7 ms·

Can we stop trying to replace every last natural source of calories with some combination of soy, corn, perfume, salt, sugar, and vegetable oil?

tootie 7y ago
Why?
- gwbas1c 7y ago
  Because processed food is bad for you, and "I can't believe it's not meat" is some of the most processed food on the market.
  - sosborn 7y ago
    A lot of processed food is bad for you, but that doesn't mean that processed food is inherently bad for you.
    - gwbas1c 7y ago
      There was an article in HN news sometime last year covering the results of a well controlled experiment. In summary: All processed food is bad for you. Not "bad" like cigarettes, but bad in the sense that if your diet primarily consists of processed food, you will gain more weight, and gain it rather quickly. "I can't believe it's not meat" products are heavily processed and shouldn't be the majority of your diet. Stick with real meat and/or high protein vegetables, depending on your preferences or dietary needs.
- DVassallo 7y ago
  Because they're not natural foods. And natural here does not mean not artificial. Natural food is the food we've been designed to eat.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    I can't see us being designed to eat heavily selected for plants, either.
  - thenewwazoo 7y ago
    Designed by whom?
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    > Natural food is the food we've been designed to eat. Humans aren't designed.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - batuhanicoz 7y ago
      We are though, at least in a way. Isn't evolution a really slow design process?
      - dragonwriter 7y ago
        > Isn't evolution a really slow design process? Not really, at least not in any directed way. To the extent that you might say that evolution designed us to do, including eat, anything, it is only exactly whatever we do do.
      - tootie 7y ago
        Humans evolved the ability to make soy-based meat substitutes. Hence, it's nature at work.
  - sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
    You should stop eating all modern fruits. Literally all modern fruits have been designed by humans through genetic selection. Here is how a banana is naturally supposed to look: https://www.sciencealert.com/images/feb-16/processed/Banana1_web_1024.png https://www.sciencealert.com/images/feb-16/processed/Banana1... Also if you are going to say that humans are designed and ignore Darwin's theory of evolution, you are going to lose you credibility on your thoughts on science.
- ericdykstra 7y ago
  Humans are complicated creatures, and just replicating the macronutrients (and even micronutrients) into an ingestible substance is not a replacement for real food.
  - tootie 7y ago
    Soy, corn and sugar are real food. Nothing you can buy at a grocery store is natural. Even fresh broccoli is genetically engineered.
ac29 7y ago
I'm not sure I would point to ground beef as a particularly "natural source of calories". At least not in the US, where cows are largely raised on.... corn and soy (and pharmaceuticals).
- elktea 7y ago
  Corn and soy isn't good for cows either but the resulting meat is a far cry from eating it directly
elktea 7y ago
Agreed. The health results have been nothing short of a disaster and we're pressing further into unknown territory.
- yitchelle 7y ago
  On the other side of the coin, staying status quo and to keep using a diminishing resource is also not the right answer.
- pickledish 7y ago
  You don't have to look it up if you don't want to, but you should know the health risks of eating factory-farmed meat (regarding antibiotic resistance, among other things) are almost assuredly worse.
n0rbwah 7y ago
Maybe Famine's also at work in our own world? > "CHOW contained spun, plaited, and woven protein molecules, capped and coded, carefully designed to be ignored by even the most ravenous digestive tract enzymes; no-cal sweeteners; mineral oils replacing vegetable oils; fibrous materials, colorings, and flavorings. The end result was a foodstuff almost indistinguishable from any other except for two things. Firstly, the price, which was slightly higher, and secondly, the nutritional content, which was roughly equivalent to that of a Sony Walkman." Neil Gaiman - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Although, these particular preparations might be closer to MEALS: > "MEALS was CHOW with added sugar and fat. The theory was that if you ate enough MEALS you would a) get very fat, and b) die of malnutrition."

tootie 7y ago

Why?

gwbas1c 7y ago
Because processed food is bad for you, and "I can't believe it's not meat" is some of the most processed food on the market.
- sosborn 7y ago
  A lot of processed food is bad for you, but that doesn't mean that processed food is inherently bad for you.
  - gwbas1c 7y ago
    There was an article in HN news sometime last year covering the results of a well controlled experiment. In summary: All processed food is bad for you. Not "bad" like cigarettes, but bad in the sense that if your diet primarily consists of processed food, you will gain more weight, and gain it rather quickly. "I can't believe it's not meat" products are heavily processed and shouldn't be the majority of your diet. Stick with real meat and/or high protein vegetables, depending on your preferences or dietary needs.
DVassallo 7y ago
Because they're not natural foods. And natural here does not mean not artificial. Natural food is the food we've been designed to eat.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  I can't see us being designed to eat heavily selected for plants, either.
- thenewwazoo 7y ago
  Designed by whom?
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > Natural food is the food we've been designed to eat. Humans aren't designed.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - batuhanicoz 7y ago
    We are though, at least in a way. Isn't evolution a really slow design process?
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > Isn't evolution a really slow design process? Not really, at least not in any directed way. To the extent that you might say that evolution designed us to do, including eat, anything, it is only exactly whatever we do do.
    - tootie 7y ago
      Humans evolved the ability to make soy-based meat substitutes. Hence, it's nature at work.
- sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
  You should stop eating all modern fruits. Literally all modern fruits have been designed by humans through genetic selection. Here is how a banana is naturally supposed to look: https://www.sciencealert.com/images/feb-16/processed/Banana1_web_1024.png https://www.sciencealert.com/images/feb-16/processed/Banana1... Also if you are going to say that humans are designed and ignore Darwin's theory of evolution, you are going to lose you credibility on your thoughts on science.
ericdykstra 7y ago
Humans are complicated creatures, and just replicating the macronutrients (and even micronutrients) into an ingestible substance is not a replacement for real food.
- tootie 7y ago
  Soy, corn and sugar are real food. Nothing you can buy at a grocery store is natural. Even fresh broccoli is genetically engineered.

ac29 7y ago

I'm not sure I would point to ground beef as a particularly "natural source of calories". At least not in the US, where cows are largely raised on.... corn and soy (and pharmaceuticals).

elktea 7y ago
Corn and soy isn't good for cows either but the resulting meat is a far cry from eating it directly

elktea 7y ago

Agreed. The health results have been nothing short of a disaster and we're pressing further into unknown territory.

yitchelle 7y ago
On the other side of the coin, staying status quo and to keep using a diminishing resource is also not the right answer.
pickledish 7y ago
You don't have to look it up if you don't want to, but you should know the health risks of eating factory-farmed meat (regarding antibiotic resistance, among other things) are almost assuredly worse.

n0rbwah 7y ago

Maybe Famine's also at work in our own world? > "CHOW contained spun, plaited, and woven protein molecules, capped and coded, carefully designed to be ignored by even the most ravenous digestive tract enzymes; no-cal sweeteners; mineral oils replacing vegetable oils; fibrous materials, colorings, and flavorings. The end result was a foodstuff almost indistinguishable from any other except for two things. Firstly, the price, which was slightly higher, and secondly, the nutritional content, which was roughly equivalent to that of a Sony Walkman." Neil Gaiman - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Although, these particular preparations might be closer to MEALS: > "MEALS was CHOW with added sugar and fat. The theory was that if you ate enough MEALS you would a) get very fat, and b) die of malnutrition."