There are many things about health and well-being that are specific to the person. You can find all sorts of ideas (many based loosely on science, others anecdotal) from just about anywhere - books, blogs, youtube, etc.
Really though, you have to find what works for you personally. Take any idea - let's say you decide that you want to know if eating less red meat is good for you. You can read a hundred studies that have conflicting results. Or you can try eating less or none of it yourself and see how you feel. You feel great? Awesome. Now you know! You don't feel any different? Again, that's awesome. Now you know you need to eat a little more red meat.
One example for me was pull-ups (the exercise). I always assumed you had to do them overhand with a medium-wide grip. They never "clicked" with me and I could never feel good doing them. After 10+ years of doing them the same way, I finally saw a video where a guy explained how different people might need to use different grip styles to feel it best. I tried several of the different grips and found what works for me. No study or book would be able to tell me which grip style I should use. It was just something I had to learn for myself.
For something more science-based, check out examine.com[1]. Anytime I read about a supplement or chemical that's supposed to be amazing, I go read examine.com and find out what the studies say.
>There are many things about health and well-being that are specific to the person.
Yes this is true, and important.
What is also true is that many people use individuality as an excuse. They can't exercise a certain way, or a certain diet doesn't sit well with them. I hear this daily: "You go to the gym every day? You go whole days with no carbs (or sometimes no food)?" In reality, diet and exercise is hard work (and not fun for most people), and at the end of the day most people aren't willing to put in the effort.
This is why the world is littered with fitness shortcut scams. But you'll find the fittest people have taken no shortcuts.
I think places like HN tend to attract people who like to collect the data first. But we need to worry less about perfect and just get busy getting results. Like you're building software.
> One example for me was pull-ups (the exercise). I always assumed you had to do them overhand with a medium-wide grip. They never "clicked" with me and I could never feel good doing them.
This is great thing to point out in general. A lot of advice and widely held "knowledge" is well-meaning but can either be wrong or too strict.
Another one I've come across is people thinking there's no point in trying start running/jogging if they'll have walk most of the way...
As far as choosing the right grip goes I remember hearing something about it in a Tim Ferriss podcast with Coach Sommer. Can't recall what it was exactly, sorry.
You should check it out, two podcasts with Sommer are pretty lengthy but full of nice, actionable tidbits (not that I've used them since I don't remember what they were ;P).
>Really though, you have to find what works for you personally. Take any idea - let's say you decide that you want to know if smoking is good for you. You can read a hundred studies that have conflicting results. Or you can try smoking yourself and see how you feel. You feel great? Awesome. Now you know! You don't feel any different? Again, that's awesome. Now you know you need to start smoking a little more!
While I agree with your point to some extent, I feel like the logic you used to arrive there is shaky at best. This is the whole reason scientific studies exist. Smoking makes you feel good in the present but has some disastrous consequences in the near and long term future.
Really though, you have to find what works for you personally. Take any idea - let's say you decide that you want to know if eating less red meat is good for you. You can read a hundred studies that have conflicting results. Or you can try eating less or none of it yourself and see how you feel. You feel great? Awesome. Now you know! You don't feel any different? Again, that's awesome. Now you know you need to eat a little more red meat.
One example for me was pull-ups (the exercise). I always assumed you had to do them overhand with a medium-wide grip. They never "clicked" with me and I could never feel good doing them. After 10+ years of doing them the same way, I finally saw a video where a guy explained how different people might need to use different grip styles to feel it best. I tried several of the different grips and found what works for me. No study or book would be able to tell me which grip style I should use. It was just something I had to learn for myself.
For something more science-based, check out examine.com[1]. Anytime I read about a supplement or chemical that's supposed to be amazing, I go read examine.com and find out what the studies say.
[1] http://examine.com/supplements/