Pages

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Food Pyramid Now History

Interesting that USDA's "mascot"
was a puppet who lied. 


Celebrated and reviled, the Food Guide Pyramid, USDA's  lame-brained attempt to teach Americans to eat healthy foods (while, at the same time, bowing to lobbyists from Big Grain, Big Meat, Big Dairy and Big Sugar) is finally being put to rest. That doesn't mean the government is giving up. Healthy eating is high on the agenda of the Obama administration, and the First Lady has taken on childhood obesity as her personal cause.

The new graphic guide to healthy eating is going to look like a dinner plate, which I think is a darn good idea. Most people couldn't really visualize how that pyramid translated to daily food intake, anyway. Fully half of that plate is going to be VEGETABLES! That's pretty impressive, especially considering that the vegetable lobby is small, fragmented, and weak.

The new Food Guide is scheduled for release on Thursday, June 2. Copy it quickly, before Big Grain, Big Meat, Big Dairy and Big Sugar do their dirty work. The original Food Guide Pyramid was similarly healthy, with vegetables and fruit occupying the largest tier (replaced by grains, courtesy of Big Grain.) There were more drastic changes, too, but this is not a moment to ponder the mistakes of the past. Let's hope the new food guide will be better rooted in science while being easier to understand.

Read more about it in this very interesting article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/health/nutrition/28plate.html?_r=1&hp

As always, looking forward to your comments On a personal note, I've been out of the blogging loop for a few months. It's good to be back!







6 comments:

Darcy@SomewhatMuddledMusings. said...

It is good to see you back, Deb!

Anonymous said...

It's good to have you back.
- Charles in NYC

Ellen said...

Hooray you are back!! Missed you!

Biosystems Atlanta said...

Although, the new "pyramid" design is a great idea. The labels do not correspond well with the old. This could in fact cause some confusion. But with that said anything to help stop obesity is a great thing. Look forward to reading more of your blogs.

Liebestest said...

Great stuff. Keep writing and shower your readers with such useful information. Keep it Up!!!

Chuck Levin said...

Very nice use of graphics, Deb.