life active as well.

Some don't get at all what calories are.

In some video a woman was eating 8-10 Oranges a day just as a snack on the side.

No knowledge about sugar or calroies, just the thought "but its a fruit its health". No fruits are not healthy

8 to 10 oranges per day being healthy or not is largely dependent what else you eat. Biggest issue there is likely teeth decay due to acidity.
No its not. 8-10 Oranges is too much sugar. Too much sugar hurts your insulin reaction and can bring diabetes.
No with the fiber that’s perfectly fine. The slow release of sugar is perfectly fine. Obesity is the main risk for insulin, fast release sugar is bad for insulin via obesity not on its own.
Not really, healthy person can easily handle that amount of sugar. Has plenty of fiber to balance.
I rechecked it and you are right.

Its an issue if you drink orange juice not when you eat it. Eating takes longer and is getting balanced from the fiber.

Your first sent once and your last sentence don't align.

Yes. Fruits are healthy. One orange is healthy. 10 oranges are unhealthy. Same concept applies to water. Drinking too much can be unhealthy as well, but that doesn't change the fact that water is good.

> 10 oranges are unhealthy

You made that up tho.

I know Math is hard for you, so let me explain it:

10 oranges have a total of roughly 700 calories and 120 grams of sugar while only having 30 grams of fiber. It's mainly sugar. Eating 10 oranges per day crowds out protein, fat and other nutrients.

It's not a made up claim. You are a made up claim, troll.

> Eating 10 oranges per day

I know it ends up as pedantry, but specifying the period with every post/restatement is so critical in these threads. 10 oranges a day is unhealthy, but so is 10 oranges a year to someone trying to make a counter point.

The glycemic index also comes into play. It essentially measures how much certain foods keeps you full regardless of calories. So healthy food, even if you’re consuming the same calories as junk food, is going to keep you full longer.
Sorry but isn’t GI about how “sugary” a food is…? I don’t believe it doesn’t measure to do how full you feel.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/glycemic-index-vs-load-521436...

Not directly but they can be related. GI is about how quickly the carbs in food are metabolized and how quickly sugar is released into the blood.

Blood sugars spikes then drops can have different impacts on food appetite.

I don't think you'll struggle to get tons of calories out of whole foods, but you'll be satiated faster eating whole foods, which will in all practicality, mean you ate less.
This has never been my problem. I can easily eat 5k calories of whole foods
Healthy and whole foods are a different thing. A healthy diet would have so much fiber that 5k Fritos be near impossible
What do you eat in those 5000kcal calories? Genuinely curious.
I don't think I could do it, but 3.5 cups of peanut butter would get you there. Or four 16 ounce ribeyes.
It doesnt have to be one sitting. Eat 2500 diet and add a cup of roast nuts twice a day and you are basically there.

Moreover, you dont need to eat anywhere close to 5k to be morbidly obese.

1 cup of roast nuts over TDEE will gain you 100lbs in a couple short years

Assuming you maintain same activity level, the increase in weight wouldn't be that simple.

TDEE rises as body weight rises (heavier body burns more)

Overfeeding increases NEAT in some people (more fidgeting, movement)

as an aexample, I once ate a 5lb tritip over an afternoon, and that isnt counting breakfast or sides
Get checked for parasites, seriously! It will save you $$