The New Food Pyramid

It was more than a decade ago that the diet food pyramid was generally considered the bible of healthy eating and was the ready- reckoner of dieticians and researchers, even taught in schools and colleges. But a few years ago, the scientific community decided to have a relook at the pyramid, to ensure it keeps pace with changing lifestyles worldwide. The studies then threw up some interesting bits.

First of all, there didn’t seem to be evidence enough to support the system recommended. The second problem was that it had not been designed keeping in mind the essentially evolving nature f food and diet patterns. Then scientists decided to redo the whole thing and make it more applicable to modern times. Besides, it had been designed by scientists of the USDA (Department of agriculture) (not health), and this would anyway cause inherent problems about understanding the basic principles of diet.

So the answer would be to get the real people to study the new issues and rewrite the priorities of diet pattern, applicable in today’s time and age. Accordingly, faculty members at Harvard School of Public Health built the healthy Eating pyramid. Though it is shaped like the earlier pyramid, this one takes into consideration the changes in food preferences and diet pattern, as well as the facts that new researches have thrown up over the last few years, and incorporates them to make this new Pyramid more meaningful.

Let us first take a look at what was not very applicable in the Old Food Pyramid. The immediate observations were that though oil and sweets have been kept in the eat-sparingly tip of the pyramid, it cannot be practical. Oil forms the most visible part of our excesses, but is also, sometimes, the most invisible. Besides, all oils are not bad for health, mono unsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, for instance, are not so bad. Besides, when the Old pyramid was built, the message that the government wanted to send out was that consuming oil meant heart diseases…and the phobia thus spawned gave rise to other problems, as people replaced fats and oils with fast burning carbohydrates and the result is an epidemic of diabetes and obesity in the US.

Secondly, the base of the meal was considered to be cereals and breads, which again became misleading because now we know that not all carbohydrates are good. In fact, polished food grains can cause more damage than good, and the new pyramid makes changes accordingly. Another interesting thing is that over the last decade, the importance of higher fruits and vegetable content in our diet has been stressed more. So the 2 to 5 servings each of these foodstuffs should actually be considered the minimum requirements, and not recommended intake. The requirement of proteins drove the meat, poultry, fish and beans intake to 2 to 3 servings but recent developments have made it pertinent to identify what kind of meat we are talking about. Fish like salmon are very oily while red meats are better avoided. So the new Pyramid would need to be more discerning in protein recommendation.

A very important fact that researches in dairy products have thrown up in the recent years is the fact that while milk is a good source of calcium, it may not be entirely the only source, sometimes, not even the healthiest one. An adult does not need up to three glasses of milk daily to keep osteoporosis at bay, consumption of fruits and leafy vegetables do it as well. Besides, a large number of people complain of digestive problems with milk, even lactose intolerance.

These are a few of the discrepancies that research developments found in real life and the Food Pyramid propounded by USDA about a decade and a half ago. So scientists set about making their own pyramid of recommended diet. It is based on the best scientific evidence and is the best link between good food habits and a healthy life. (till of course, further researches do it in). While serving measures are left to individuals, the foods that should be present on your plate have been enumerated. The new recommendations are as below:

1. Whole grains cereals in the form of unpolished rice, whole wheat breads, oatmeal, serve the multi-fold purpose of supplying the required carbohydrates (with bran and starch), controlling insulin and sugar levels (since they take longer to digest than refined foods), and of course, fill you up to control overeating. These should be the major part of every meal one takes and form the base of the new pyramid.
2. Oils are not all bad, in fact some good sources of healthy unsaturated fats are sunflower seeds, olives, corn, soy, canola and peanut too. These may be actually good for your heart, while some animal sources like salmon can also take care of the oil requirement of the body. They may actually serve to improve cholesterol levels (unlike butter, margarine and other fats and highly processed carbs). Oil to be used sparingly is not the dictum any more.
3. Vegetables and fruits have to form an abundant part of your plate, their good effects on almost every body function has been proved and sealed time and again. In fact one cannot have enough of fresh fruits and vegetables.
4. Most people agree that fish poultry and eggs are a good source of proteins, but today, a large number of people do not appreciate them as the SOLE source of proteins. Fish can reduce the risk of heart diseases, eggs are not stuffed with cholesterol as was earlier believed and meats are not all great. So proteins have to be a mixed bag today, with a good choice between fish, eggs, white meat (chicken and turkey) and dried nuts like black beans, navy beans, sprouted mung beans and other beans. Some varieties of dried nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios) are actually good for your heart.
5. Milk and other dairy products are not all white today, in fact, large quantities of milk can contain a very high amount of fats. So cheese, low fat milk and yoghurt are a good replacement. In fact doing away with milk products altogether is also a healthy option, since the proteins and Vitamin D that dairy products boasted of, can be derived from supplements or even other sources.
6. The USE SPARINGLY tip is now occupied by red meats, white flour products-white rice, white bread, pasta, potatoes butter and cream, excessive sugar and derivatives. Instead of red meats, chicken or fish several times a week will be better, and butter can be replaced by olive oil.
7. Recommendations include a multivitamin supplement and interestingly, a daily shot of alcohol in moderate quantities, working out to not more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. This may help to lower the risk of heart diseases, but only in these quantities.

The new Food Guide is evidently more with the times, takes care of preferences as well as the changes in lifestyle over the last decade, for there is no ignoring the fact that we are becoming increasingly sedate and hence now have more sluggish systems to live on. The moot point is that a regular update of what’s good at what time will keep this good food pyramid updated, and that will enhance its utility as well as its relevance to our lives.