Take a walk with me down memory lane. Then you will understand why most consumers have absolutely no idea what they should be eating.
If you remember the Basic 7, you are telling on your age. It was introduced in 1943 by the USDA in response to World War 2 food rationing.
Essentially, these food groups were provided as a guideline for Americans to make healthy food choices during a time of food scarcity. The basic 7 included recommendations to include “fortified” margarine, evaporated and dried milk, along with “enriched” grains, and anything else you wanted to eat.
Consumers complained that this system was too complex. Trying to make sure you ate from all the Basic 7 every day was just too challenging.
The government aims to please. So, in 1956, they simplified things for the consumers who found the Basic 7 just too complex.
Welcome the Basic 4. This dumbed-down food plan remained in place for the perplexed consumers until 1992.
Now, all the confused consumer had to do was eat from each food group every day in order to receive a healthy and balanced diet. The Basic 4 did stress whole food eating as much as possible, rather than processed foods, due to the higher nutritional value.
Eating a variety of foods from each group every day was the key to healthy eating and achieving a balanced diet. Or so they thought…
Problem was, how much from each group was the right amount? Could the consumer just wing it and hope for the best?
Of course not. Gov to the rescue once again.
In 1992, the USDA ushered in the Food Pyramid to guide the lost sheep.
Easy peazy guidelines for the consumer who just couldn’t figure out how much was enough. Now the Basic 4 was essentially the Food Pyramid reconfigured that clearly laid how how many servings of each food group was required every day.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get really confused…
Actually, the Food Pyramid originated in Sweden in 1974. Then, the USDA adopted it in 1992 to simplify matters.
All you had to do was eat the correct amount of servings from each group every day. If you followed their recommendations, optimal health could be yours.
As you can see, grains were the most important food group with a whopping 6-11 servings daily. Next most important were fruits and vegetables. Finally, proteins and fats were recommended in moderation.
Simple enough, right?
Apparently not. In 2005, our helpful USDA revised the old pyramid to My Pyramid.
Out with number of servings and in with color coding. No more serving size confusion, now all you had to do was follow along according to the colors.
Fortunately, this new, mind-boggling version of the pyramid only lasted 6 years. Long enough to make sure no one had a clue what to eat, nor how much.
Thankfully, the USDA once again came to the rescue for those of us who just couldn’t connect with the pyramid. In 2011, they introduced My Plate.
Since this was a plate-shaped icon that recommended the food groups, everyone would be crystal clear on what they should be eating, right?
My Plate was designed to reverse the obesity trend. Just follow the visual guide of serving sizes, drink your glass of milk with every meal, and you are golden.
Never mind that you might bloat like the Goodyear blimp from eating all those fruits at the same time as your grains, veggies and proteins, but proper food combining is another blog.
Even though My Plate is our current model of healthy eating, something tells me the USDA ain’t done yet. I wonder where bugs, lab grown meats and synthetic foods will fit in?
Stay tuned…
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