
I Gave Up Gluten, Sugar, Dairy, And Coffee (2017) - Reedx
https://www.fastcompany.com/3068786/what-happened-when-i-gave-up-gluten-sugar-dairy-and-coffee
======
jasonhansel
Don't take diet advice from an uncontrolled study with n = 1. Especially if it
blames unspecified toxins without providing evidence.

Losing 6 pounds in 10 days is roughly double the maximum rate of weight loss
recommended by the CDC:
[https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html](https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html)

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leetbulb
Yes. I've worked in the advertising industry for almost ten years. As soon as
I see the word "Detox" it raises enough red flags to wonder why my DNS-BL
didn't already block the entire site.

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mcguire
That's funny. I gave up on Fast Company, and I've never felt better.

~~~
ttul
The ultimate diet!

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spzb
So basically, she started to eat a healthier diet and felt better for it.
Quite how she managed to eat fruit without any sugar is of more interest.

~~~
throwaway744678
Unless one has coeliac disease, cutting off gluten is very much not
recommended for one's health(on a scientific level, that is; reaching for
Instagram likes is another matter) Gluten is not nefarious, for Hypocrate's
sake! Also, there's no such thing as a "detox", and fasting does not do your
body any good.

~~~
hombre_fatal
That sounds like pseudo/armchair/forum science as well. Why would you need
grains much less gluten in your diet?

I bet most people would see an improvement in their waistline if they removed
them or replaced them with, say, more vegetables. Breads are a vice for most
of us and I have a hard time believing they're contributing much to the diet
unless your diet is just bread and soda pop.

~~~
throwaway744678
I am certainly not a doctor, but it seemed to me that it was well-known. Look,
eg.:

[https://www.gastroenterologyandhepatology.net/archives/febru...](https://www.gastroenterologyandhepatology.net/archives/february-2018/health-
benefits-and-adverse-effects-of-a-gluten-free-diet-in-non-celiac-disease-
patients/)

~~~
mcguire
" _The GFD continues to trend in popular culture and the media, and more
people are restricting gluten from their diet. The medical community must seek
to provide an evidence-based approach delineating both the benefits and
potential harms of a GFD. Although convincing evidence is available to support
the benefits of a GFD for certain patient populations without a gluten-related
disease (especially patients with IBS and NCGS), the data are conflicting and
not definitive. It appears that most individuals who participate in a GFD do
not have a physiologic requirement for the diet and likely do not derive
substantial benefit. Existing evidence for potential harms of a GFD include
possible nutritional deficiencies, financial costs, and negative psychosocial
implications. As with other dietary interventions, a GFD is a rapidly evolving
topic, and additional insight is needed to guide a complete discussion between
patients considering a GFD and their health care providers._ "

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hprotagonist
[https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-
publh...](https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-
publhealth-032013-182351)

 _Diet is established among the most important influences on health in modern
societies. Injudicious diet figures among the leading causes of premature
death and chronic disease. Optimal eating is associated with increased life
expectancy, dramatic reduction in lifetime risk of all chronic disease, and
amelioration of gene expression. In this context, claims abound for the
competitive merits of various diets relative to one another. Whereas such
claims, particularly when attached to commercial interests, emphasize
distinctions, the fundamentals of virtually all eating patterns associated
with meaningful evidence of health benefit overlap substantially. There have
been no rigorous, long-term studies comparing contenders for best diet laurels
using methodology that precludes bias and confounding, and for many reasons
such studies are unlikely. In the absence of such direct comparisons, claims
for the established superiority of any one specific diet over others are
exaggerated. The weight of evidence strongly supports a theme of healthful
eating while allowing for variations on that theme. A diet of minimally
processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively
associated with health promotion and disease prevention and is consistent with
the salient components of seemingly distinct dietary approaches. Efforts to
improve public health through diet are forestalled not for want of knowledge
about the optimal feeding of Homo sapiens but for distractions associated with
exaggerated claims, and our failure to convert what we reliably know into what
we routinely do. Knowledge in this case is not, as of yet, power; would that
it were so._

~~~
mcguire
" _Can we say what diet is best for health? If diet denotes a very specific
set of rigid principles, then even this necessarily limited representation of
a vast literature is more than sufficient to answer with a decisive no. If,
however, by diet we mean a more general dietary pattern, a less rigid set of
guiding principles, the answer reverts to an equally decisive yes._

" _The aggregation of evidence in support of (a) diets comprising
preferentially minimally processed foods direct from nature and food made up
of such ingredients, (b) diets comprising mostly plants, and (c) diets in
which animal foods are themselves the products, directly or ultimately, of
pure plant foods—the composition of animal flesh and milk is as much
influenced by diet as we are (31)—is noteworthy for its breadth, depth,
diversity of methods, and consistency of findings. The case that we should,
indeed, eat true food, mostly plants, is all but incontrovertible. Perhaps
fortuitously, this same dietary theme offers considerable advantages to other
species, the environment around us, and even the ecology within us (136)._ "

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mister_hn
Maybe cut also on happiness?

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hombre_fatal
It's amazing how you can shift your own baseline and preferences, like going
from craving donuts to craving a bowl of frozen strawberries as your only
vice.

Sure, it comes at the expense of short-term happiness. But I'd also wager that
the average dough-body on HN isn't the key to long-term happiness either.

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sdinsn
There is no such thing as a "detox". Flagged for spreading unscientific BS.

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dabbledash
My condolences

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timbit42
Once you shake the sugar habit, you will feel so much better that you will
have no desire to return to it.

~~~
mcguire
In fact, you realize that the only joy in life is converting others to
sugarlessness.

~~~
gHosts
Actually, once you're over the addiction to sugar....

* Sugar tastes rotten. Seriously, it's tastes like somebody put something that's gone off in your coffee.

* Fat tastes sweet. I use cream in my coffee, don't miss sugar anymore.

* The supermarket sugar aisle smells like a gas station. Seriously.

I don't miss sugar, it wasn't really adding joy to my life. It was mostly
adding dentists bills.

My brother once lived in a very hot dry climate and had access to unlimited
Coca cola sugary drinks.... within in weeks he had fattened like a bloody pig.
It was amazing.

He now has type 2 diabetes. :-(

I don't miss gluten either, pizza's used to cause excruciating pain.... I now
just eat the topping and throw the base away.

All the taste, none of the pain.

