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

[StructuredChaos]

Was listening to some ZOE podcasts, and love eating healthy foods myself, so it isn't a criticism of nutrition awareness. I'm a bit of a cooking nerd so love all of this stuff and finding new recipes, but I am noticing more and more people who seem to believe that eating low upf and fresh fruit and veg can add 'decades' to a human lifespan.

It certainly won't shorten it!
Surely this is an oversimplification, though?

I have always eaten in a kind of 'ZOE' way, and whilst I don't have any metabolic disease, weight problems or other issues, I am not so confident that I am going to outlive my peers due to this. It's something I can control, yes, and that's great, but I think it's deceptive to think we won't ever get cancer, heart disease, dementia or auto immune diseases if we eat in a 'clean' or ideal way.

Not to mention the 'ideal' keeps bloody changing!

I don't think life is that simple at all, even though I do champion healthy, fresh diets.
I see people who claim their spots, headaches, IBS, brain fog, joint aches and other issues immediately cease when they start eating fresh fruit and veg, or low histamine, or low inflammatory diets...... What puzzles me, as someone who has always enjoyed high fibre and fresh foods, is how nebulous those symptoms are, and not very well understood by GP's.
It allows for all manner of snake oil claims online, since the placebo effect is strong.

Just saw a vid with Tim Spector claiming that eating the ZOE way will certainly add 10 extra healthy years to your life. So if we use myself as an example of this, it doesn't take into account my familial heart disease, stroke risk, potential genetic cancers, and a world of non food related risks, of which there are countless examples.

It reminds me of those people who think they will never get ill because they don't smoke. Neither did my parents, but they died before their time (sepsis and vascular dementia).

And one of the issues with the narrative that you can prevent all cancer is that younger people are ignoring symptoms because they assume cancer isn’t for them due to their lifestyle.

Tim Spector? I’ve listened to a few of Zoe podcasts, is he the presenter with the reaaalllly annnnoying voiiiiice.

I enjoyed the podcasts but had to switch off because I couldn’t stand his voice, it was like a finger nail on a chalkboard.

There is far less discussion of childhood trauma than there needs to be.

What comes to the fore generally correlates with what will sell more books and what is currently trending.

Again, I fully support healthy eating, but it's interesting which subjects and risks don't get so much airplay.

Yes, I have seen this a lot. For some people it doesn't seem to matter what the ailment is, they immediately think that eating the wrong thing caused it, and you need to go on some elimination diet to fix it.

For example, I had some intestinal issues a while back, and the doctor did make a dietary recommendation (which was effective), but a friend of mine who is really into diet is all stuff suggested that I need to cut out nightshades as obviously it was an inflammation thing and eating too many tomatoes was my problem.

I’m very au fait with Zoe - my DH did the testing/programme and he did feel better on it. It is very interesting and the podcasts are informative.
I eat really healthily as I have digestive issues that require a wholefood/mainly non-UPF diet.
I agree that genetics play a massive part. My dad thought he was so fit and healthy but he dropped dead from a heart attack like his dad. You can try and ward off genetic predispositions with healthy eating but it won’t eradicate them.
And obviously eating a high upf diet will have ramifications, but for most people a small amount of it won’t have any ill effects. What pisses me off more is the ‘health claims’ on food that is full of crap - look at ingredients, not the front of the packet!
Abd I def don’t want to live past 90 - it’s highly unlikely I will with my medical issues anyway. DH wants to live to 100, good luck mate but you need to sort your cholesterol out first …

This whole thread feels, strongly, like product placement to promote this podcast and the work of this doctor.

I usually suspect this myself with many threads. I feel a bit sad that it comes over that way, but here we are.

I'm a mixture of intrigued and irritated by zoe, although very fascinated by the gut biome. Everywhere I look online that isn't a science related url, all I can find are grifters.They aim their products at the wealthy, but they are still regular grifters. Most of the guys have CEO or marketing backgrounds.

We don't know enough about the gut biome yet, but there are so many people, including tim spector, cashing in on it. I do like the presentation of their videos but that is only a testament to the quality of their marketing!

I also think we are in an epidemic of othorexia and are frequently taking diet and exercise advice form people who has eating disorders and use a public profile to manage them. No one needs to learn anything about healthy eating someone with an eating disorder

I completely agree with this and I think quite a lot of the “food as medicine” rhetoric is basically rebadged puritanism: the modern equivalent of the temperance movement in the early part of the 20th century. Its “food as virtue”.

Some of the rhetoric around sugar for example is very misleading. No one doubts that refined sugar is not great and needs to be managed but I have heard “health influencers” talk about it like tobacco; saying its highly carcinogenic etc. its a massively simplistic and misleading analogy.

Ditto some of the bonkers threads on here from people who clearly have eating disorders competing over how little they can consume in a day. Someone will list what they have eaten for lunch and someone else will tell them they only need 800 calories a day. Highly unscientific and with an unpleasantly sanctimonious tone, its driven not by a genuine interest in health, more by a kind of quasi religious smugness.

@Thepeopleversuswork very true

Just to add some clarity, I made my OP because I am tired of the conflicting, often controversial marketing of health online. Many people seem to believe in the word of influencers over professionals, which doesn't bode well. One the one hand it's really fascinating, and I am a self confessed food nerd, but on the other I am aware of the incessant 'noise' of it all, and how that leads to more confusion.

I hoped posting here would open up some discussion about whether other people have noticed that, and whether they agreed that there's a growing obsession about food as the cure for all ailments.

I can't say that any single individual or celeb Dr online has convinced me of anything. I think T Spector is interesting, but the brand is getting more cosy with book-pushing influencers and seeming less credible to me by the month.

I have definitely upped my fibre recently though.

Everywhere I look online that isn't a science related url, all I can find are grifters.They aim their products at the wealthy, but they are still regular grifters. Most of the guys have CEO or marketing backgrounds.

I also think we are bombarded with “advice” We need to eat more plants, less carbs, more fibre, more fruit and veg, but not too much fruit cause sugar, we need to eat the rainbow, fermented food, protein to build muscle, avoid sugar spikes, healthy fats, balance our macros, fast, don’t eat late at night, don’t snack etc it’s overwhelming

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.

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

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!

Is this an issue with your understanding?

I would ask the same of you! 😆

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.

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'.

@OliviaWhatshername you clearly have misunderstood the OPs posts…

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.

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.

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.

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.

This.
And every new 'diet' comes with the exact same chorus of "this cured my IBS, my joint pain, my brain fog!" Without any discussion of placebo or that the changes themselves might have more of an effect than the food itself.

So there are around 20 different fad diets online and everyone makes the exact same claims. It's like browsing through a dystopian novel.

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.

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.

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