Viewpoint: Healthy eating is less about what you eat and more about how much

facebook nutrition
Credit: Bon Appetit

“Avoid carbohydrates!” “Eat intermittently!” “Eat like a caveman!” “Increase foods that are antioxidants!” The list of recommendations is vast.

Assuming that “healthy eating” refers to a diet that will allow you to avoid disease and enhance your strength and vigor, your search is in vain. Why? Because accepting existing reports of healthy eating on a similar basis to other reports on health-promoting, or unhealthy behaviors, misses an important difference. To prove the effects of any one of the numerous published “healthy eating” proposals requires information that is not available.

Let’s review how something is proved. In medicine, the gold standard is the controlled clinical trial.

Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter.

To carry out such a trial for a dietary plan would require two components: At least two groups were randomly chosen, each of which followed a different food regimen. While this sounds simple, it is not feasible for very long. Only by using populations without free will, such as the military or prisoners, could a test diet be imposed.

It is very likely that “healthy eating” is no more complex than keeping a healthy weight. But we know that is not easy! If you want to “eat healthy,” have a balanced diet, and don’t fill your plate so full. It is less what you eat but how much!

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here

Related Articles

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Does glyphosate—the world's most heavily-used herbicide—pose serious harm to humans? Is it carcinogenic? Those issues are of both legal and ...

Most Popular

Picture1
Hiroshima at 81: America’s new nuclear bomb, a buried Iranian target, and a question no one wants to ask
ChatGPT-Image-Jul-31-2026-07_35_35-AM
Wikipedia has assembled an informative list of fake news websites from across the ideological spectrum
Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-10.10.55-AM
Viewpoint: ‘Misinformation' about the effects of offshore wind turbines on marine life could derail offshore wind farm projects 
ChatGPT Image Jul 29, 2026, 10_17_59 AM
Viewpoint: What does it mean when critics of conventional agriculture say many fruits and vegetables are “linked” to pesticide poisoning?
ChatGPT Image Jul 29, 2026, 06_26_01 PM 2
Facts & Fallacies podcast: Organic food myths make a comeback on Instagram, with Dr. Kevin Folta
ChatGPT Image Jul 29, 2026, 09_08_15 AM 2
The retreat of environmental extremism: Why activist NGOs are losing favor
ChatGPT Image Jul 31, 2026, 08_05_37 AM
With trust in RFK, Jr.'s CDC vaccine advice collapsing, physicians scramble to fill the information gap
ChatGPT-Image-Mar-10-2026-01_39_01-PM
Viewpoint—“Miracle molecule” debunked: Why acemannan supplements don’t work
Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-9.37.42-AM
Obsessing about ultra-processed foods but ignoring what matters far more: A balanced diet
ChatGPT-Image-Jul-10-2026-12_21_03-PM
Viewpoint: Is there new evidence that the animal deworming drug ivermectin decreases the risk of Covid and cancer? Don’t waste your money.
ChatGPT-Image-Jul-10-2026-09_42_12-AM-1
Peptides, patient autonomy, and the limits of medical freedom
Screenshot-2026-07-09-at-1.09.25-PM
Anti-vaccine myths rattle health care
leeteam
How Kennedy and his family could pocket millions from Merck’s $50 million vaccine injury settlement that he oversaw
Screenshot-2026-07-30-at-3.07.42-PM
Controversy over WNBA star Sophie Cunningham’s comment opposing trans females in women’s sports reinvigorates the culture wars
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.