Nutrition

This page is going to ruffle a few feathers. There are so many misconceptions about nutrition out there - try to put all that aside when reading this page - try to rebuild an understanding from scratch. 💬 discussion  Or maybe I should say: Temporarily put aside what you've heard before about nutrition - and when you're done reading the page, then think about how the stuff you heard before fits into this more solid framework. Idk if thats the most concise way to say it or not

Things that matter

For each vitamin or mineral, there's a graph that looks like this. Too little can be a problem. Too much can be a problem. A healthy intake is anything that falls in between. This healthy range is wider for some nutrients than for others.

Vitamins & minerals

The human body needs all of these:

Minerals
Electrolytes	Trace minerals
Potassium Chloride Sodium Calcium Phosphorous Magnesium	Iron Zinc Manganese Copper Iodine Selenium Molybdenum Chromium

Vitamins
Fat-soluble	Water-soluble
Vitamin A Vitamin D Vitamin E Vitamin K	Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Vitamin B1 (thiamin) Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) Vitamin B3 (niacin) Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) Vitamin B7 (biotin) Vitamin B9 (folic acid) Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)

A healthy diet provides enough (but not too much) of each and every one of these.

It can be pretty hard to keep track of so many nutrients, but there are a few ways to make it work. 💬 discussion TODO: explain how to make it work 💬 discussion TODO: cover these points:  ~ almost everyone is at least somewhat lacking in one or more (...)( not outright deficiency, but insufficiency )  ~ essential for metabolism. This is one reason why some people have such a hard time exercising and burning calories (...)( side note: other things that get in the way include bad posture caused by electronics etc. link to page - there are solutions without living in the stone age )  ~ it can be hard to track all of them  ~ a lot easier if you take a multivitamin and eat some unrefined foods  ~ nutrition calculator can help  ~ dispel misconceptions about absorbability  ~ why food lacks these nutrients in the first place: long shelf life dry foods are why we don't have famines in the 'first world' - but this comes with tradeoffs, nutrients lost. But this can be made up for  ~ terminology and why it sucks: RDA should be called "daily requirement". because "recommended dietary allowance" is misleading and sounds like "you're allowed to have up to this much, anything more is unhealthy", which is NOT what it means at all. The UL is that upper limit that means that. Whereas the RDA is more of a lower limit, anything below it might be insufficient for some people. Another way to say it: Anything between RDA and UL is safe & healthy for 97% of people. Show the diagram tbh  ~ what about choline? may not be important overall for most people, or if it is then probably don't need the full 550mg/day (...)( which isn't a true RDA - choline has been less studied so they set the target higher than it may need to be, to be conservative. they set a large burden of proof for establishing that a lower intake won't lead to deficiency ). Maybe some other nutrients in plants can enable the formation of choline without u getting that large intake? Because choline-deficient vegan diets have never been shown to be an issue as long as they provide all the other nutrients  ~ how we know these nutrients are essential, and how we know that other stuff isn't

Water is also a mineral - and a very important one, no matter your diet. It's easy to forget that hydration makes a huge difference. 💬 discussion maybe worth also mentioning that juice, soda, coffee, tea, fruits etc can also contribute some water to the diet as well

Protein

Get enough protein

The amount needed is surprisingly modest, even for people who are extremely active. 💬 discussion TODO: add chart for various sized adults and kids, various activity levels Most of the protein you need is just to maintain nitrogen balance - in other words, replace protein that was burned as calories. This is true for everyone - even for kids that are growing quickly. 💬 discussion TODO: show maths.  DRAFT: The human body is approximately 20% protein. [1] On average, a healthy person grows fastest at age _, where they gain _ kg of body mass in a year. 💬 discussion Maybe just show a typical growth chart, and say "At the fastest growth spurt (age _), the average healthy person gains _ lbs of body mass in a year. [2] This amounts to just _ grams of protein per day becoming new body mass. Even in extreme bodybuilding, the amount of protein that actually becomes muscle is relatively small. (See maths) Human muscle is 20% protein, and 70% water (the rest is mostly sugars and electrolytes). [3] [4] A pound (454g) of muscle therefore contains 91g of protein. So even in an "absolute best case" scenario of gaining 50 pounds of muscle in a year (extremely rare to achieve this), only 12 grams of protein are becoming muscle every day. And that's a very high estimate. For most people, the best case is lower: about 20 pounds of muscle in a year(...)( that's in the first year of training. the next years see slower gains ). This amounts to just 5 grams of protein becoming muscle every day! So where does all the other protein go? It gets burned just like any other calories. All this goes to show just how little difference it makes when you're building muscle: Your protein requirements are only slightly higher. 💬 discussion TODO: add expandable section: So why do some websites have protein recommendations that are so much higher?

Get enough of the 9 essential amino acids

Sometimes this is conceptualized as "complete protein", but that term can be a bit misleading. 💬 discussion TODO: explain examples of it being misleading The more fundamental principle is: You have to get enough of each of these amino acids (which are found in protein):

Histidine Isoleucine Leucine

Lysine Threonine Tryptophan Valine

Methionine and/or Cysteine iTechnically, methionine is the essential amino acid while cysteine can be made from methionine in the body. Phenylalanine and/or Tyrosine iTechnically, phenylalanine is the essential amino acid while tyrosine can be made from phenylalanine in the body. Arginine, in some cases 💬 discussion This is a "conditionally essential" amino acid. TODO: Research under what conditions it's essential, and how common that is.

You also still need to get enough total protein, as mentioned in the section above. 💬 discussion TODO: explain why, and the meaning of "non-essential amino acids"

By eating a variety of proteins, you can meet all of those targets. 💬 discussion TODO: talk about incomplete proteins here a bit, and that proteins don't need to be combined at the same meal

Essential fats

• Omega-3 💬 discussion TODO: Talk about various forms of omega-3: ALA, DHA, EPA
• Omega-6 💬 discussion TODO: Reseach: What about omega-9? Is that also essential?
• Vitamins A, D, E and K need to be combined with at least a small amount of fat at the same meal (any type of fat will do) to ensure absorption. 💬 discussion TODO: more detail about the time window within which they can be combined. Also list examples like carrots

The total amount of calories

Protein and essential fats, on their own, are only a small percent of the calories you need. 💬 discussion TODO: show maths The rest of the calories must be some combination of fats and carbs. The exact ratio doesn't matter as much as some people think - see below.

Things that don't matter

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This section is going to cause a lot of controversy, but it needs to be said. Again, try to put any pre-conceived ideas aside, and read the whole page before jumping to conclusions.

Carbs

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⚠ Exception: For people with diabetes, carbs do matter - be careful. But the following applies to everyone else:

Contrary to popular belief, 💬 discussion TODO: explain why so many people think it matters: correlations found in studies, which can actually be explained by vitamins and minerals it doesn't matter whether most of your calories come from carbs or fats. The overall amount of calories are what's important.

"Bad carbs" (i.e. sugar) vs "good carbs"

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion The carbohydrate molecules themselves aren't the issue  ~ it's the vitamins and minerals or the lack thereof. Refined stuff lacks nutrients, but that's ok if you still get those nutrients in other ways.  ~ it's the glycemic index / glycemic load, which is affected by other factors like protein and fiber. So make every meal a balanced one, kinda

Fats

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Saturated fat and cholesterol

Not harmful. Not essential either. 💬 discussion TODO: explain why: the body makes its own cholesterol and saturated fat (from any calorie source it gets).  ~ Fats in the body are mostly saturated fat. Some fatty tissue is essential, but other fatty tissue is excessive if you're fat. Mention HDL and LDL cholesterol too maybe  ~ Btw be clear that the earlier "people with diabetes are an exception" applies only to the carbs section above, not to this section on fats or any other section  ~ Concerns about heart disease are debunked, but pro-meat lobbyists have played that up and tried to make {sat fat + cholesterol} seem like an "essential nutrient" which it isn't  ~ Tl;dr: Saturated fat is just another source of calories.

Seed oils

Not harmful. 💬 discussion howevers:  ~ the seeds themselves have more nutrients than their refined oils. recipes  ~ still beware of rancidity  ~ make sure to get a balance of omega-3 and 6. ~ maybe mention something about crop yields and deforestation, it's not what you think

Chemicals

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Natural vs artificial flavors

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion ~ but there are some minor benefits to natural colors, which i think should be used more often (especially beetroot)  ~ also talk about why some flavors have to be artificial, from a sustainability perspective

Preservatives & additives

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion be specific about what this applies to. Some chemicals are obviously still harmful (for example large amounts of lead and arsenic)

Animal-based vs plant-based

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This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion the body doesnt care whether it gets its nutrients as long as it gets them. digestibility doesnt have to be an issue: there are ways. phytic acid not as significant as u think. optimal nutrition diet is possible no matter if veg or non-veg. shitty nutrition is also possible either way.

But ethically, it does matter.

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion TODO: Add: "When it comes to ethics, plant-based is better (another controversial topic with lots of misconceptions - here's a page that clears things up).", after I make the page to link to.

Honorable mentions

Antioxidants

Flavonoids etc. 💬 discussion TODO: list foods examples. Be clear that these antioxidants are good to have. These help prevent cancer to some extent, but not as significantly as the more essential antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E.

Fiber

This section has not been filled in yet.

Gluten

Only a problem if you have a gluten intolerance (such as celiac disease). Gluten is a protein found in wheat. 💬 discussion Maybe mention something about gut flora and how its biodiversity could help in providing the right enzymes to digest gluten?

FAQ

"WHAT??? You mean junk food is fine??? What about heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and obesity???"

Obviously there are countless cases of people who get these health problems from an unhealthy diet full of junk food.

But almost every case can be explained by either an excess of calories or a lack of one or more essential nutrients (listed above in "things that matter"). Any studies that control for these factors will say the same thing.

That might sound pedantic, but it actually matters a lot:

Low-quality foods can be part of a healthy diet. People need to know this so they can eat well without spending their whole paycheck on food. 💬 discussion TODO: link to page that teaches how.

💬 discussion TODO: add a FAQ about supplements and absorbability

See also

• Nutrition calculator
• Plant-based food