Why
You Can't Trust the Food Pyramid
The
food pyramid has nothing to do with eating a
healthy diet and everything to do with making
money for the food manufacturing industry. I
think saturated fat gets unfairly criminalized.
Natural fats like saturated fat should be a part
of your diet. Saturated fat occurs in nature.
In any animal we eat..... any animal our ancestors
would have flung a spear into and eaten 10,000
years ago... animals God put on this earth for
us to eat. So how can it be bad for you? Trans-fat
on the other hand is man-made, chemically altered.
Your body can't properly digest it. The food
manufacturing industry loves it because it's
cheap and it keeps. It won't spoil. It stays
solid at room temperature. They can make more
$$ selling you that then they can selling you
fresh, natural food. And you're just now starting
to hear that trans-fat *might* be bad for you.
Americans have become so brainwashed
by the government and it's low-fat mantra that
it's hard for most people to even consider that
fat can be good for you.
The
gov't has been lobbied so heavily with so much
$$ from big business, that their food pyramid
and "guidelines" are
inherently corrupt. Their definition of "proper
eating" is
the one that earns food manufacturers the most
$$, it's not the one that's most healthy for
you. Most
people are too stupid, or too naive to see
any of this. This should throw up a huge red
flag:
The
makers of Hershey chocolates, Budweiser and
Spam urged the federal government "to
put its considerable influence behind efforts
to urge Americans to increase daily levels
of exercise" but also asked it to recommend
higher food consumption.
Higher
food consumption? Are you f*@#%ing kidding
me? We're in the middle of an obesity epidemic
and they want us to eat more. Or this one...
The
Independent Bakers Association, representing
bread makers, warned against a tilt toward
protein consumption, influenced by regimens
such as the Atkins diet.
Any
nutrional specialist or personal trainer not
working for a company trying to sell you a
particular product will tell you Americans
need MORE protein in their diets, not less.
Processed carbs like white bread and cereals
occupy the largest spot on the food pyramid,
while fresh vegetables which are far more nutrious
and better for you but with smaller profit
margins fall further down the list. Be
a skeptic. Read often. Question everything.
And think for yourselves! Here's
the article...
Food
industry weighs in on guidelines
Scientists worry corporate influence will sway
policy at a time of radical overhaul.
BY RAJA MISHRA
The Boston Globe
Uncle
Sam's menu is about to change, and corporate America
wants to help write the new edition. But scientists
worry that the result will be more sensitive to
the bottom line than to the ever-expanding American
waistline.
Every
five years, federal officials revise the cornerstones
of national food policy: the national dietary
guidelines and food pyramid. The last revision
was 2000.
Together,
these policies outlining the official, government-sanctioned
healthy diet hold enormous sway over American
eating habits. More directly, they control the
federal government's vast food-assistance program,
which feeds one in five Americans.
Corporate
food makers have bombarded federal officials recently
with suggested changes. And virtually every food
company wants the government to urge more daily
consumption than most scientists recommend.
Many
nutrition specialists fret that the corporate
duress combined with considerable pressure to
significantly change national food policy in the
face of an ongoing obesity epidemic will lead
to unhealthy changes.
In
hundreds of pages of lobbying briefs, various
sectors of the food industry argued for changes
that would benefit them economically.
The
makers of Hershey chocolates, Budweiser and
Spam urged the federal government "to put its
considerable influence behind efforts to urge
Americans to increase daily levels of exercise" but
also asked it to recommend higher food consumption.
The
Independent Bakers Association, representing bread
makers, warned against a tilt toward protein consumption,
influenced by regimens such as the Atkins diet.
The
vitamin and supplement industry argued for
placing a flag labeled "supplements" atop
the food pyramid. But supplements vary widely
in their effectiveness.
"The
pyramid has been very susceptible to industry
pressure," Harvard nutrition specialist Meir
Stampfer said. "Even now, it's not really,
in my view, scientifically based advice."
Margo
Wootan, nutrition policy director at the nonprofit
Center for Science in the Public Interest,
said the low-carb craze has focused intense
interest on this round of changes. "I'm always worried
when they reopen these guidelines," she said.
"The food industry is so influential and
there's so many of them. There's a trade group
for every food."
In
one sign of the changes afoot, U.S. Department
of Agriculture spokesman John Webster said, "I'm
not going to use the word 'pyramid' because
we're not sure it's going to be a pyramid.
Here, we call it a 'food guidance system.' "
Next
week, the USDA will hold a two-day open meeting
on the issue in Washington. In June, a panel of
academic specialists, none with direct ties to
the industry, will issue recommended revisions.
Changes must be approved by the Bush administration
and finalized by the end of the year, a closed-door
decision during which, critics say, the industry
wields considerable influence.
Food-industry
representatives said they are advocating for realistic
targets, achievable for average Americans. For
instance, in recent months, they have opposed
proposals from scientists to cut daily recommended
sodium intake by more than a third. Higher sodium
intake can increase the risk of high blood pressure.
The proposal seems unlikely to be adopted.
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