How To Understand The Food Pyramid
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As predicted months earlier, here is the NEW food pyramid
Back in what seems like ancient days, the 70s was when I was young, impressionable and still in school, it was drilled into our heads the proper manner one should eat and there was to be no discussion or debate - this was for your own good because the government said so! What was this pearl of wisdom handed down to us for memorization? 4-4-3-2 or the four food groups where you eat 4 in the fruits and vegetable group, 4 in the milk group, 3 in the meat group, and 2 in the grain group.
Between sometime when they were drilling this into our heads and the realization that this same generation was getting bigger and wider, they thought it was best to re-think what was best for the people. Then they came up with the Food Pyramid.
One may argue and debate the validity of the Food Pyramid, but this is what researchers have concluded in their estimation as a "balanced" diet. Before even the 4-4-3-2 scheme and even today, people tended to naturally eat foods that are easily available and they can afford.
A farmer in the 1860s would have had access to a lot more food, but did a lot of manual labor therefore their breakfast could consist of mounds of bacon, sausage, biscuits, hash browns, and eggs without the same penalty to a person who lives in New York City in the year 2000 who is unemployed and stays on the computer all day. People in countries plagued by drought are obviously malnourished, yet ironically most obese people in the US are labeled equally malnourished due to their being unable to afford the quality foods and instead opting for cheap and fast foods. One's diet usually ended up as a result of their location and socio-economic status. Whether it was proper or not has always been a matter of debate.
When people are more accustomed to growing their own fruits and vegetables or live closer to farms or have greater incomes, they tend to buy and eat more in this category. When people are not in this position, they tend to buy and eat less. In countries where genetically modified foods are approved, the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables are less expensive giving more people access to what they probably could not afford in countries where GM foods are banned. [However, we do not know enough about the long term results of GM foods to say if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but in the short term it does allow more people to eat and to keep starving people hungry is not cool. What we don't know is if this will lead to cancer, other illnesses, birth defects or if tampering with DNA of plants and/or animals will cause a biological backlash.]
If you live in a city and are barely scrapping by paycheck to paycheck, sometimes getting the fruits and vegetables may seem as unimportant as paying a bill. Therefore under the government approved scheme you are not eating a balanced diet and will suffer ill effects. But is it really so bad if you only eat half of each of these groups with half of the calorie load? Isn't that still a balanced diet?
This goes the same for the rest of the categories of foods. If you live in an area where you have easy access to any of the foods on the group, you will eat them. If you don't, then those foods will not be in your diet.
The light of how we should or should not eat is always changing. Take it with a grain of salt. If you listen to the Atkins or Sugar Buster people, they would laugh in your face if you mention this Food Pyramid as the proper way to eat, yet these programs have proven a sort of success in popularity and results. Other diet plans from the past have had the same popularity and results, yet still deviate from this pyramid.
All those diets have proven is for any short term time, you will not suffer any ill effects by depriving yourself of one or more food groups because in the end you are cutting calories and allegedly exercising as part of the plan. No one follows these plans for life unless it is for a medical reason such as a diabetic who must completely cut out sugars, for instance.
The way this Food Pyramid is set up, you should have 6-11 servings of grains. This would be according to package directions of what would consist of a serving which is smaller than most people would think. If you had the average sized bowl of cereal [2.5 servings], with toast [1 serving], a sandwich [2 servings], an average helping of rice or potatoes [2 servings] it would get you to the smaller end of the requirement.
Of the fruit section they require you to eat 2-4 servings and for vegetable 3-5. This could include in your daily fare a banana cut up in your cereal, an apple with your lunch, and perhaps even a fresh fruit topping on your cottage cheese for dessert [or for a vegetarian, just the fruit] along with lettuce and tomatoes on your sandwich and a salad for your dinner while you can snack on carrot or celery sticks in between meals.
The next level up is the Dairy/Meat section both of which require 2-3 servings. This could be the meat in your sandwich and the main entree at dinner. Or if you are a vegetarian it could include peanut butter in your sandwich and a vegetarian chili made with beans.
For the dairy portion, this is highly debated. Yes, they say 2-3 servings so you can get the recommended calcium requirements for your bones. Yet, there are some people who will not drink product from animals for various reason from a moral objection to dietary incompatibilities. These people can still get the calcium required without the source being from a cow or goat.
Even those who do not object from an animal source of dairy, they can still be up in the air about the fat content of milk products. Should they do whole, 2%, 1%, skim, or Acidophilus? Whole and 2% have higher fat contents and abuse of indulging in this level over a long period of time can lead to heart disease and other health problems. However, if you prefer the taste and health issues are not a major problem, there is no real harm in indulging within the current guidelines. If you are obese or over the correct weight range it would be better to have the other categories which are lower in fat and calories.
If dairy from animals is not an issue with you, then feel free to have milk on your cereal, cheese on your sandwich, and even a proper serving size of cottage cheese with your fruit topping for dessert if you are not restricting calories.
If dairy from animals is objectionable, there are many good soy alternatives. Soy also has the benefit of no cholesterol. There are many studies done that say soy will prevent cancer, help you lose weight and cut down on heart disease, but like any study take that with a grain of salt. They may come back to you ten years later and reverse the findings.
Those who can tolerate soy may indulge in many soy products ranging from milk and ice cream to meat and egg substitutes.
If you hate the taste of soy, calcium can also be found in fish such as sardine and salmon.
The last section is reserved for all the things that we crave - sweets, fats, and oil. We are all born with the instinct to crave this category. It is the sweet breast milk [or formula for others] mixed in with a high fat content that encourages our appetite which helps us grow and feed our brains. Sweet things and those with a high fat content taste good.
Take a cookie for example. What are the main ingredients? Flour, sugar, butter and egg. You can make a variety of types of cookies by adding other ingredients or changing the ratio of the main ingredients, but the fact is two of the main ingredients in a cookie make it on the no-no list. Without the sugar and the fat, the flour and egg mixture wouldn't be as appealing to the tastebuds.
Another example would be ice cream. Yes, it is a dairy product, but at the same time it is loaded with sugar and the fat content of this particular dessert is made with cream which is not what you would drink to qualify for the dairy recommendations. Cream has a way higher fat content than whole milk. Yes, you get a good dose of calcium from a bowl of ice cream, but the sugar and fat content has put it in this section.
The fats/oil debate will always be raging. There was a time when the "experts" swore that butter was the root of all evil because of the studies which showed those who ate butter on a regular basis were prone to heart disease. Then another study came along to show that those who ate margarine were worse off than those who ate butter because of what the process does to the oils in the product.
Basically, if your diet consists of potato or any kind of chips, ice cream, cake, cookies, pudding, fruit beverages [whether real fruit is used or not] with more sugar and water than fruit, ANY food that is fried, ANY food that has a sauce or gravy or ketchup or steak sauce... if it tastes good due to the sugar or fat content -- then you are asking for trouble. These foods should be avoided and when used, only with extreme moderation.
Fats and sugars are not completely evil, but we do tend to over-do what we crave the most. There are actually good fats that help our bodies fight cholesterol. Sugars also give us the needed energy boost to help regulate our bodies.
The real evils on the fat and sugar side are the ones that are so over refined and processed that what was once pure and natural becomes a chemical mess your body has a hard time to decipher and deal with. The natural sugars contained in an apple is not the same level of evil as the refined white sugar you put in your coffee.
Butter may be bad, but at least it is not the same chemical mess as margarine. When it comes to oils you use in cooking, many studies have proven [for now] that olive oil is much better to a person's long term health than any other type of oil. But when it comes to cooking with fat, you would probably want to stay away from lard like you would the plague.
There is a category not mentioned in the Pyramid because technically they are not foods, yet they seem to be included in a lot of diets.
Salt, while not a bad thing as it does help regulate many important functions in your body and assist in the process of being able to enhance the taste of food, if abused can cause health issues.
Coffee and alcohol. Both are natural products. Both are drugs. Neither have any form of nutritional value. They say a glass of wine a day can be good for you, but that also depends on what kind of health issues you may have. Coffee will get you going in the morning when you are tired, but also tends to increase your insulin output making you crave for sweets.
Cigarettes. No, you don't eat it, but some feel no meal is complete without lighting it up. There are many arguments for and against the second hand smoke issue, so I won't get into that. However, what it does to the smoker personally is a proven fact - it will kill you in horrendous ways that you may not comprehend until it sneaks up on you. Not to mention this is pretty rude to do at the table when others are eating...you never know if one of those people is a lunatic with a gun who will prove to you smoking is fatal to your health:-)
The reason and logic behind the present Food Pyramid will eventually change as scientists, doctors and dieticians continue to study the eating habits of people and the results.
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