Food pyramid

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

Hello Boardsies,


Just curious, lately i hear more and more nutrition people (not sure what term to call them) say the food pyramid is not a good recommendation to follow for healthy eating, but if it is what takes its place?


Interested to know peoples thoughts.

Has any alternative to the food pyramid brought about major health balances for controlled groups ?


Thanks

There is generally an issue with too many carbs and processed foods in our diet. We are seeing big raises in obesity, Diabetes and cholesterol all of which can be a result of too much sugar in diets.

You eat processed carbs, like bread, its almost immediately turned to glucose by the body, and if consuming too much then your pancreas releases insulin and then its stored as fat.

In an normal active healthy person that doesn't happen, but we as a society are eating way more than we need, and we have living on a very carb rich diet with chocolate, Sugary drinks and takeouts. And we aren't as active as in previous generations.

If i'm having dinner for example i'll typically have 50g of rice and lots of vegetables, but when growing up i would probably have had at least 100g with dinner(I was a fat child, now an overweight adult)

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

Thanks for that,



I understand the reasoning but i'm just struggling to find a so called alternative to the food pyramid. Its purpose is great in that it says so much with just pictures, but whats the new alternative pyramid if this one is debunked.

Higher fat content, from fish, nuts, seeds.
Protein for different sources
Carbs but ideally with a decent fiber content, as fibre slows down digestion of carbs, thus reducing issues with insulin storing fat as mentioned previously...Carbs are still ok, but not at the levels a large part of the country consume them

Not a medically trained person, so for reading stuff online, watching documentaries etc

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

Has anyone found a poster in the format of the food pyramid that highlights the portion quantities? Im just interested to see how the two would compare.

There is a few, but none from anybody with sufficient credibility. Just Google alt food pyramid and it'll throw up a few

Macy0161 wrote: »

imo, and experience (rather than qualifications), portion size is the big issue. Yes the old food pyramid needed to rejigged, but really it's quantity that's the issue for most people.

Not so much bread or carbs being "bad", but carbs, with more carbs, wrapped in more carbs - like lasagne and chips, with a few chip butties. Or what used to be my own personal favourite, a "few" slices of bread to mop up whatever gravy/ sauce was left after a meal!

Oh totally agree, I eat carbs and lots of them at times, but generally try and keep it moderate while insuring a high fibre intake, with vegetables.

jaykhunter wrote: »

Can only speak for myself currently losing weight (4.5 stone in 5 months) via S.W.

Lots of natural protein (plain meat/fish)
Lots of whole foods (fruit, veg, NOT pureed but as it naturally occurs)
Decent amount of simple carb (plain rice, dried pasta, potatoes)
Fat Free yogurts most days
Little bit of complex carb (low cal high fibre breads, WW wrap)
Some dairy
V limited snacks (chocolate, crisps etc)

It depends what your goals are. But most diets would be high protein and veggies, low carb and junk food

Fairplay on the weight loss, but those plans are generally very low fat, which isn't in itself the healthiest approach. The way the syns/bits are structured seem to discourage consumption of fats.( Why have nuts when I can have a curly wurly)

Boardnashea wrote: »

Has the food pyramid not been revised in the past couple of years - carbs have been pushed up at least on level and the bottom is now fruit and veg.

I'd have problems with the Irish one, going by the diagram, they have orange juice along with veg, OJ should be up with the junk food. I’d swap the order of their protein tier with their carb tier.

https://www.safefood.eu/Healthy-Eating/What-is-a-balanced-diet/The-Food-Pyramid.aspx

Macy0161 wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with carbs. The only issue is the portions we've come to accept as "normal".

I think the irish proved you could be healthy on a peasant diet revolving around potatoes. the modern diet though it too easy to overeat carbs on the on the processed and sugary end. Even that pyramid, to make potatoes and pasta as interchangeable seems like a fail in nutrition terms, once you introduce pasta then its going to be consumed with sugary sauces etc. whereas a more traditional Irish dinner was perfectly ok and eating to satisfied worked with the ingredients available.