Some of you may have noticed last week that the government unveiled a “revolutionary” change in the dietary advice they’ve been giving us for years. Instead of the old food pyramid model, they have now given us a “plate” to show what their ideal diet looks like.
Image courtesy of the USDA -- though we all paid for it.
You’ll notice that this new format looks like it’s better than the old food pyramid. Many health blogs — even those who disagree with the recommendations exactly as stated — have still commended the USDA for increasing the vegetable recommendations and generally leading people towards better health. But are they? Or is this the same old garbage just repackaged in a different format?
I’m a bit of a math nerd and the first thought I had when I first saw the new Plate-style recommendation was that it was no different at all from the grain-based pyramid, but was only a different visual representation. Some further investigation reveals that this is not too far off from what’s going on. Let’s examine:
The old food pyramid (ignoring the sliced vertical pyramid which everyone ignored for 3 years) had the following breakdown:
- 6-11 servings bread/grains
- 2-4 servings fruit
- 3-5 servings veg
- 2-3 servings dairy
- 2-3 servings meat
If you break all this out, you’ll see that grains equate to 40% of the recommended diet, dairy works out to 14%, meat at 13%, veg at 20%, and fruit at 13%. Now, keep in mind that this is “servings.” So what constitutes a serving?
- Grains: Slice of bread, 1oz cereal, or 1/2 cup cooked rice/pasta
- Fruit: 1 medium apple/banana/orange
- Vegetable: 1 cup of raw, leafy veg or 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables (e.g. broccoli)
- Dairy: 1 cup of milk/yogurt or 2 oz cheese
Due to the relative nutrient (and physical) density of these things, though, portion size does NOT equate to calorie content or the government’s endorsed portion size — and I think this is what people are missing. The old pyramid equated 2 servings of rice to about the size of a tennis ball, and gave roughly the same size to ONE serving of broccoli. Thus, in terms of volume, one serving of vegetables is equivalent to two servings of grains. This about.com page discusses the government-approved portion estimations.
You’ll note that there really isn’t an example where 2 servings of grains are not equal, in terms of portion size, to 1 serving of vegetables or fruit. A serving of fruit or veg is roughly the size of a fist, whereas the same volume of grains is roughly 2 servings as per the government. Taking all that into account, the OLD usda food pyramid was calling for a plate that looked like this:
The "Old" USDA recommendations -- same as the new ones.
Look familiar? The notably absent “dairy” group would go right next to this as a cup of milk or yogurt with each meal. In other words, the new recommendations are almost identical to the old pyramid. It was wrong then, and it’s still wrong now. Any perceived changes in these new recommendations are in presentation or imagination — but certainly not in fact.
I’m not exactly thrilled my tax dollars are going to fund this type of nonsense.