Giving a lecture on old-timey quack medicines tomorrow

[HiPointDem]

179. i understand what you're saying about the pyramid, i'm just saying you've got some of the

details wrong.

1. food guides date to 1916 & have always been influenced by various lobbies, esp agricultural. it's nothing new, and in fact all the american food guides were published under the aegis of USDA which is agricultural lobby city.

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall02/greene/history.htm


2. The biggest difference from the older guidelines was a recommended number of servings and specification of serving size. Specification for grains was 6-11 servings (the low range for smaller people, the higher for bigger).

One serving of grain = 1/2 c. = the amount that will fit on your cupped palm. Or a piece of bread the size of a CD case, which is about half-2/3 the now-standard size of a piece of bread.


3. the committee that makes the recommendation the pyramid guidelines are based on is composed of nutrition people & academics, not lobbyists. of course they are *influenced* by lobbyists, but they aren't themselves lobbyists.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dgas2010-dgacreport.htm

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/DGAC/Report/DGAC-Membership.pdf


4. In 2011 the pyramid was replaced by "MyPlate":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyPyramid


I was not talking about *you* in my comments about diabetes, just making general comments based on my own knowledge & experience. Nor was I commenting on your diabetes treatment or your diet.

I'll also say that i don't think the pyramid per se had a big effect on american eating patterns. what had a big effect was the steady barrage of "hi-fat bad, low-fat good, lose weight with low-fat" propaganda in the media.

plus people's interpretation of things like 'low-fat cookies/snackwells' as 'diet cookies'.