New Guidelines for the Food Pyramid

The ever changing food pyramid is changing again. The U.S.D.A. announced today that they are changing the food pyramid due to the fact that obesity has become the single greatest threat to Americans in this generation. That is scary. Most citizens of this world are concerned with war and famine, yet we Americans are threatened by being overfed and undernourished.


In the 1960's the food pyramid had a large section of it denoted to dairy products, milk, eggs, and cheese. It has been said that the dairy industry was supplying our public schools with all the posters and books about the food pyramid, and they wanted to make sure that dairy was a leading component of that.


In 1992 the food pyramid had pasta and breads at the bottom of it, leading us to believe that those were what we should be eating the most of. Obviously we now know differently. Those are the foods that can make us gain weight and certainly are not the healthiest of choices to make, particularly if you are trying to lose some weight.



This year our pyramid is going to change to where the bottom 2/3rds of it will say plants. This will encompass fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes. The top third of the pyramid will say "everything else", which will refer to meats, poultry, fish, dairy, and other oils and fats.


This is what the pyramid should have always told us since its beginning. The bulk of our diet needs to come from plants to be healthy and lean. This is where we get our fiber, antioxidants, and all of the nutrients we need to stay well.


Right now Americans on the average consume 35% of their daily calories from fats. Our new guidelines will be to cut that down to 5 to 15% of fat calories. This would take care of the obesity problem if everyone followed it. But, there lye's the problem.


If we do not start taking our health seriously in this country, we will be spending all of our money and time trying to keep obese people alive. If Americans would start to take responsibility for themselves, and begin to eat for nutrition and not for pleasure or pain, we could reverse this horrible situation.


We need more education, and more boundaries where food manufacturer's must abide by. They should not be able to make such unhealthy foods and sell them to an uneducated public as if they were good for them. Just like cigarettes have to have a label on them that they are bad for a person's health, junk food with little to no nutritional value should have to say that as well.


As I have stated over and over in my blog, eat nature's food and you will be healthier for it. Don't be added to the obesity statistics. Make a commitment to stay off the processed white flour, white sugar, high fat foods.


Get a jump on the U.S.D.A.'s pyramid that will come out later this year, and begin your mostly plant diet to get healthy and stay that way!


Till Tomorrow,
Queenie