Seems to me hardly anyone follows their advise. Last I checked high fat & sugar junk like fast food, pizza, potato chips, ice cream, bakery, and soda etc aren’t recommended and those foods seem to be the real problem foods leading to excess calorie intake in America from what I see.
Theres a slight conflict of interest that the US Department of Agriculture, which was made to support farmers and food productions, is responsible for putting out health guidelines on what foods and how much to include in a “healthy” diet.
You know what US farmers grow a lot of, soy, corn, wheat. Not that these aren’t healthy in moderation but they’re used heavily in cheap processed foods. How is a department that is supposed to support and regulate the industry that grows theses crops, tell people that most of the products these crops produce (soy emulsifiers, high fructose corn syrup, and cheap bread products- all found in cheap processed foods made by huge corporations) should not really be part of a healthy diet.
That’s why I see people blaming the usda. These cheap processed food that use a lot of crop derived ingredients, are eaten everyday by the majority of Americans. I agree that peoples own choice of foods, lifestyle and education play a huge part in their diet, but there’s no education besides the guidelines. It is changing a little with the my plate model, and people are also able to educate themselves a little more now with the internet. But honestly public health departments and nutrition and other health professionals should be setting the guidelines, not the department of government responsible for the production of crops that corporations use to create food products
Americans eating habits are a learned trait - starting from early childhood. The USDA has a massive influence teaching our children how to eat by things like school lunches and even the food stamp program or WIC, all the the way through to farm subsidies. These systems influence our eating habits as a society far more than we care to admit. Government nutritional guidelines form the basis of what foods are available in our stores, at what quantity and what price point. Sure, as adults we should be able to make better food choices, but we shouldn’t have to be unlearning poor nutrition due to a government system that puts company profits above the welfare of its citizens
I’m a registered dietitian with a PhD in nutritional science and three years postdoctoral training in clinical nutrition.
Blaming the DGAs for American obesity actually doesn’t make any sense as people in the United States don’t follow them. The truth of the matter is actually the combination of the post WWII expansion of ultra-processed foods, the marketing campaign that told us that ultra-processed foods were cool, delicious, time saving, and nutritious, and the fact that these foods are loaded with substances that are physiologically and psychologically addicting.
Something like 25-35% of people in the U.S. follow the DGAs compared to something like 70-80% of people consume ultra-processed food each day. Also add in that a large portion of jobs have shifted away from labor towards desk jobs and you have the perfect equation for an obesity epidemic.
Edit: to the downvoters, sorry this better explanation doesn’t fit your personal narrative.
Who’s blaming the USDA for obesity?
As to why, well there are a few things worth calling out against it like cereals.
Also people like to have a “big bad guy” to blame for things instead of personal decisions.
Pizza does have bread, cheese, tomatoes (maybe other veggies), and meats (if you want) so totally follows the food pyramid if you wanna get technical. Aside from the greasy ones, you’d think pizza is one of the healthiest things you could eat according to the pyramid just from looking at it.
Seriously tho, I remember a doctor, at least they told us it was a doctor, visited my grade school class to teach us about healthy eating then for some reason proceeded to show us how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich. I specifically remember him really emphasizing that butter is healthy in moderation because when I got older I always thought to myself “what seven year old knows how the hell to practice moderation?”
>Last I checked high fat & sugar junk like fast food, pizza, potato chips, ice cream, bakery, and soda etc aren’t recommended and those foods seem to be the real problem foods leading to excess calorie intake in America from what I see.
This.
Blaming “government recommendations” seems too much like a scapegoat.
Because after the low fat recommendations came out, obesity and diabetes rates exploded. Data shows that American really did conform to those guidelines to a significant extent and it completely backfired on them. Despite the evidence that the recommendations are hurting people, the recommendations don’t change.
Country/Government level dietary guidelines aren’t designed for optimal health, they are designed for health of a population. They are based on economics, domestic food production, distribution, and import capabilities. That’s why they were assigned to the USDA in the first place and why the backbone of the guidelines are based on cheap, easy to grow crops that we have surpluses of like wheat, soy, and corn.
It’s not even a conspiracy theory or anything - every guideline in the world follows this same concept. The main goal of the guidelines is to ensure there is enough food for everyone at every financial tier and so no one is starving or malnourished. They are not designed for optimal health or performance. No pro athlete follows the food pyramid/plate garbage. It’s why there are so many alternative diet plans out there - people who want to thrive for more can do so. But no country in the world can afford to recommend an optimal diet … can you imagine if the USDA came out with “eat grass-fed beef and avoid grains and vegetable/seed oils”?
I grew up in the 1970s, and we had most of the junk food that are currently available, and fat people were rare. The government advice was based on the 4/5/9 different food groups.
If you go back and look at historical pictures from the 1950/1960s, you’ll see lots of thin people.
Somehow they managed to stay thin on a diet with quite a bit of fat in it.
Then the government told people to eat less fat and more carbs, and the more carbs stuff was the problematic part. You can look at the obesity charts over the years and there is a definite change right when the guidelines came out. Americans have just gotten fatter and more metabolically sick year after year since then.
Which is not surprising, as the high carb diet makes many people insulin resistant.
Everything is connected.
If you tell people eating bread should be an essential part of your diet and then said bread not only isn’t needed but it made to be unhealthy as possible to taste good. Well people will eat lots with feeling less guilty.
And don’t get me started on how easily false info gets passed around and inflated over time so people can justify what they do.
It’s corrupt and dishonest, if you look at most countries (Canada especially) nutritional guidelines it’s definitely trending towards a vegetable focus diet however the dairy industry has the USDA by the balls so they’ll never even try to imply that their products are completely unhealthy. I’m not vegan or anything like that but if you really look into the nutrition of what dairy/red meat is like for you it’s definitely clear these products have strong associations with common diseases.
I’d also like to point out that nutritional fats are not at all the issue as much as the sheer amount of sugar we have put in everything. Fat is actually necessary to live whereas sugar is not. It’s insane that like 70% of common grocery items have sugar added to them just to increase addiction rate to their products.
You make a good point. People enjoying being contrarian. I think that’s the answer. While it’s true that some of the guidelines might not be optimal, if someone actually followed the guidelines, how would they be obese?
If you REALLY want to extrapolate a solution, aaaaallll the way back, consider that fresh produce is much more expensive than processed food, and the more urban a person’s habitat, the more premium the price for fresh food, in most cases. So out here in the netherland, one would have a home on a few acres, gardens, some have chickens, some raise animals, some have ponds full of bluegill, bass, most share produce and sometimes labor with each other when Nature is most bountiful. We work diligently at growing and preserving this food, caring for each other, and have the best of all worlds. That would be better for everyone. Crowded into cities, control of populations is easier…..out here, if you can find us, we are eating well and living well. I know where my food has been and whats not been added to it. Working in a garden gives great exercise.I WISH IT ALL FOR EVERYONE.
Because they don’t realize what really causes obesity. It’s not just about the food. It’s about your electromagnetic environment. Indoors off the earth, under bad lighting and nnEMF all day long. You’re mitochondria hate you and you will lose electrons like crazy causing you to be fat at the very least.
I disagree. There are additives not listed on the products we buy that are harmful to our bodies. Unbeknownst to the consumer, these products contribute to an increase in weight gain and other autoimmune disorders. Just because you purchase a healthy product doesn’t mean you’re getting what you paid for. Our meats normally consist of some type of food coloring, plumping solution and possibly glue specifically, steak. Our bodies can not digest these things so it stores it as fat. Many food additives used in the US are banned in other countries.