Question Everything You’ve Been Told About Nutrition

The Global Health Crisis

Today, almost half of the entire adult population of the US has diabetes or prediabetes. Three out of four adults are now overweight or obese.  Illness and food allergies are skyrocketing in our children.  The average senior citizen is on at least five prescription drugs, and rates of Alzheimer’s are soaring. By 2030, almost 24 million people will die from heart disease, which is predicted to remain the single leading cause of death.  SCARED YET? I know I am.

So why are we so unhealthy and overweight? Originally, the medical establishment’s goal was to promote healing, but it increasingly relies on a pro-business model instead of a pro-health model at the expense of patients. The goal has become to increase profit, decrease expenses, and let the chips fall where they may. The healthcare system is failing us. An exorbitant amount of money is spent on medications and operations, while virtually nothing is spent on prevention, education, and holistic health. We are being taught, “live fast and hard. Do what you want, and when you get sick, we’ll give you a magic pill, or four, that will make it go away.” What kind of system is that?

According to countless medical studies, the single biggest determinant of health is the food on our plates. But how do we get the information we need to make smart food choices? Raise your hand if you’ve ever been confused about:

• Is fat good or bad?
• How much protein do I really need?
• Are eggs healthy?
• What about calcium, iron, B12, and Omega-3 fatty acids?
• Should I go vegan, or do I need meat, dairy, and eggs?
• Is organic worth the cost?
• Is sugar really that bad? Isn’t sugar in fruit?

Is your arm tired from all the hand raising? Yep, mine too. We all know that food matters, but there’s so much information out there, how do we know who to trust? 

We’ve Been Lied To: A Brief History

The USDA

Good nutrition is straightforward and simple, but in America, pressure from the food industry makes it almost impossible for any public official to sate the plain truth. Public nutrition policy is dictated by the political process, which is now heavily impacted b a corporate agenda to maximize profits.

The primary agency responsible for American food policy is the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).  It was created in 1862 as a regulatory agency to ensure an adequate and safe food supply for Americans. The agency also took on the role of providing dietary advice to the public. From the very beginning, the government had conflicting priorities. How can you protect public health on one hand and protect the interest of the food industry on the other? This opposition has led to decades of confusing and financially motivated dietary advice.

As far back as 1917, the USDA ignored research that American’s were eating too much unhealthy food when it released its first dietary recommendations. Why? Because food manufacturers wanted to encourage the public to eat more.[1] It wasn’t until the 1970s when senators like George McGovern started to speak about the connection between overeating and chronic disease that the USDA began advising people to restrict these foods in their diets with the Dietary Goals of 1977. With this new advice came strong objections from the meat, dairy, and sugar industries.

The food industry’s greatest allies are in Congress. It’s the job of these politicians to protect the interests of their states, which includes the corporations and industries that operate there. So a senator from Texas will support the cattle industry. A senator from Wisconsin is going to fight for dairy.  Politicians, together with skilled lobbyists, control legislation and nutritional information put out by the government. In 1977, when senators from meat-producing states such as Texas, Nebraska, and Kansas saw the new dietary guidelines, they worked quickly, with the help of lobbyists for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, among others, to amend the national dietary recommendations, removing any mention of decreasing the amount of meat in one’s diet for optimal health.

This back and forth between the USDA, politicians, and large corporations continues to shape the public’s awareness about what to eat. In 1991, the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the first ever Food Guide Pyramid in an attempt to provide accurate guidelines about what to eat for optimal nutrition. Immediately, the meat and dairy industries blocked publication because they claimed it stigmatized their products. The meat and dairy industries were upset because the Food Guide Pyramid placed their products in a category labeled “eat less.” The USDA then withdrew the guide. It took more than a year to create a pyramid that was acceptable to the two industries. And that, my friends, is how our “politically correct” Food Guide Pyramid was created. 

This pyramid shaped American attitudes about health, diet, and nutrition for more than 20 years. Let’s face it, the 1991 USDA Food Guide Pyramid was a political document, not a scientific one. It encourages people to eat a lot of everything. This advice certainly helps the food industry and the senators protecting their financial interests. These recommendations were the foundation of America’s outlook on health, diet, and nutrition for a time period that saw a substantial increase in obesity and diet-related health issues.

In 2001, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine won a lawsuit on the topic of the USDA’s ties to the food industry. PCRM showed that the majority of the USDA committee that review and updates the federal dietary guidelines had a strong financial tie the meat, diary, or egg industries. “Having advisors tired to the meat or dairy industries is as inappropriate as letting tobacco companies decide our standards for air quality.” Dr. Neal Barnard, President of PCRM. Four years later, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reviewed and updated the dietary guidelines again. This time, they had the task of responding to the recent statistics showing skyrocketing rats of obesity across the nation.

The new guidelines recommended Americans eat more vegetables and whole grain products, cut down on certain fats, and consume less sugar. In addition, the report strongly recommended that people “engage in regular physical activity and reduce sedentary activities to promote health, psychological well-being, and a health body weight.” Simply put: get off the couch and exercise, America.

However, despite the improvements, the 2005 guidelines still had limitations. First, the guidelines were supposed to be about diet, and emphasizing weight loss through exercise shifts the responsibility for dietary change to the individual and away from the food industry’s multi-billion dollar budget for marketing and promoting unhealthy foods. In addition, the guidelines didn’t speak a language easily understood by people who most needed the advice.

MyPyramid

Following the release of the new guidelines in 2005, the USDA also gave the food pyramid a facelift; renaming it “MyPyramid.” MyPyramid showed some improvements from the previous pyramid. It drew attention to both leafy green vegetables and whole grains, two groups the old pyramid was missing. It also addressed the concept of healthy fats and recognized beans, seeds, and nuts as legitimate sources of protein for the first time.

However, even with these advances, MyPyramid was still far from easily understood. The vegetable section was about the same size as the milk section, which seemed to imply you should consume the same amount of milk and vegetables. MyPyramid also promoted the idea that we can eat as much as we want, as long as we exercise every day. Enter the concept of “calories in, calories out” concept that benefits both the food and fitness industries. The pyramid was constructed for people who exercise 30-60 minutes a day. A better plan would have been to create a pyramid for people who do not exercise at all, since most Americans are not active.

2010 Dietary Guidelines

In January 2011, the USDA released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Like the 2005 report, the 2010 points out that American’s don’t eat enough vegetables or whole grains and, instead, eat too much fat and sugar.

Unfortunately, the guidelines continued to miss the mark and use vague terminology like “SoFAS” to describe solid fats and added sugars. It’s the use of these confusing words that led the PCRM to file yet another lawsuit against the federal government in 2011. PCRM stated that using biochemical terms instead of naming actual foods keeps American’s eating those foods.

MyPlate

In response to the updated dietary guidelines of 2010, the USDA replaced MyPyramid with MyPlate. The goal was to simplify nutritional information to make it more useful to the average person.

Unlike the pyramids of the past, which attempted to convey how much you should eat based on the colors and relative sizes of sections on the pyramid, MyPlate focuses on the portion sizes of sections on the pyramid, MyPlate focuses on the portion sizes at each meal through simple divisions of a plate. It makes it visually obvious that half of your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables. The MyPlate icon also features selected messages like “avoid oversized portions” and “enjoy your food but eat less.” However, as with the pyramid, you must visit the MyPlate website for specific instructions on what to eat.

While MyPlate is a huge step toward instilling healthy changes in Americans, it still has many shortcomings, such as dairy’s continuing to be an essential part of the meal and the lack of a clear definition for grains.

Food Corporations

Food corporations are given a long leash when it comes to deceiving the public about the nature of their products, often using guidelines – like the Food Guide Pyramid, MyPyramid, and now MyPlate – as vehicles for their own agendas. The U.S. government even contributes to many food-marketing campaigns. Remember the popular campaigns like “Got Milk?” and “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” These campaigns, aimed at increasing Americans’ consumption of dairy and beef, as part of the federal government’s commodity promotion programs, called “checkoff” programs. Checkoff programs demonstrate the dual role of the federal government to educate the public about nutrition and health while still promoting its food. But where are all the ads for vegetables?

When MyPyramid was released in 2005, General Mills announced that about 100 million boxes of its Big G cereal brands would carry MyPyramid on them, citing the cereal box as one of the most-read items in the home.[2] The company also announced that they would reformulate their products to include whole grains, which was in line with the recommendation of the 2005 pyramid to eat more whole grains, thereby implying that their cereals including Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams, and Trix, are healthy. Tricky, huh? Even today, many of these same brands are coming out with gluten-free versions that are touted as “healthy” while these products are still highly processed and loaded with sugar.

Be Your Own Health Advocate

If we want to be healthy, we need to eat nutritious foods. It is actually quite simple. Unfortunately, billions of dollars are spent every day trying to seduce us not to do it. The food industry, drug companies, politicians, civil servants, and even the medical profession all have strong interests in making money and not protecting our health. In one way or another, almost all of the sources of information we would expect to support our quest for overall health are contaminated for reasons of financial gain. There is a lot of money to be made by keeping American’s fat and sick. 

But the world is beginning to wake up to the reality that healthy food creates healthy people. We see it in the papers and on television commercials, and we hear all sorts of people talking about it. Corporations are responding. The success of stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes and the incorporation of organic sections in most big-box grocery stores show that consumers are concerned about their health and the quality of their food.

When individuals stand up for improving our own health, things do change. If we buy our food from health food stores and farmer’s’ markets and don’t spend our money on unhealthy foods, corporations get the message loud and clear. Don’t be a silent victim of the system. With our dollars, our voices, and our forks, we have the power to create change.

[1] Marion Nestle, Food Politics: How the food industry Influences Nutrition and Health (University of California Press, 2003).

[2] Food and Drink Weekly, April 25, 2005.