The Harvard Food Pyramid

Hanley

I think it's a great shame that we've been raised to believe that the original USDA food pyramid is the "healthy" way to eat. It's such a skewed and biased mis-representation of what a "healthy" diet should be.

It was published by the US department of agriculture... Is it any wonder that starch's and grains, along with beef and dairy are so well represented?? It's basically a master stroke in subliminal marketing. I've never really agreed with the pyramid but when I did some research on it and saw who it was published by I was pretty shocked.

The complete lack of fats and small amount of lean meat in it is a complete travesty. Dr. Walter Willmet M.D, chair of the Harvard school of public health, along with the rest of the department put together an alternate.



Here's what he had to say about it

"We've tried to put together an alternative food guide pyramid that would be based on the best available science. And of course it is a little bit challenging to boil down a tremendous amount of complex science to a simple graphic, and you really have to focus on the things that are well established and important.

Right at the bottom, we put weight control and regular physical activity, because overweight is the number one nutrition problem in the United States. Almost everyone is going to need to exercise on a regular basis if they want to control their weight over the long run. And this also is a message that all forms of calories are important.

On the next level, we put healthy forms of carbohydrate, meaning whole-grain carbohydrates and healthy forms of fat, meaning from vegetable oils, in the recognition that in most people's diet, most calories are going to be coming from some source of carbohydrate and fat. And what's really important is that those both be healthy sources.".

Hopefully in time this will become the adopted guide to health eating, but considering the millions the USDA spend on promoting their guide (thru food for schools programs etc) I can't see it happening.

I just hope this makes people aware that there is an alternate, and that all fats aren't bad, nor are all carbs good.

KC81

thats the old one. Its been updated. its the one with the person running up the side of it. if u google it the new one will come up. has fats at the tops still but this means just like butters spreads etc.
has the foods that have the good fats in it lower down; milk nuts cheese and whats in fish meat etc. . red meat is now lower too.
You have to remember its just a very general guide and people cant know exactly what to eat from it but think the idea is just to visualise what your shopping basket should be.
most people arent body builders so you dont need that much meat but they no longer list red meat as being necessary sparingly. now 2-3 servings a day.
i dont know how to put the image in but the jist of it is:
in general terms, the food guide pyramid recommends the following intake of different food groups each day, although exact amounts of calorie intake depends on sex, age, and lifestyle.

* 3-5 servings a day of vegetables, especially green, leafy vegetables.

* 2-4 servings of fruits a day.

* 2-3 servings of meat, fish, eggs, nuts, beans or legumes a day.

* 2-3 servings of dairy products including cheese and yogurt (or soya products for vegans) once in two days.

* Occasional use of fats, oils, and sweets.

* 6-11 servings of grain a day such as rice, bread, cereals, and pasta;