Shiny New Dietary Guidelines

Mac n' Cheese is still not healthy? Gahd dammit!!

The US government unveiled their Updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) today. TADA Here is the official press release.

And here are my qualms:

In a long overdue acknowledgment of our nation's obesity epidemic, the guidelines urge us to eat less overall. And to be more selective about what we do eat. However, when addressing what to avoid, they list off nutrients (ie: sodium, fat, sugar). Who thinks in terms of nutrients? I'm a nutrition grad student, and I don't even know what nutrients are in my food half the time. More helpful would be to go a step further and pinpoint the actual foods that harbor stockpiles of these nutrients. So an elbow nudge to steer clear from cookies, chips, white bread, soda, and red meat. Why didn't federal officials plant a scarlet letter on certain foods? Could it be they didn't want to upset brand names? Nabisco would be all up in their face if they exnayed Oreos outright. Typical politicians. Tiptoeing on egg shells to protect big business when they should really shepard the consumer.

If a child is fed a poor diet, the parents are blamed. After all, they supply nourishment (or lack thereof). So if we think of consumers as children, and the food industry as parents....why is it that the onus of good nutrition falls entirely on the individual? Sure, it's good to have DGA that push for personal responsibility. But how can even the most ardent follower traverse such a "toxic" food environment with complete immunity? Why do we not have a DGFI (Dietary Guidelines for Food Industry)? Shouldn't restaurants supply caloric content of menu items? Shouldn't serving sizes be reduced? Packages made smaller? And when will we push food producers to inject less added sugar and fat into products? When will we pressure them to curtail their salt extravagance? And I've long since given up hope of the industry and government ever being able to collaborate in standardizing front of package health claims. Y'know the ones, "High in fiber!!", "High Vitamin C!!", "Revitalize!!", "5 hr energy!!" Nine times out of ten, they're marketing ploys. In an ideal politic-free world, the FDA would establish universal food labeling guidelines. In our actual world, the FDA is the food industry's bitch.

I shall step down from my soap box now. The take away message of the guidelines is the same as it used to be: eat less, move more. That inescapable maxim. If you want extra points, you can eschew salt, sugar, and fat in favor of fruits, veggies, and fish.

Godspeed.