Food for Thought | Nutrition Insight
At last, the government has buried the Food Pyramid, which in its final incarnation had become more inscrutable than a wall full of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Food Pyramid was Exhibit A in the case against giving too many people too much time to say very little. A simple idea—eat more of this, less of that—had been turned into what looked like a paint-sample chart with a strange person hiking up its side. Lord knows what kids made of it—probably nothing at all.
Now comes “MyPlate”. No need to read much, just look at the graphic and it’s pretty clear what the idea is. As one dietitian told USA Today, "We eat on plates, not pyramids.”
The potential power of the plate is that it preaches in portions. America’s diet problem is a portion problem. The average meal does not contain 50% fruits and vegetables, 25% grains and only 25% protein. More like the opposite. Whether the plate will turn out to have any more power than the pyramid to reverse the tide of childhood obesity is the billion-dollar question. But at least teachers won’t be trying to fight junk food with junk graphics any more.
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This is an improvement, but that big section of "grains" is a problem, because 80% of Americans will eat refined white pasta, white rice, commercial bread and white potatoes in that big section of the place. And that's exactly where the food pyramid got us in trouble. We loaded up on "grains" at the base of the pyramid in the form of refined carbs and our rate of adult onset diabetes skyrocketed. Coincidence? I think not.
It's going back to the basic 4.
Any system they come up with needs
a simple way to remember it. This should have read whole grains and it would be real good.
Like Sara said, I was surprised to see the grains. It should say "whole grains" only. I admit, I'm not perfect (by far), but if we're talking about what the ideal is, that's the ideal.
The food pyramid is a complex, proven waste of time, and is full of misinformation. The new chart, the revised MyPlate is very simple, easy to understand and is highly accurate. Instead of just labeling "Dairy" in the small icon, the label should have been stated as 'Water' or: Beverage". There are people who are allergic to dairy, or they can't consume dairy for health reasons. Also I describe "Dairy" as liquid sugar. Milk is a fluid coming from the udder of a cow. We already know that. It is like fluid that comes from the breast of the mother to feed her infant. Consuming dairy as an adult generally doesn't make sense, at least to me. To avoid the damaging effects of lactose, but to get the needed intake of dietary calcium, I chose lactose free milk like Lactaid, because of pre existing digestive condition like gas, stomach pain and bloating.
Not sure if I agree that dairy is liquid sugar..and you could make the allergy argument for almost any category of food. But, I think that dairy and protien could be combined, and there should be much more emphasis on veggies and whole grains!!
If youre going to drink "beverage" people (the general public) are going to choose soda. Which is where Anne's point of dairy being liquid sugar gets confused. Soda literally is liquid sugar. Milk is Not. milk, yes, has lactose which is milk sugar. (it also happens to be the least sweet of all the sugars) But it also contains protein, calcium, and most of the time vitamin D enrichment. which in my personal opinion, is better than soda. If you are lactose intolerant, or choose not to drink regular milk, and choose soymilk, almond milk, or lactaid, that is basically a swap for dairy which is the whole point of them putting that there. It's so americans will choose higher quality foods. Milk is a higher quality food nutritionally than sodas or other beverages. So are the swaps. I personally enjoy soymilk and almond milk instead because i too think cows milk is kind of iffy. Also a point to be made for whole grains. Whole grains are a confusing topic for americans as well. Something may say "whole grains" but is actually refined. What we should be looking for is the fiber content on the nutrition facts panel or the yellow whole grain stamp on the packaging. Another point to be made is that fiber gives people gas and indigestion since we cannot break it down, so that is why most nutrition experts recommend around half of our grains being whole grains. this is also a realistic standard considering how our nation eats. hope this helps you guys.
Food Pyramid was used to regarding the principle of diet very long,now it's canceled. the My Plate is reasonable,but we may not obey this diet.
You can share some of your article, I'm like you write something, really very good! I will continue to focus on.
Such a good writing, or by I saw for the first time. I'm quite happy, you are a good writer!
Among those posts I've seen, this is the most particular one, and I think the blogger must have spent lots of time on it, thank you so much!
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This will surely aid our kids in developing stronger bones until they grow up.
It isn't surprising how seemingly established ideas are being changed to make way for the newer and more accurate ones. That's how we advance as a species.
