When the federal government gave up its goofy “food pyramid,” I thought it might be a sign that the USDA had given up. We’re not so lucky. The USDA just announced its new diet propaganda campaign, trading in the pyramid for a pie chart.
But, as noticed on Reason magazine’s Hit and Run, there’s no pie.
Actually, the graphic’s in the shape of a plate, with four categories broken down in pie-chart fashion: Fruits, grains, vegetables, and proteins. In a separate element to the side, a “cup” labeled “dairy” serves as a fifth food group.
The “eat your vegetables” mantra we’ve been hearing all our lives is now reinforced by the command to make half our “plate” (the graphic is available at ChooseMyPlate.gov) fresh fruits and vegetables, take half our grains as whole grains, avoid salt, and switch our milk to skim or 1 percent. Oh, and avoid sugary drinks; drink water instead. And eat less overall.
Good advice, I suppose, but at this point if the government tells me that the unclouded sky is blue, I’d check to verify, first.
And regarding our diets, “check to verify” is probably a good idea. We can hardly trust even the so-called experts without applying our own critical intelligence. Our eating habits are ours. And much of what the government’s said in the past has been nonsense.
As for me, I’d like to cut down on government itself. This campaign seems the place to start.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “The Propaganda Diet”
re: “command to … switch our milk to skim or 1 percent.”
Butterfat, the expensive and nutritious part of milk is removed, and we’re commanded to purchase the dregs ??
The USDA should be abolished.
As a woman who grew up eating right, was at least moderately active my whole life and never had to watch my weight until I reached my mid-fifties, had two children who are grown now and do not and never had a weight problem, I have one thing to say the USDA’s new plan for eating and Michelle Obama’s food naziism….NO!!!!!!!!
The dietary advice still is wrong. The calories in fruits are almost all from sugars. The recommended diet contains far too many carbohydrate calories for the one-fourth of the population that has genes for insulin-resistance. For us folks, high carbohydrate diets cause weight gain, increased “bad” cholesterol, increased triglycerides, and adult-onset diabetes. Most of the increased prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the USA is directly related to the long-running federal government campaign to reduce fat consumption.
The reality is that there is no single correct diet for all. Diets need to be tailored to individuals based on their genetics, metabolism, activity, and food preferences.
30 years ago, the government and liberal press were touting fears of the next looming ice age. Recently its been global warming. Then all of sudden it’s that the climate is shifting around. Next it appears that the ice age alarmists were closer to the truth. The problem is that the government mandates to rescue us with force and at our own expense, no matter how uncertain the data that they have.
The beknighted self-appointed generously spending other people’s money.