Carbs Infographic Inspires Health & Nutrition Wish List

Last Friday, Food+Tech Connect posted “Carbs are Killing You” as the Infographic of the Week, and we received almost 70 comments on the visual.

The responses are interesting and express the varied perceptions and experiences people have with “healthy eating.” But the number and intensity got us thinking about the opportunities for entrepreneurship this level of engagement might warrant. It seems people are looking for ways to talk about health and nutrition. Are current startups and blogs sufficient?  We want to know.

Some who wrote wanted to talk about fat:

Nobodyspecial
Fats are *so* important to your body that you literally cannot eat enough (once you consume more than your body needs….it stops desiring more fat, unlike carbs).

Others pointed out all carbs are not created equal:

DanW
Simple carbs are not good, complex carbs ARE good.

While still others brought up the idea that maybe the two are dangerously similar:

Tony
ALL carbs enter the blood stream as either glucose or fructose, no matter how “complex” they were when they started. Glucose calls for insulin to be taken into the cells. Fructose is a ketone and doesn’t affect insulin and is really only metabolized in the liver. The liver converts excess carbohydrtaes inot glycogen OR fat, in the form of lipoprotein (cholesterol). Regular glucose leads to this, too. All carbs, simple, complex,… ALL.

Some readers felt we should not pay too much attention to such infographics:

Marge
The best diet is the diet that YOUR body responds best to. . . . . . The ways to determine this is varied. The best rule that I’ve heard of is everything in moderation

While others felt the need to defend carbs:

I eat 4000 to 4400 calories every day and 75% of my calories come from carbs and I am losing weight and getting muscle at the same time.

One felt I was unqualified to post the infographic in the first place:

Maynardchery
I believe Ms Hoffman’s article is misleading, which probably has much to do with being married to a farmer…soon to be hog farmer.

Currently there is an explosion of technology aimed at helping people monitor their own health and share the results with their family and friends.  From Massive Health’s The Eatery to IBMs new  incentivizing patents, from Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale to Favatars, there seems to be literally dozens of technologies in the works to help people eat better.

But it seems many are also looking share personal stories and opinions about their attempts to lose weight, feel better and improve their eating.  They want to debate the intricacies of eating carbs and fats and their effects fruit has on their body.  They want to point out great research they have found, and create libraries of good nutrition reading.

What digital health and nutrition tools do you use?  Where do you turn to discuss your ideas online? What other kinds of networking or tracking tools would you like to see developed? Share your ideas in the comments section below and maybe, just maybe, someone might build it!

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