- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 2
- 10
-
Sparkle (0)
Today the government has issued new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, something they do every five years (which is why the banner behind Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in the picture reads "2010"). With obesity (and the deadly medical conditions associated with it) at a critical level in this country, they are guidelines that we can’t afford to ignore.
These new guidelines not only address the need to reduce our intake of unhealthy foods (such as high amounts of sodium, saturated fat, and sugar), but they go a step further, and suggest that Americans must begin to eat less. Eating less may seem like an obvious suggestion, but most Americans have become a custom to extremely large serving sizes (even super-sizing).
But let’s talk about the specifics -- this is from the Executive Summary of the New Dietary Guidelines.
Here are the suggestions for foods we should be trying to eat more of:
- Increase vegetable and fruit intake.
- Eat a variety of vegetables, especially dark-green and red and orange vegetables and beans and peas.
- Consume at least half of all grains as whole grains. Increase whole-grain intake by replacing refined grains with whole grains.
- Increase intake of fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, or fortified soy beverages.
- Choose a variety of protein foods, which include seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds.
- Increase the amount and variety of seafood consumed by choosing seafood in place of some meat and poultry.
- Replace protein foods that are higher in solid fats with choices that are lower in solid fats and calories and/or are sources of oils.
- Use oils to replace solid fats where possible.
- Choose foods that provide more potassium, dietary fiber, calcium, and vitamin D, which are nutrients of concern in American diets. These foods include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and milk and milk products.
Here are the suggestions for foods we should be trying to eat less of:
- Reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and further reduce intake to 1,500 mg among persons who are 51 and older and those of any age who are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. The 1,500 mg recommendation applies to about half of the U.S. population, including children, and the majority of adults.
- Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids by replacing them with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
- Consume less than 300 mg per day of dietary cholesterol.
- Keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible by limiting foods that contain synthetic sources of trans fats, such as partially hydrogenated oils, and by limiting other solid fats.
- Reduce the intake of calories from solid fats and added sugars.
- Limit the consumption of foods that contain refined grains, especially refined grain foods that contain solid fats, added sugars, and sodium.
- If alcohol is consumed, it should be consumed in moderation—up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men—and only by adults of legal drinking age.
As important as I believe these new guidelines are, I am disappointed by the lack of acknowledgment about why most Americans make unhealthy food choices in the first place. The bottom line is, healthy foods are generally more expensive than unhealthy foods, and the super-unhealthy foods are downright cheap.
In a time when so many Americans are struggling financially, it’s unrealistic to assume that the reason people are making unhealthy food choices is because they just don’t know any better. I hope the reason money wasn’t addressed isn’t because the USDA believes that even people who can only afford to eat junk food, are covered by their “eat less” guideline (as in a post I wrote about Twinkies a few months ago).
From the New York Times –- Latest Dietary Guidelines
