New Government Food Guide Falls Short Again

Well the new government food guide is out.  It can be found at ChooseMyPlate.gov.  This is the latest change in dietary recommendations from the USDA.  It is meant to replace the old “Food Pyramid” from 1993, which replaced the “4 Food Groups” from years earlier.  The recommendations now are:

Balancing Calories
	●	Enjoy your food, but eat less.
	●	Avoid oversized portions.
	Foods to Increase
	●	Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
	●	Make at least half your grains whole grains.
	●	Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
	Foods to Reduce
	●	Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.
	●	Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Some of the USDA’s recommendations are sound, and the web site has some good information if you poke around.  One good piece of advice is to make half of your plate fruits and vegetables.  However, there are some glaring weaknesses in their recommendations and also quite a bit of confusion.  It seems that they came up with a very diplomatic program that wouldn’t offend anyone – especially the big food industries.  The only industry they may have offended is the “sugary drink” people.

Here are some of the glaring problems I discovered:

• Dairy is included as a requirement at every meal.  Dairy is a dietary non-factor.  Although containing some nutrients, dairy products are very  low in overall nutrition compared to many other food choices and are not just not essential.  Many cultures (such as China) have gotten along fine without much dairy at all, and have very strong bones and teeth!
• They recommend only half of your grains be whole grains.  I would like it to be 100%.  Why did the USDA stop at 50%?
• They recommend a mystery food group called “Protein”.  Most people quickly think of meats, poultry, and fish.  It’s as if the USDA is saying that vegetables aren’t a good source of protein, when in fact they are the best source.  Dark green leafy and solid vegetables contain more protein per calorie than lean beef!  Look to the elephant or the horse – powerful bones and muscles, and completely vegetarian.  They also don’t mention how much protein we need each day… perpetuating the “protein-myth”.
• They don’t clarify what lower sodium foods are.  They just say to “compare… and choose the foods with lower numbers”.
• They completely ignore legumes, nuts, and seeds on the plate, but can be found if you dig into the site under “Protein Food Group”.
• They ignore plant-based sources of calcium – which are actually the best choices, and instead only cover dairy-based foods.

If you really want to enjoy amazing health, you have to make some big changes.  Changes that make a big difference, and changes that are sustainable.  Although perhaps a bit of an improvement over the last Food Pyramid, the recommendations of our government don’t go far enough to make much of a difference.  There’s too much room for mediocrity.  The government has let us down again.  Surprised?

Here are two better solutions that you can use as a food guide instead of the “ChooseMyPlate” deal:

From the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine - www.PCRM.org

The “PowerPlate” is a simple guide that gets right to the point.  Here’s another guide for the person looking for some more detail…

From Dr. Joel Fuhrman - www.drfuhrman.com

If you would like to talk to someone in our office for advice on weight loss or healthy eating, feel free to give us a call at 215-938-8500, and ask for Dr. Ken Goldman or Stephanie Brabazon, our holistic nutritionist.