To think there's a growing amount of people who think food can fix everything?

There’s also the whole issue of healthcare & having access to decent healthcare.

Well he might be. Wealth doesn’t mean healthy diet. It means better outcomes for reasons far more complex than food, which is really so simplistic (I think this is why it appeals to people as a cure all tbh)

Does he? I mean we don’t know the guy but as much as I adore him, his documentaries have always been occasional and his early years were spent in senior management in the bbc. Doesn’t particularly strike as a nose to the grindstone type.

As I said, he isn’t eating Dominos and drinking Monsters.

I'm sure that helps, but he does keep busy and has an active mind which I think helps a lot. People who keep their minds and bodies active as they age do seem to fare better.

I’m a fairly sure its wealth and class related

If I was wealthy I would pay someone to cook me all the nutritious stuff

I definitely think some chocolate or a big slice of cake with a cup of tea can fix pretty much anything. Not sure that's what you mean though.

Comfort eating for the win.

I’m fairly sure it’s diet related- little meat and being in nature a lot. He doesn’t strike me as the type to be munching on Dominos, drinking Monsters and smoking 20 per day.

I fixed recurrent UTI ''s that I'd had for 13 years just with a change in diet and a few carefully chosen supplements.

I was part of a forum of people who weren't getting answers from the medical profession and had come together to say what worked, so a lot of advice came from there.
It wasn't easy. It took committing to a drastic change and it took about 11 months and a lot of faith in what I was trying. I'd come to the point where I was looking at having to give up my job, which was even more drastic than the changes I made. As was the invasive testing that was the next step if I hadn't taken responsibility.

Yes I think diet is responsible for a lot. So is sleep, stress and so is circadian rhythm, lack of exercise. So I would say lifestyle rather than just food.

The other thing which drives me potty is that people lie or fool themselves into framing their current fad as something with longevity.

We’re all older. We were there listening to this shit with atkins, 5 a day, Gillian mckeith. We all know that 20 years ago you didn’t know what a UPF was and would laugh your arses off at 30 plants a week.

You might’ve been Zoe’s biggest fan for the last 5 years but that is NOTHING over the course of your life and 5 years of some fad shite plays no role in your life long health.

If you kept it up for the next 40 years, it will, but we don’t believe you will because you’ll be onto the next fad soon enough.

I think I'll ask David Attenborough what the secret is. He's 100 years old soon.

I believe that health and avoiding lifestyle diseases is based on a triangle of sleep, exercise and diet. Then avoiding all the crap: booze, stress, pollution, etc.

I follow the podcasts and read the books. Each specialist is evangelical about their side of the triangel. (And ignore the roll of genetics and luck!)

I try my best, but recognise that in my job and life situation there is only so much i can do. But i reckon awareness and trying your best 80% of time is good enough.

Yes and the experts and scientists are on social media. It’s just a means of communication these days. The younger generation do t read newspapers or watch TV.

You probably increase your chances of living longer with a healthy diet (although its hard to definitively say by how much).

I think what some of us object to is the idea that healthy eating, in and of itself, is a formula which buys a guaranteed longer and healthier life. And the way it’s presented in this virtue signalling way which implies that its a simple fix you can make.

When in fact the variables which determine how long you live and how well are a hugely complex interplay of factors. Food isn’t even the only environmental factor, is arguably not the most important and none of this takes genetics into consideration.

Talking about healthy eating and encouraging information sharing is good, but it sometimes tips into an unpleasantly simplistic and judgmental rhetoric that at heart is more about status than actually seeking to improve health.

A healthy diet will most certainly have advantages over a unhealthy one.

Your chances of a longer healthy lifespan will increase with a balanced diet, not smoking, not vaping, no drugs, low alcohol intake, low stress, good sleep.

Yes a small number of people make it to 85-100 having smoked and drank all their life but think of the millions that didn’t or suffered horrible illnesses as a result of abusing their bodies and poor advice.

Plenty of people get sick who lead healthy lives but the statistics are still in their favour especially if they eat well.

Just stop watching social media. I can't name one 'influencer'.

What does this even mean? Influencers exist, it’s marketing & lots of people do follow influencers so what you do is irrelevant.

@OliviaWhatshername you clearly have misunderstood the OPs posts…

Many people seem to believe in the word of influencers over professionals, which doesn't bode well.

Just stop watching social media. I can't name one 'influencer'.

I read research on places like Google Scholar and in medical journals.

You'd get a far more balanced opinion including a lot of 'we aren't quite sure yet'.

Ask away- which part of my post do you take issue with?
I was criticising the OP for her exaggeration and mis-information.
Anything I've posted with figures is there online on reputable medical sites.

Is this an issue with your understanding?

I would ask the same of you! 😆

Sorry to quote the whole of your first post but it's easier than copying and pasting parts of it.

You're just taking your opinions to the extreme. You're posting things that are incorrect. Is this an issue with your understanding?

Many diseases are lifestyle related including cancer. Research shows 40% are lifestyle related. That doesn't mean you can 'eat your way away from cancer 100%' but it means you can try to reduce the risk.
Some of the fittest people get cancer - think of the sportsmen.

It's not just about dying earlier.
The focus now is on 'healthy years' not the number of years.

In some part of the UK healthy years are incredibly low. In Scotland , the vast majority of adults over 55 ish have chronic health conditions and a life expectancy decades below people living for example in the poshest parts of London.

It reminds me of those people who think they will never get ill because they don't smoke.

I've never met those people.
You seem to know some stupid people!

But diet also increases cardiovascular fitness, and the majority of people at near peak, or peak, cardiovascular fitness eat well. When I was younger I definitely had a greater margin of error re my diet but now I'm 43 I have to keep my diet very clean in order to train effectively

It's the fact that people follow some guru or celeb rather than think what is right and wrong about their life as well as their eating habits.

I like the blogs by some guy called the Diet Chef. He's quite sarcastic when it comes to comparing "good" and "bad" food. Like the fact that some "hi protein" snacks have less protein and more calories than a Big Mac. That a Snickers bar has less calories than some "healthy" foods like a handful of raisins. And he points out the obvious fact that raisins have more fibre and micronutrients than a Snickers bar so it's a matter of balancing our choices. And that if a so called healthy diet makes you feel rotten or deprived or depressed then it's not the right diet for you. That having the occasional Snickers isn't going to kill you.

He also cooks a bit like me - he's demonstrating a recipe that someone is promoting and he doesn't necessarily have all the right ingredients but has fun with making something and seeing if it's tasty. All with a completely deadpan expression.