The Death of The USDA's Old Food Pyramid and The Birth of The New MyPlate Guidelines
Out with the old, in with the new. Replacing the outdated Food Pyramid and its emphasis on grains in favor of a better dietary guide.
To promote good nutrition and lifelong healthy food choices for Americans the HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) and the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) create and maintain the Dietary Guidelines. They have issued a 2015-2020 edition with guidelines that have five core concepts:
Follow a healthy eating pattern across the life span – Establishing healthy eating habits to maintain a healthy body weight, adequate nutrient intake and lower risk of chronic disease.
Focus on variety, nutrient density and food quantity – Meet nutrient needs within appropriate calorie limits and have a variety of nutrient dense foods across every food group within the recommended amounts.
Limit calories from added sugar and saturated fat and reduce sodium -Added sugar and saturated fat should not comprise more than 10 percent of daily calories from each category. Sodium intake should be less than 2,300 mg per day for anyone 14 years of age and older.
Shift to healthier food and beverage choices – Similar to the first two, choose nutrient dense foods and drinks across all food groups. Cultural and personal preferences should be considered to make the transition easier.
Support healthy eating patterns for everyone – We all play a part in creating and supporting healthy eating habits in every environment we find ourselves in.
The old Food Pyramid used the number of daily servings of each type of food depicted on it to show how much the average American should eat. The Food Pyramid included fats, oils, and sweets but recommended they make up the smallest portion of the American diet. The Food Pyramid also placed a heavy emphasis on grains without distinguishing between whole grains and processed grains. Processed grains are now known to have contributed to the obesity epidemic in the US. And when it comes to cavities, grains, not just sugar, play a big role. Processed and refined grains are an acidic food just like soda and citrus and break down into sugar. If they’re sticky grains and cling to our teeth long after we’re done eating they feed the bacteria in our mouths. This bacteria along with the acidity will eat away at our tooth enamel if we don't rinse after we eat grains and other acidic foods. You don’t have to brush your teeth after every meal. Most people don’t carry toothpaste and a toothbrush with them anyhow. A good rinse with water, using a toothpick to dislodge any food between your teeth or just simply licking your teeth clean after eating is all you need to do. Saliva itself naturally helps clean your teeth.
It’s also important to understand the way we currently harvest and consume grains is different from the way it was harvested before modern agriculture. Until about a century ago we used to harvest our grains and leave them in the field tied into sheaves until we needed them. This would leave the grains exposed to environmental moisture and the grain would inevitably begin to sprout. This would deactivate the naturally occurring anti-nutrients (phytates), which can inhibit the absorption of minerals such as phosphorous, calcium and zinc. The deactivation of these anti-nutrients essentially unlocks the nutrition in the food making it more bioavailable to our bodies. Now days, because of trying to get the food to the market quicker, most of the grains that end up in our grocery store are not sprouted nor do we properly prepare them ourselves with other methods such as fermenting, pressure cooking, and even grinding, to increase nutrient bioavailability. You can find a good chart on soaking and sprouting foods in a previous piece called Improving Digestion. Good companies that offer healthier sprouted options are Essential Eating, Food For Life who makes the well known Ezekiel 4:9 and Genesis 1:29 breads, Shiloh Farms, Silver Hills Bakery, Valley Select and One Degree Organic Foods. Because of this grain based model, it’s also believed that the old Food Pyramid did not place enough emphasis on fruits, vegetables and quality protein. It’s easy to see why the old Food Pyramid and the USDA’s old recommendations may have contributed to poor overall health. Whole grains offer heart healthy fiber, vitamins and minerals but should be part of balanced diet. I would be careful about making them your main source of calories especially if you’re largely sedentary. Just reducing them or consuming them prepared in a way that unlocks the nutrition can do wonders for how you feel, look and perform.
A graphic of the old grain based Food Pyramid
The book Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter goes into the effects of the overconsumption of grains in our diets. Interestingly, Alzheimer’s disease has been called ‘Type 3 Diabetes’ by Dr. Perlmutter and other physicians due to the link between insulin resistance caused by an excess amount of refined carbohydrates and the cognitive disorder.
Wanting to simplify the old model and new and updated research resulted in transitioning away from the Food Pyramid and establishing the new MyPlate food guide. The new MyPlate graphic addresses the shortfalls of The Food Pyramid. MyPlate uses a new simplified visual tool that’s shaped like a dinner plate with colorful sections assigned to fruits, grains, vegetables, protein and dairy. It does not include fats, sugars and sweets that the Food Pyramid did and has no recommended amounts for these foods due to the USDA’s stance that they contribute to obesity. Sugar definitely does. However, when it comes to fat, focusing on getting good omega 3 fats is something we all can benefit from especially since an excess of pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils is a huge problem in the American population today. Fat is also essential for brain health and development and proper hormone production. There’s no official recommendation but 250-500 mg per day of combined EPA and DHA for adults is a good dose and even more for certain health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, depression and metabolic syndrome (a combination of risk factors that include obesity, high blood glucose, high blood pressure and high triglyceride levels). Omega 3 fatty acids have also been shown to decrease the risk for certain cancers and decrease overall inflammation in the body. Healthy fats may not be in the new MyPlate guide but I would highly recommend you make it a point to include at least 250 mg per day of heart healthy, brain healthy and anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats into your diet.
Two things I really like about the new MyPlate dietary guide is the fact it:
1.) Does not include any recommended amounts of sweets. We definitely don’t need any encouragement to get any amount of sugar in our diet. We all know that will happen organically without much effort. And…
2.) It doesn’t include any recommended amounts of trans fats. while the FDA has a lot of work to do when it comes to regulating and restricting other unhealthy food additives and chemicals (to put it lightly), it has determined that there is no safe levels of trans fats. Although it had the option to do so, it declined to make any recommended daily amounts of trans fats.
There are naturally occurring trans fats in milk and dairy but the average person would only get about two grams daily. And the problem is mainly with artificially created trans fats produced by the food industry such as partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). There are absolutely no benefits to artificial trans fats and they harm you in multiple ways. Trans fats are linked to an increased risk for strokes, heart attacks, and type 2 diabetes. They also increase LDL (bad) cholesterol and decrease HDL (good) cholesterol possibly leading to atherosclerosis and heart disease. Producing trans fats just to give food a longer shelf life and increase profits was one of the biggest mistakes of the food industry. Trans fats should have no place in our diet.
*Note: The reason high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is beneficial is because of its role in reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). HDL returns excess cholesterol from blood vessels and peripheral tissues to the liver and is carried out in bile to ultimately be excreted in feces.
FDA has taken steps to remove artificial trans fats in processed foods. In 2015, FDA determined that PHOs, the major source of artificial trans fat in the food supply, are no longer “Generally Recognized as Safe,” or GRAS. For the majority of uses of PHOs, June 18, 2018, remains the date after which manufacturers cannot add PHOs to foods. However, to allow for an orderly transition in the marketplace, FDA is allowing more time for products produced prior to June 18, 2018 to work their way through distribution. FDA is extending the compliance date for these foods to January 1, 2020. This action balances the health benefits of removing PHOs from the food supply with the need to provide an orderly transition in the marketplace.
-U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Unfortunately, the above statement regarding the FDA’s stance on PHOs does not apply to monoglycerides and diglycerides which still contain trans fats but don’t have to be labeled as trans fats on a food label. So, we still need to watch out for these. But hey, we’ll take what we can get for the moment and still fight for better regulations in the future.
The new MyPlate guide is simple enough for children to understand and is more in line with the newest 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines previously discussed that are published by the HHS and USDA. It displays more equally distributed recommendations on food types with the greatest emphasis on vegetables. The recommendation for grains is better offset by larger portions of fruits, vegetables and protein not seen in the old Food Pyramid with a comparatively small recommended amount of dairy.
This guideline is for the average individual and are recommendations only. Fitness goals, training status, medical conditions and dietary restrictions and needs of the individual will need to be considered when following or putting together a healthy dietary plan.
Sources:
https://deeprootsathome.com/pressure-cooking-healthy-nutrients/
https://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/reducing-phytic-acid-in-grains-and-legumes/
https://www.healthydietbase.com/cooking-methods-to-reduce-phytic-acid-in-food/
https://draxe.com/nutrition/omega-3-benefits-plus-top-10-omega-3-foods-list/
https://foodbabe.com/theres-no-safe-level-ingredient-almost-everything/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-omega-3#general-guidelines
https://mavedds.com/carbohydrates-tooth-decay-how-carbs-cause-dental-caries/
https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/edf87f6a/files/uploaded/grain_brain%20.pdf