Eating is an optimization Problem. Getting all the right macro- and micro-nutrition, staying at the right caloric range, tastes as good as possible, costing at least as possible, brings as much joy as possible, takes as little time as possible. Here are some notes on how to approach it.

Context: Health Landscape

There are different attacks on how to stay healthy for as long as possible to have as much integrated energy (energy over time) for my Life Goals (whatever they are…).

• Exercise
  • Zone 2
  • High Hart Rate
  • Coordination / Stability
• Sleep
  • Quality
  • Enough
• Nutrition
  • Avoid things, in food but also other ways it can enter
  • Stuff to consume
    • Macro
    • Micro
    • Calories
• Early Detection
  • Checkups
  • Definition of normal & outlier-detection
  • Personalized medicine
• Mental
  • Stable Environment with Family and Friends
  • Strength / Resilience / Joy
  • Security

This note is only on a very thin slice of the pie, “Stuff to consume”.

Goals

• Optimal Macro-Nutrition
• Optimal Micro-Nutrition
• Optimal number of calories
• Tastes as good as possible / good enough
• As much joy as possible / enough joy
• Costs as little as possible / Minimize costs
• As little time as possible

Optimal means that there is too much and too little, meaning I need to hit a Goldilock zone, which I don’t know. Good enough means that a minimal threshold needs be met and be sustainable. As little as possible means to approach zero.

The different goals are weighted differently, but I don’t know how (yet). It also hard to compare a goal that needs to be in a Goldilock zone with one where I need to minimize. I don’t care too much right now about the numbers. Being explicit is good enough for now.

Measuring

The goals are only a means to the end of having more total energy available to the end of my life. Measuring can be done by self-observation and blood samples for deficiencies. I track my weight, observe symptoms, let my doctor take blood samples and so on. Some things are hard to measure as the effects are lagging and feedback is delayed. I start with the current state of art of research and adjust to my lifestyle. Don’t over-complicate.

Judging ingredients on different dimensions

• Level of processing
• Glycemic Index
• Price
• Protein / calorie
• Micro-Nutrition Density

The goal is to come up with simple rules to follow.