Who Would Have Thought?
The USDA & the Dept. of Health and Human Services just released a new, updated set of dietary guidelines. Except that they aren’t new, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for – say – the last 20 years. Seriously: the recommendations are things like:
- Eat fewer calories.
- Exercise more.
- Cut back on sodium.
- Eat less sugar, saturated fat/solid fat and refined grains.
- Eat more veggies, fruits, whole grains, low fat dairy products and lean protein sources.
Well, duuuuuh, right? But the New York Times sez it’s major progress! Why?
While the recommendations may seem obvious, it is nonetheless considered major progress for federal regulators, who have long skirted the issue, wary of the powerful food lobby. (The 112-page report even subtly suggests that people eat less pizza and dessert.)
Previous guidelines urged Americans to curb sugar, solid fats and salt, but avoided naming specific foods, let alone urging consumers to eat less food over all.
“For them to have said ‘eat less’ is really new. Who would have thought?” said Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We should have been saying ‘eat less’ for a decade.”
Sigh…
I knew that USDA recommendations were heavily politicized, but seriously… if this account is true, then the agency is even more spineless than I previously realized. “Who would have thought?” indeed.
January 31, 2011
Who Would Have Thought? – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2011/0…
February 1, 2011
Wow!!! Those are all such novel concepts. I can’t believe I did’nt think of that all by myself.
Let’s see, eat less, exercise more, less salt, less sugar and more veggies. I’m sure glad they laid that all out for me….finally.
February 1, 2011
FWIW, the recommendations are sensible enough, but are so basic as to be useless. While I suppose it’s good to have this stuff on the record (particularly if it wasn’t clear before), the fanfare is pretty damn silly.