{"items": [{"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103775592027106438640", "anchor": "gp-1316460210803", "service": "gp", "text": "It's very, very hard to do controlled, long-term studies of the effects of different diets; I don't think there's much good data out there. (There are still plenty of studies, so if you have a higher opinion of their methodologies, you might draw different conclusions about the strength of their results.)\n
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\nPersonally, I'm a pretty strict vegetarian; I only eat meat if it would otherwise go to waste. I've been considering re-introducing sustainably caught fish into my diet, but I haven't yet due to the difficulty in determining what is actually sustainably caught (especially at restaurants, where I am more likely to be eat it than at home). More recently, I saw some data which suggested that chicken meat actually requires significantly less energy input than eggs do per calorie generated, which suggests that to meet my goal of reducing energy consumption I should preferentially get protein calories from chicken rather than eggs, but I haven't done any research yet to confirm this, and I would also want to consider how the chickens are raised.", "timestamp": 1316460210}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1316462025995", "service": "gp", "text": "@BDan\n your goal in food selection is to minimize direct harm and energy consumption?", "timestamp": 1316462025}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103775592027106438640", "anchor": "gp-1316464595539", "service": "gp", "text": "Energy consumption first (with a subgoal of reducing land usage), direct harm second. Absolute minimization is not a requirement, but I try to keep it down. Nutrition is also a goal, of course, but I find that it is pretty easy to meet that within the other goals.", "timestamp": 1316464595}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1316466587646", "service": "gp", "text": "@BDan\n I would think that for a goal of minimizing energy consumption (and land usage) that there would be more effective approaches than food choice. Maybe giving to a charity that paid to replace old inefficient appliances with new efficient ones or something. Is this not actually true? Or are you already doing those? Or am I approaching this wrong?", "timestamp": 1316466587}, {"author": "Sean", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/107270646379592003271", "anchor": "gp-1316469942796", "service": "gp", "text": "@BDan\n : If you've not seen it yet, and if you've a smart phone, you might check out \nhttp://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_iPhone.aspx\n
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\nI assume Michael Pollen is familiar to everyone discussing this?", "timestamp": 1316469942}, {"author": "Taviy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/150662868361916?comment_id=150869875007882", "anchor": "fb-150869875007882", "service": "fb", "text": "I've developed an allergy to Michael Pollen [sic]", "timestamp": "1316495070"}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103775592027106438640", "anchor": "gp-1316505078469", "service": "gp", "text": "@Jeff Kaufman\n I think you're approaching it somewhat wrong: being vegetarian, I'm already keeping my food budget pretty low, and donating to a charity that helped reduce energy consumption would be an additional expense. It might be a good idea anyway, but I think it's pretty independent of my food choices. There are other things I do to reduce energy consumption, like using fluorescent light bulbs, and I also consider those independent of what I eat.\n
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\n@Sean\n I don't have a smartphone, but I have seen the website. The problem I see with it is that there isn't really anything on it that is universally good: everything includes a specific location, or catch method, or very specific species or subspecies, whereas most restaurants are going to give a lot less information than that. If I'm buying fish from a market it's probably easier to get that kind of info, but that's usually more trouble than I want to go to.", "timestamp": 1316505078}, {"author": "Sean", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/107270646379592003271", "anchor": "gp-1316527209650", "service": "gp", "text": "Well, but that problem has more to do with the state of fisheries than it does with the application. I do have a smart phone, so I'm able to take the mobile app with me, and I've had a surprising amount of luck asking about the source of the catch, especially in the Boston area. They've also not been too terribly upset with me asking, which is surprising, since the same people hate to split a check. \n
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\nAlso, sometimes it's easy: was it caught in the gulf? Don't eat it . :-)", "timestamp": 1316527209}, {"author": "Frederic", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/118156077148469167305", "anchor": "gp-1316560905783", "service": "gp", "text": "If you're just interested in personal health, megavitamins as far as I know are surprisingly ineffectual. However, I think the Omega-3 research for cognitive health in particular is very strong. \n
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\nI'm not sure what the current state of the research is on sugar and fat, but I understand that salt is probably OK unless you have hypertension. Vegetables and whole grains are pretty unimpeachable.\n
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\n+BDan Just skip the eggs entirely and you won't have to worry about comparative energy cost!", "timestamp": 1316560905}]}