The Food Pyramid Rant

Here’s a picture of the old food pyramid as the USDA once told us what to eat, how much to eat, and why we should eat it.

Bear in mind, the people who made this diet for Americans to follow are also the people who support (and supposedly regulate) those industries that grow all this food. I see this as a blatant conflict of interest, but most American sheeple either just go along with such government recommendations or don’t even know they exist because the folks down at McBarf burgers (where young Americans hang out daily) have a totally different idea about what should get stuffed in your gob. Please don’t follow the above pyramid – or Burger Queen. Below is a view presented by the Harvard School of Public Health, which also is full of errors, but read it first and then we’ll pick on them too. I have left their web links intact in case you desire to check out some of their claims, but I have also highlighted some of their text because I would like you to pay attention to some elements of who-does-what and use your own brain to see if you can figure out why they’re making those claims. Prepare for a pop quiz later. J

What Should You Really Eat?

More than a decade ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created a powerful and enduring icon - the Food Guide Pyramid. This simple illustration conveyed in a flash what the USDA said were the elements of a healthy diet. The Pyramid was taught in schools, appeared in countless media articles and brochures, and was plastered on cereal boxes and food labels.

Tragically, the information embodied in this pyramid didn’t point the way to healthy eating. Why not? Its blueprint was based on shaky scientific evidence, and it barely changed over the years to reflect major advances in our understanding of the connection between diet and health. (Wow! They admit there is such a connection? Someone ought to inform the doctors, who claim there is no such connection.)

With much fanfare, the USDA recently retired the old Food Guide Pyramid and replaced it with MyPyramid (picture included on page 4), a new symbol and “interactive food guidance system.” The new symbol is basically the old Pyramid turned on its side. (government employees seem to have such little imaginations)

The good news is that this dismantles and buries the flawed Pyramid. The bad news is that the new symbol doesn’t convey enough information to help you make informed choices about your diet and long-term health. And it continues to recommend foods that are not essential to good health, and may even be detrimental in the quantities included in MyPyramid.

As an alternative to the USDA’s flawed pyramid, faculty members in the Harvard School of Public Health built the Healthy Eating Pyramid. It resembles the USDA’s in shape only. The Healthy Eating Pyramid takes into consideration, and puts into perspective, the wealth of research conducted during the last ten years that has reshaped the definition of healthy eating.

Pyramid Building

The USDA’s MyPyramid had many builders. Some are obvious - USDA scientists, nutrition experts, staff members, and consultants. Others aren’t. Intense lobbying efforts from a variety of food industries also helped shape the pyramid.

In theory, the USDA pyramid should reflect the nutrition advice assembled in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. According to the USDA, the guidelines “provide authoritative advice for people two years and older about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases.”

This document, which by law must be revised every five years, aims to offer sound nutrition advice that corresponds to the latest scientific research. The panel assembled to create the guidelines usually generates 100 or so pages of dense nutrition-speak. This document is translated into a reader friendly brochure aimed at helping the average person choose a balanced and healthy diet. Of far greater importance, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans set the standards for all federal nutrition programs, including the school lunch program, and helps determine what food products Americans buy. In other words, the guidelines influence how billions of dollars are spent each year. So even minor changes can hurt or help a food industry.

According to federal regulations, the panel that writes the dietary guidelines must include nutrition experts who are leaders in pediatrics, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and public health. Selecting the panelists is no easy task, and is subject to intense lobbying from organizations such as the National Dairy Council, United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Soft Drink Association, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and Wheat Foods Council.

Dietary Guidelines, 2005

Released in early January, 2005, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 continues to reflect the tense interplay of science and the powerful food industry. Several of the new recommendations represent important steps in the right direction:

The new guidelines emphasize the importance of controlling weight, which was not adequately addressed in previous versions. And they continue to stress the importance of physical activity.

The recommendation on dietary fats makes a clear break from the past, when all fats were considered bad. The guidelines now emphasize that intake of trans fats should be as low as possible and that saturated fat should be limited. There is no longer an artificially low cap on fat intake. The latest advice recommends getting between 20% and 35% of daily calories from fats and recognizes the potential health benefits of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Instead of emphasizing “complex carbohydrates,” a term used in the past that has little biological meaning, the new guidelines urge Americans to limit sugar intake and they stress the benefits of whole grains. (Arrggghhh – one of the most tainted foods in this country)

Others remain mired in the past:

• The guidelines suggest that it is fine to consume half of our grains as refined starch. That’s a shame, since refined starches behave like sugar. They add empty calories, have adverse metabolic effects, and increase the risks of diabetes and heart disease.
• In terms of protein, the guidelines continue to lump together red meat, poultry, fish, and beans (including soy products). They ask us to judge these protein sources by their total fat content, “make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free.” This ignores the evidence that these foods have different types of fats. It also overlooks mounting evidence that replacing red meat with a combination of fish, poultry, beans, and nuts offers numerous health benefits.
• The recommendation to drink three glasses of low-fat milk or eat three servings of other dairy products per day to prevent osteoporosis is another step in the wrong direction. Of all the recommendations, this one represents the most radical change from current dietary patterns. Three glasses of low-fat milk add more than 300 calories a day. This is a real issue for the millions of Americans who are trying to control their weight. What’s more, millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, and even small amounts of milk or dairy products give them stomachaches, gas, or other problems. This recommendation ignores the lack of evidence for a link between consumption of dairy products and prevention of osteoporosis. It also ignores the possible increases in risk of ovarian cancer and prostate cancer associated with dairy products. (more Arrrggghhhs)

The USDA Pyramid Brick by Brick

Distilling nutrition advice into a pyramid was a stroke of genius. The shape immediately suggests that some foods are good and should be eaten often, and that others aren’t so good and should be eaten only occasionally. The layers represent major food groups that contribute to the total diet. MyPyramid tries to do this in an abstract way, and fails.

Six swaths of color sweep from the apex of MyPyramid to the base: orange for grains, green for vegetables, red for fruits, a teeny band of yellow for oils, blue for milk, and purple for meat and beans. Each stripe starts out as the same size, but they don’t end that way at the base. The widths suggest how much food a person should choose from each group. A band of stairs running up the side of the Pyramid, with a little stick figure chugging up it, serves as a reminder of the importance of physical activity.

MyPyramid contains no text. According to the USDA, it was “designed to be simple,” and details are at MyPyramid.gov. Unless you’ve taken the time to become familiar with the Pyramid, though, you have no idea what it means. Relying on the Web site to provide key information - like what the color stripes stand for and how many servings of each food group are recommended each day - guarantees that the millions of Americans without access to a computer or the Internet will have trouble getting these essential facts. (good – because they’re wrong anyway)

The USDA also chose not to put recommended numbers of servings on the new Pyramid because these differ from individual to individual according to weight, gender, activity level and age. Instead, it offers personalized Pyramids at MyPyramid.gov.

Building a Better Pyramid

If the only goal of the Food Guide Pyramid is to give us the best possible advice for healthy eating, then it should be grounded in the evidence and be independent of business.

Instead of waiting for this to happen, nutrition experts from the Harvard School of Public Health created the Healthy Eating Pyramid. It is based on the best available scientific evidence about the links between diet and health. This new pyramid fixes fundamental flaws in the USDA pyramid and offers sound information to help people make better choices about what to eat.

The Healthy Eating Pyramid sits on a foundation of daily exercise and weight control. Why? These two related elements strongly influence your chances of staying healthy. They also affect what and how you eat and how your food affects you. The other bricks of the Healthy Eating Pyramid include:

• Whole Grain Foods (at most meals). The body needs carbohydrates mainly for energy. The best sources of carbohydrates are whole grains such as oatmeal, whole-wheat bread, and brown rice. They deliver the outer (bran) and inner (germ) layers along with energy-rich starch. The body can’t digest whole grains as quickly as it can highly processed carbohydrates such as white flour. This keeps blood sugar and insulin levels from rising, then falling, too quickly. Better control of blood sugar and insulin can keep hunger at bay and may prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

• Plant Oils. Surprised that the Healthy Eating Pyramid puts some fats near the base, indicating they are okay to eat? Although this recommendation seems to go against conventional wisdom, it’s exactly in line with the evidence and with common eating habits. The average American gets one third or more of his or her daily calories from fats, so placing them near the foundation of the pyramid makes sense. Note, though, that it specifically mentions plant oils, not all types of fat. Good sources of healthy unsaturated fats include olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and other vegetable oils (major Arrgghhhhs – they’re trying to kill us!), as well as fatty fish such as salmon. These healthy fats not only improve cholesterol levels (when eaten in place of highly processed carbohydrates) but can also protect the heart from sudden and potentially deadly rhythm problems.
• Vegetables (in abundance) and Fruits (2 to 3 times). A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can decrease the chances of having a heart attack or stroke; protect against a variety of cancers; lower blood pressure; help you avoid the painful intestinal ailment called diverticulitis; guard against cataract and macular degeneration, the major cause of vision loss among people over age 65; and add variety to your diet and wake up your palate.
• Fish, Poultry, and Eggs (0 to 2 times). These are important sources of protein. A wealth of research suggests that eating fish can reduce the risk of heart disease. Chicken and turkey are also good sources of protein and can be low in saturated fat. Eggs, which have long been demonized because they contain fairly high levels of cholesterol, aren’t as bad as they’re cracked up to be. In fact, an egg is a much better breakfast than a doughnut cooked in an oil rich in trans fats or a bagel made from refined flour.
• Nuts and Legumes (1 to 3 times). Nuts and legumes are excellent sources of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Legumes include black beans, navy beans, garbanzos, and other beans that are usually sold dried. Many kinds of nuts contain healthy fats, and packages of some varieties (almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios) can now even carry a label saying they’re good for your heart. (Some of those nuts are guaranteed to give you major doses of mycotoxins – more on page 8. What does having a label saying it’s good for your heart mean? We have already shown that they bought that label; they did not earn it.)
• Dairy or Calcium Supplement (1 to 2 times). Building bone and keeping it strong takes calcium, vitamin D, exercise, and a whole lot more. Dairy products have traditionally been Americans’ main source of calcium. But there are other healthy ways to get calcium than from milk and cheese, which can contain a lot of saturated fat. Three glasses of whole milk, for example, contains as much saturated fat as 13 strips of cooked bacon. If you enjoy dairy foods, try to stick with no-fat or low-fat products. If you don’t like dairy products, calcium supplements offer an easy and inexpensive way to get your daily calcium.
• Red Meat and Butter (Use Sparingly): These sit at the top of the Healthy Eating Pyramid because they contain lots of saturated fat. If you eat red meat every day, switching to fish or chicken several times a week can improve cholesterol levels. So can switching from butter to olive oil.
• White Rice, White Bread, Potatoes, Pasta, and Sweets (Use Sparingly): Why are these all-American staples at the top, rather than the bottom, of the Healthy Eating Pyramid? They can cause fast and furious increases in blood sugar that can lead to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic disorders. Whole-grain carbohydrates cause slower, steadier increases in blood sugar that don’t overwhelm the body’s ability to handle this much needed but potentially dangerous nutrient.
• Multiple Vitamin: A daily multivitamin, multimineral supplement offers a kind of nutritional backup. While it can’t in any way replace healthy eating, or make up for unhealthy eating, it can fill in the nutrient holes that may sometimes affect even the most careful eaters. You don’t need an expensive name-brand or designer vitamin. A standard, store-brand, RDA-level one is fine. (RDA is a ridiculous and outdated scale these days – why would anyone claiming the intelligence these guys do suggest it is valid?) Look for one that meets the requirements of the USP (U.S. Pharmacopeia), an organization that sets standards for drugs and supplements. (Yeah, they do, at the behest of those lobbyists who put the biggest wad of green in their hands.)
• Alcohol (in moderation): Scores of studies suggest that having an alcoholic drink a day lowers the risk of heart disease. Moderation is clearly important, since alcohol has risks as well as benefits. For men, a good balance point is 1 to 2 drinks a day. For women, it’s at most one drink a day.

Other Alternatives

The Healthy Eating Pyramid summarizes the best dietary information available today. It isn’t set in stone, though, because nutrition researchers will undoubtedly turn up new information in the years ahead. The Healthy Eating Pyramid will change to reflect important new evidence. (We already have turned up new – at least better – information, but they would never consider including such unprofitable ideas. Eat only that which Nature has put before you and man has not ruined, then you are guaranteed a healthy life.)

This isn’t the only alternative to the USDA’s MyPyramid. The Asian, Latin, Mediterranean, and vegetarian pyramids promoted by Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust are also good, evidence-based guides for healthy eating. The Healthy Eating Pyramid takes advantage of even more extensive research and offers a broader guide that is not based on a specific culture. The Healthy Eating Pyramid is described in greater detail in Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, published by Simon and Schuster (2001).

Failing the Test

A few years ago, the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion created the Healthy Eating Index “to measure how well American diets conform to recommended healthy eating patterns.” This score sheet uses five elements from the longstanding USDA Food Guide Pyramid (number of daily servings of grains, vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy products) and five from the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (total fat in the diet, percentage of calories from saturated fat, cholesterol intake, sodium intake, and variety of the diet). A score of 100 means following the federal recommendations to the letter while a score of 0 means totally ignoring them.

To see how well the principles embodied in the Healthy Eating Pyramid stacked up against the government’s advice, Harvard School of Public Health researchers created an Alternate Healthy Eating Index with a scoring system similar to the USDA’s index. They then used information about daily diets collected from more than 100,000 female nurses and male health professionals taking part in two long-term studies to complete both indexes.

Men who scored highest on the USDA’s Healthy Eating Index (meaning their diets most closely followed federal recommendations) reduced their overall risk of developing heart disease, cancer, or other chronic disease by 11% over 8-12 years of follow-up compared to those who scored lowest. Women who most closely followed the government’s recommendations were only 3% less likely to have developed a chronic disease.

In comparison, scores on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index did appear to correlate with disease. Men with high scores (those whose diets most closely followed the guidelines in the Healthy Eating Pyramid) were 20% less likely to have developed a major chronic disease than those with low scores. Women with high scores lowered their overall risk by 11%. Men whose diets most closely followed the Healthy Eating Pyramid lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease by almost 40%; women with high scores lowered their risk by almost 30%.

“The new USDA dietary pyramid is a lost opportunity to help Americans make informed choices about diet and long-term health,” says Walter Willett, the Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition in the Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology. “It’s clear that we need to rebuild the pyramid from the ground up, not just tip it on its side and dress it up with new colors. Every American deserves it.”

OK, folks, if not for one major fact that Harvard not only overlooks, but often denies the existence of (or at least their medical school does), I would endorse their pyramid as the way to go. That fact is that modern storage methods for all grains and the feeding practices for food animals have shifted the scales on what is healthy and what might cause you an illness.

In the area of “whole grains at most meals,” we suggest no grains unless you grew them yourself and know the storage method is clean. No corn regardless of whether you grew it or not. They are probably the largest source of mycotoxins in the American diet. You can get your carbs from green veggies as well as grains, although you will have to eat considerably more than if you ate the grain. I do agree with the brown rice suggestion, if only because I know you won’t stay away from grains entirely and this is the least likely of the bunch to hurt you.

Plant oils? Stay far away from canola, soy, corn, and definitely peanut oils. The only mycotoxin-safe oils on their list are olive oil and sunflower oil. They suggest you don’t cook in butter, but it really is OK except for its fat content. Never never never use that plastic crap known as margarine. Fish fats also are the repository of most of the toxins they ingest, whether mycotoxin or otherwise (e.g., mercury). Before you jump on that because of “O3 fats,” remember that the goodness of Omega3 is not fat, but fatty acids, which you get in the meat portion, even if you trimmed all the fat off. Do not cook with lard or bacon grease – that is animal fat, which likely has mycotoxins in it, and you would then be cooking it into otherwise healthy foods.

Vegetables? Go for it! Fruits? Stay away from the sweet ones and try to eat only the more tart types. That’s to keep your sugars low because sugars feed the fungi.

Fish is OK, but be careful of the variety and where it was harvested. Some fish contains metals you don’t want (mercury, etc.) which is most likely caused by man’s garbage dumping habits. Chicken and turkey are subject to the same problems as beef in that they are usually fed corn meal and get hormones and antibiotics, which affect the meat quality. If you’re going to eat these, don’t eat the fats or the internal organs (liver, kidneys). Eggs? Have at it! They’re good and might only contain minute trace amounts of toxins from the hen, and as we said before, they do not raise your cholesterol level one bit!

Nuts? Their list is good except for the peanuts and pistachios, which are universally contaminated. Legumes? Try to stay away from beans on Phase I and limit your use of them in Phase II or Life Phase.

Dairy? Well, if you must drink milk, it would be OK from your own cow (assuming you do not feed it corn or give it shots), but if you have to have store-bought milk, buy the 2%, 1%, or non-fat (white water). Cows that are part of commercial diary herds are fed junk food and the yeasts and mycotoxins settle in their fats, which comes through in the milk and milk products (cheese, etc.).

Red Meat? There is really nothing wrong with red meat except that most cattle herds are fed badly. If you can’t afford to buy grass-fed beef that have no hormones or antibiotics, then be sure to cut all the fat off before you eat it. The big problem with beef these days is that the ones I see in the store are almost all thoroughly streaked with fat. Whatever happened to the lean gorgeous steaks of yesteryear? Ah, yes: hormones and antibiotics to make them grow quicker, which means more fat, not more muscle. Because most beef cattle are restricted to feed lots or even small acreages (easier to round up to ship them out that way), they have very little opportunity to grow nice big muscles (that is the part you eat, you know). Oh, and let’s not forget the sodium nitrites that keep them red while they lie in the butcher’s display case for weeks before you buy them.

White bread? Stay away because of the yeast (Lannie is writing an article about that for the next newsletter). Potatoes? A big chance for mold and, therefore, mycotoxins. Pasta? Well, it’s made from flour, which is grain, which… well, you’ve heard this all before.

Is this Pyramid rant the same thing as my proposed rant about SAD (Standard American Diet)? No. The standard diet of Americans has little to do with the USDA’s food pyramid (or Harvard’s) because – be honest – most of you didn’t even know much about that food pyramid until this article, did you? Come on, ‘fess up. J