Nutrition
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -Michael Pollan
The Diet Industrial Complex
You can tell metaculture isn't here for that grift money because this page would be an ideal spot to sell you a fad diet or some fractal-branded supplements.
In-Group Dietary Restrictions
Nor will metaculture promote any restrictive diets that keep you from the foods you love to reinforce an in-group. [1]
The in-group for metaculture is everyone. You can tell us apart at a restaurant because we order anything on the menu without substitutions.
Ethics of Food Enjoyment
Since the enjoyment of food is one of the primary sources of happiness that the human brain has evolved, restricting that enjoyment is a crime against utilitarianism.
Anything that can be eaten, should be eaten, as long as it is sustainable and minimizes animal cruelty. Obviously the animal cruelty can never reach zero if you eventually kill and eat them, but we should try to give them a nice life up to that point. That's the deal we made with the animals when they were domesticated, and we need to hold up our end.
Doing this universally will obviously require a good deal of changes to the factory farming system, which we should strive to implement. It will also require a significant reduction in meat consumption, along with the population, in order to afford everyone the ability to enjoy cruelty-free delicious meats from time to time in a sustainable future. This has the advantage of being a vision of the future that most people will be willing to buy into, unlike the veganism that so many environmental activists promote.
Anything That Can Be Enjoyed Should Be
Food preferences, as with all preferences, are determined by associations made early in life. Think about when you first tasted a certain type of food, especially one you hate. What emotional state were you in when you tried it? For finicky eaters, the emotions surrounding many of their first tastes are that of being forced by their parents to try something against their will. How can you possibly establish positive associations with a food if you are crying and throwing a tantrum?
And what if this is the only reason you don't enjoy it?
The more things in life that can possibly bring you joy, the more chances at happiness you have. And food is one of our most fundamental sources of pleasure in life. Allowing your taste in food to be limited by Pavlovian associations made before your taste buds were even developed is a crime against utilitarianism.
Fortunately, being aware of this fact allows you overcome those reflexive reactions and taste things again for the first time, with the full knowledge that everything that is likable is likable by you. If there are more than 2 people on the planet that enjoy a certain food, then you can probably enjoy it too. And you should!
Whole Foods Are Best
The most important things to avoid for your physical and mental health are ultra-processed foods that contain chemical additives not normally found in plants or animals.
A good rule of thumb is that if you can replicate it in a home kitchen, it's not ultra-processed.
It is easy to be sure you have a healthy diet if you avoid fast food, frozen prepared meals, and unnatural lab creations like snack chips, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs. It's as simple as that.
Your healthy eating regimen should not be so complicated that anxiety causes your health to suffer more than junk food.
Cow Farts Will Kill Us All
To address the environmental concerns regarding meat consumption, moderation is preferred over abstinence. Addressing overpopulation combined with a reduction in the average frequency of meat-eating will have a much bigger environmental impact than if everyone went vegan and overpopulation is not addressed. And it has the added benefit of feasibility, since the backlash against veganism is palpable to anyone who has ever brought it up in an online forum. Why the backlash? Because restrictive diets are a crime against utilitarianism (see above).
Food for Thought
Simple food rules are the best way to achieve a healthy diet with minimal mental effort.
This video gives a good overview of the effects of nutrition on the brain.
Intentionally seeking out and trying new foods improves neuroplasticity by providing new sensations and cultural experiences that expand the mind as well as the waistline. This video is a celebration of that.