The Food Pyramid Scandal
“LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE BE THY FOOD” - HIPPOCRATES
Introduction:
Remember back in grade school we had that fancy and colorful pyramid tucked in the back corner of the science class? Perhaps you still see it in your gym and in doctor’s offices when you go in for a check up. This colorful little pyramid is a visual representation of dietary guidelines that presents to us how much of each food group to eat in order to maintain a healthy diet. If you take a look at the image below of the pyramid you’ll see there is a superfluous base amount for grains and cereals. The next layer is placed for fruits and vegetables, the third layer belongs to dairy, meats, nuts, legumes and finally at the tippy top we hit the fats, oils, and sweets that note to us be eaten sparingly.
The food pyramid was brought to us by the USDA in 1992 and has become an iconic image in classrooms, on cereal boxes, and bread wrappers. We’ve come a long way in our science behind better health and nutrition since the 90’s. With that, the pyramid’s relevance is losing it’s spotlight more and more everyday, similarly to Drake’s rap career since Kendrick came after him.
BASE LEVEL - SUGARS AND CARBOHYDRATES:
If you look at the image above of the pyramid you’ll find a concerning amount of breads, cereals and, pasta (carbohydrates). The serving size came into question as dietitians and doctors found connections between obesity and carbs. An approximate 32.6 million Americans are living with type 2 diabetes and 88 million people suffer from pre-diabetes, THIS IS A THIRD OF THE POPULATION! The diabetes craze isn’t just happening haphazardly, it’s a result of impoverished nutritional guidelines that the government pushed in their prescribed food pyramid. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar), whatever is not burnt is then stored as fat. Our insulin gets that “hey u up?” text message and is called to help the body store the glucose as fat. On the other side of the coin, fats don’t evoke an insulin response, so the body doesn’t need insulin to use fat for energy. In other words it is absorbed and divided in a more efficient manner. When we develop type 2 diabetes our pancreas is unable to produce to enough insulin to remove the excess glucose (sugars) from our blood, thus the body then begins to develop insulin resistance. This is a clear indication that too much of our diet is high in sugar and carbohydrates.
HEALTH RISKS:
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, it’s responsible for 29% of all deaths. According to statistics from the Center of Disease Control (CDC), over 700,000 people died as a result of heart disease. Type 2 diabetes predisposes us to heart disease, kidney damage, Alzeihermer’s and obesity, the list is scarily never-ending. We’ve seen it in advertisement campaigns of breakfast cereals that all share the notion that a balanced breakfast constitutes to a bowl of cereal,milk, a muffin on the side, and a glass of orange juice. This so called ‘balanced’ diet is sufficiently high is sugar. As a personal example, I am an avid participant in the sport of clay shooting or clay pigeon shooting. When I go to my local tournaments, most gun clubs will offer a “continental” breakfast before the competition begins. The breakfast at these tournaments is typically packed with high calorie dense sugary foods such as donuts, toaster strudels, fruit juices, and muffins. The breakfast is setting you up for brain fog and a sugar crash before you step out on the course. And when it comes to shooting tiny orange clay pigeons out of the sky, we need all the focus and mental clarity we can get from our brains to optimize performance. It’s no secret that 1 in 5 children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 19 (14.7 million) are suffering from obesity. These statistics are a clear indication to us how corrupted the food industry is.
FOOD INDUSTRY CORRUPTION:
Susan Bowerman, a registered dietitian, sports dietetics specialist, and senior director of Worldwide Nutrition Education highlights that the base of the pyramid (grains) was heavily attributed by lobbying efforts from the grain industry. USDA nutritionists back in the early 80’s originally recommended 3-4 daily servings of whole grains and breads. Cereal companies such as Kellogg’s recognized this as a fatal flaw. Every business that exists does everything they can do in order to maximize profits, so big cereal companies got involved and were the ones responsible for boosting the servings of grains from 3-4 to 11.
In the 1960’s the sugar industry funded research to suppress the risk of sugar and highlighted that fats were the catalyst for heart disease. Thanks to the development in sciences we know now more than ever that sugar is a greater cause for heart disease. One of the best examples of corruption within the food industry is in regards to the HEART FOUNDATION. It’s safe to assume that this coorporation was structured on the logos of becoming healthier humans but the funding to keep them afloat was obligated to big business, specifically the big M who houses a clown named Ronald. Mcdonald’s had donated a $300,000 per year in exchange for a checkmark assigned to their fish burgers, salads, and chicken wraps to symbolize to us “hey this is somewhat healthier”. But thanks to the world slowly waking up, this checkmark has been detonated due to the controversy surrounding it.
It’s unfortunate how little the government cares about the health of their citizens. From their perspective, nutrition is mainly a marketing tool that is used to fuel growth, promote ultra processed food products, increase spending on food, and demand for key food items. Think about it…we rarely see any advertisements on TV about healthy eating or promoting the importance of daily activity. The only time I’ve encountered an advertisement of someone picking vegetables is to promote a pill for a disease that has side affects such as crying, screaming, vomiting, nose bleeds, uncontrollable gas, and maybe death while they merrily skip across a field of sunflowers. On the other hand, there is an abundance of advertisement for “magically delicious” Lucky Charms, Cheetos, and the orange Cuckoo bird itching for his cocoa puffs harder than my ex-girlfriends nicotine addiction.
With all the schemes that circulate around the food industry it can become overwhelming who to trust and if we really know the extent behind the ingredients in their products. Unless you grow your own plants and livestock we can only be so careful and trust what the label is telling us. This is why it’s so important to read and become familiar with the ingredients going into your products. Stick to whole and minimally processed foods at least 90% of the time and you’ll be rewarded in more ways than one.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, THE QUALITY OF YOUR MIND AND BODY WILL REFLECT THAT
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