Our beloved Food Pyramid is gone (gasp!), and now the USDA has published another picture of what our proportions of food should look like with their new version: "My Plate." Don't get too excited - My Plate is just as difficult to interpret as the food pyramid with mysterious words like "serving." How much is a "serving" of beef/strawberries/yogurt? You have to do some serious investigation to find out. Not only that, but the real issue is not lack of information. People know what they should and should not eat. Information does not change health behavior. Fundamental overhauls, such as increased access to and widespread affordability of fresh produce and whole grains, are what the USDA should be focusing their efforts on to improve the health outcomes of our country. If people could feed their family healthy food from a nearby market for the same price they can feed them frozen pizza from their neighborhood convenience store, we would see better nutritional choices. And that is the end of my critique of the USDA for today.
To keep everyone cool the next few days, the Scooper Bowl is going on in Government Center today until Thursday. They are rocking some pretty sweet flavors, too. (Though you won't find this on your Food Plate!)
No comments:
Post a Comment