[wutbrodo]

People looking for an overriding simple comprehensive rule (or small set of rules) are destined to be confused and disappointed, because we simply don't have one with any degree of confidence. That being said, there are a fair few rules that are common to many of these conflicting diet plans that don't add up to a comprehensive diet plan but can still be applied to your existing diet. See the rest of this thread for examples, but it's _mostly_ common-sense stuff (that is still widely not-followed) like "limit quickly-absorbed sugar/simple-carb intake", "eat lots of vegetables", "eat a hefty amount of good fats (like in fish)", "eat a fixed amount of protein relative to bodyweight". Note that I'm using vague terms here, but a lot of the quantity terms that I'm using are actually directly quantified with not too much variation.

You basically can't go wrong sticking to the simpler rules that are more well-supported, and don't stress too much about the under-determined parts of your diet. For my part (and someone else could follow the same rules and end up with a fairly different diet), I basically eat a certain amount of lean meat or fish, occasional fruits, a middling amount of nuts, a medium amount of carbs with fiber (mostly beans and pulses), and backfill an assload of vegetables. I don't eat simple carbs and do eat the occasional dessert but treat like a special occasion that I know is terrible for me (e.g. like drinking 5+ drinks in a night: I'd be fine not doing at all, I'm aware that it's bad for me, but I don't limit myself to NEVER doing it ever).

[blparker]

Well said.