The Fallacy in the Food Pyramid
I’m sure you’ve seen the food pyramid put out by the US Department of Agriculture. The version put out in the 1970s had fats and sweets at the top meaning you ate little of it, and grains and complex carbohydrates at the bottom meaning you ate these the most. There are a few things you need to know about what these recommendations have done for… or in detriment to… health.
The Origins of the Food Pyramid
The government has taken an interest in what the people eat since 1894. The major evolution of what is now the food pyramid is:
1894 the US Department of Agriculture’s first dietary recommendations
1916 “Food for Young Children” was published
1941 the recommended daily allowances were established
1943, to deal with food rationing, “The Basic 7” was established
1970 added an “unhealthy group” of fats, sweets and alcohol
1988 the graphic food pyramid was developed
1992 the graphic food guide pyramid, the one now, was released
Problems in the Food Pyramid
One major difficulty is that the original recommendations for the current pyramid back in the 1980s were disregarded. Dr. Luis Light was one of the highly educated and knowledgeable people asked to develop the food pyramid. She was horrified to discover that the recommendations of the esteemed panel were changed to make it more palatable (pun intended) to the food industry.
The commission recommended that grains and other carbohydrates be eaten less often and not as the foundation of the eating plan. There were a few other changes as well. Dr. Light was afraid that these changes would lead to obesity… which is now a huge health problem in the United States.
Carbohydrates Can Be a Problem
Brian Peskin in The 24-Hour Diet quotes many textbooks and studies that have been around for years. About carbohydrates he quotes from the massive Basic Medical Biochemistry – A Clinical Approach… which I’m naming here to demonstrate its medical relevance. There is this chemical I never heard of before that is contained in carbohydrates. It’s called, for short, G3P… which stands for, if your eyes don’t glaze over… glycerol-3 phosphate.
Before I give you the important quote, know this about G3P:
It’s made from carbohydrates
It’s only in carbohydrates
Here’s the Food Pyramid shattering quote: “Only if G3P from eating carbohydrates is abundant will any of the fat you eat convert to body fat.”The problem is the carbohydrates
All those carbs the US Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid has been recommending you eat is the primary cause of the fat on your body.
