Posted by burkaman 2 hours ago
Since there is no integration, results have nothing to do with the content of realfood.gov, and often contradict it. For example, you can ask "how much protein should I eat per day" and get a wildly different answer, since Grok is citing NIH and WHO recommendations.
Here was one of mine.
> I'm not able to get enough carbs in my diet. Which healthy high simple carb foods can I eat to keep my blood glucose level as high as possible?
Here's the starting paragraph
> If you're struggling to get enough carbohydrates and want to maximize blood glucose levels (i.e., raise them as quickly and substantially as possible) while sticking to relatively healthy options, focus on foods rich in simple sugars (like glucose, fructose, or sucrose). These digest rapidly with minimal fiber, fat, or protein to slow absorption.
Instead it went on to tell me to guzzle maple syrup and honey.
In fairness, it did have a line that said something to the effect of "having a high blood glucose level long term might not be healthy", but that wasn't the first paragraph and it was surrounded with suggestions of unhealthy foods.
This is the problem with AI and diet advice. Any diet you think is healthy, AI will think is healthy even if it's not. Ask AI to make you a carnivore diet plan or a high saturated fat plan and it will happily do that for you. For the general public, that's not good. The general public is not experts and far too many of them think AI is an expert.
Edit: I ran this same prompt through GLM 4.7 and it actually did a much better job than grok did. That was unexpected.
The first few sentences
> It is important to clarify that while simple carbs digest quickly and raise blood sugar levels, "keeping blood glucose as high as possible" can sometimes lead to a rapid spike followed by a dangerous drop (hypoglycemia) or long-term health issues if done too frequently.
> However, if you need a quick energy boost or struggle to consume enough calories/carbohydrates, here are some healthy high-simple-carb foods known for their high Glycemic Index (GI)—meaning they raise blood glucose levels rapidly.
> *Disclaimer:* I am an AI, not a doctor. Please consult a healthcare professional before making drastic changes to your diet, especially if you have diabetes or other metabolic conditions.
Damn, I already missed the war on christmas, now this too?
Not anymore, because the new recommendations (1.2–1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day) are up to double the old recommendations (0.80 g of good quality protein/kg bodyweight/d - https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/10490/chapter/12).
I have no idea which one is better for the average person, just thought this was funny. If everyone is eating double the recommendation, just double the recommendation, problem solved.
I haven't bothered checking with reliable sources but according to Grok, the average American consumes 3.2x the required amount of proteins from animal produces alone.
Peanuts, lentils, oats, peas, chickpeas, beans, etc. All grains that are both healthy and safe to eat a lot of.
Protein intake should come from both vegetables and meats (to the tune of 500g to 600g per person per week, as a rule of thumb).
Grains: Target: 2–4 servings per day.
Vegetables: 3 servings per day.
Fruits: 2 servings per day.
The old pyramid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyramid_(nutrition)#/medi...) recommends 3-5 veg (same/more), 2-4 fruit (same/more), more grains, and is still relatively protein heavy (4-6 between meat and dairy).
It's basically a scene from The Office. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC5lsemxaJo
https://letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/letsmove...
https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/what-is-myplate
(To much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Right at the time; https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/michelle-obama...)
A very good balanced take on the new guidelines can be found on “talking with docs” YouTube channel. Even the vegetarian doc agrees with prioritizing protein over carbs and fat. The big disagreement they have is the emphasis on the food industry, especially meat and dairy.
> Is saturated fat a health food? 100 words max.
It answered
> No, saturated fat is not a health food. Scientific consensus, including from the American Heart Association and recent meta-analyses, shows that excessive intake raises LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk. While some sources like dairy may be less harmful, replacing saturated fats with unsaturated ones (e.g., from plants) reduces heart risks by 20-30%. The 2025-2030 US Guidelines limit it to <10% of calories but controversially promote certain sources, drawing criticism. Moderation is key.
The HHS Secretary disagrees with this. The AI is poorly aligned to the administration.
"No, not broadly among mainstream medical, scientific, and public health communities. RFK Jr. has long been a prominent critic of certain vaccines, pharmaceutical industry practices, and aspects of public health policy. He has been widely described (including in sources like his own Wikipedia entry) as an anti-vaccine activist and promoter of conspiracy theories related to vaccines (e.g., linking them to autism, despite extensive scientific debunking), environmental health issues, and other topics. Major health organizations (e.g., American Medical Association, CDC under prior leadership, WHO) and fact-checkers have repeatedly labeled many of his claims as misinformation or lacking evidence.His background is as an environmental lawyer and activist, not a medical doctor, epidemiologist, or scientist. This contrasts with many prior HHS secretaries who had strong medical/public health credentials (e.g., physicians or experienced administrators in the field)."
what's the messaging here?
> a 2024 study found nearly 70% of Americans say they’ve reduced their red meat consumption in the past year[1]
It feels like a flimsy way to subsidize beef farmers. But it somehow got into the dumb culture wars and some people have made eating beef a part of their cultural identity.
[1] https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/two-thirds-of-a...
Though I wish they'd go after sugar/processed foods/drinks industry. And increase healthy foods in stores. Get rid of white bread etc, put in real whole meal bread (like they have in Germany)
The fact that they’re not going after any industry except to prop them up (meat, dairy) is a sign they aren’t doing anything about the unhealthy population in the US. The unhealthy population voted them in and doesn’t want to stop eating sugar.
If they really wanted to focus on changing the unhealthy lifestyles they would be promoting a high fiber diet but they didn’t they increased the recommended intake of protein which is not a healthy thing.
Furthermore I don’t know a single person who uses Federal guidelines to live. If they did they wouldn’t be eating the sugar anyways.
American bread brands tend to have a lot of sugar in them. I've had a few foreign friends that have commented on just how sweet all the bread here is.
It isn't that you can't find low sugar breads in the US, but rather it can be something that hard to even know you should be looking for. Just because a bread is whole grain won't make it healthy.
Germans also tend to really like whole grain and dark breads. Rye bread in particular is something a lot of germans like.
Nope. It goes bad quicker because it doesn't have shelf stabilizers.
If anything, sugar increases how fast bread goes bad.
It's pretty hard to know exactly how much sugar is in those big round loaves, harder than the national brands with the nutrition label.
It seems to be mostly good advice, but there are definitely some questionable statements in there.
When has there been a war on protein?
When has the advice ever prioritised highly processed foods?
The way it's worded sounds as if it thinks this is ground breaking advice. Looks to me like the same old food pyramid that's been used since Jesus was a child.
Ain't nothing revolutionary here. Maybe if they put additional taxes on foods that were highly processed? Maybe if they forced cancer warnings on highly processed foods? Subsidise sales of fruits and vegetables and whole grains and protein rich "real food" to encourage it's consumption over processed salty, sugary items? Now THAT would be revolutionary!
Before the war on drugs, basically all wars were on one subset of humans or another. Humans are a great source of protein.
#/media/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif){kind=link}