2011 USDA Nutritional Guidelines Ignore Adage “You Are What You Eat”

The USDA and HHS announce new dietary guidelines to help Americans make healthier food choices and confront the obesity epidemic. More than one-third of children and more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese.  As a result of these statistics, the new recommendations focus on eating less and exercising more, as well as to:

• Avoid oversized portions.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but I feel more can be done to help control food quality at a government level, as these guidelines still fail to account for the quality of food being produced.  It’s wonderful that the USDA recommends healthier food choices for Americans, but if these choices are produced in questionable environments, laden with pesticides, and genetically altered, I have to wonder if the new guidelines are a true solution to the various health epidemics we are facing today.

The new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on balancing calories with physical activity, and encourage Americans to consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood, and to consume less sodium, saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains. “Helping Americans incorporate these guidelines into their everyday lives is important to improving the overall health of the American people,” said HHS Secretary Sebelius. “The new Dietary Guidelines provide concrete action steps to help people live healthier, more physically active and longer lives.

I agree that portion control along with exercise is necessary to manage weight.  In our super-sized society, we are headed toward a “Wall-E” reality  - obese sloths rolling around in electric scooters sipping liquified food in big gulp cups while glued to a screen. In also agree that raw and unprocessed foods such as fruits and vegetables should take up more space on our plates.  However given that more and more studies are showing links between pesticides and chronic disease as well as neurobehavioral issues, I wonder, if despite the USDA’s efforts, our health will still suffer.  At the very least, my hope is that these new guidelines will help us to be more mindful of what we put in our bodies and start connecting with our food again (hopefully through cultivation as well as consumption!). If we truly are what we eat, don’t we want our food to be in its purist whole food form, and not a mass produced science experiment by some mega-corporation?

Babyminding: The Natural, Organic Child Care Resource for Health-minded ParentsCategory: Living Green

Read more at Baby Minding