I remember years ago tnh saying 'of course the food pyramid is scientific -- it's just that the science is *economics*.' And the scales were lifted from my eyes.
I *still* see it, for all I know that I feel better if I eat fewer carbs (more fat and protein) and make as large a proportion of my carbs as possible whole grains.
while the car culture and the megagulp bucket have more to do with it, I am seeing a lot of studies pointing out the food pyramid not fitting the science - and what people actually eat even less. the egg thing is screamingly funny; the study fed dried egg powder to those known egg eaters, rabbits - and was sponsored by the joint council for putting milk on your cereal for breakfast instead of having an egg.
I've no issue with the food pyramid being wrong because I don't actually believe for a split second that anybody actually really pays any attention to it.
I think the development of cereal as a cultural item, not to mention the adoption of High Fructose Corn syrup in EVERYTHING, has less to do with the government food pyramid and a lot more to do with fantastic marketing groups wanting to sell a product.
Although the real culprit is probably "size creep" on American Food portions. 40 years ago, a McDonalds burger was considered a meal - that's the small old style burger, which even with a standard portion of fries is still coming in around 500 calories, compared to a McAngus Third Pounder which runs at 700+ just for the burger. People just don't notice that stuff.
Plus the exercise thing.
Rand is also very anti the concept of food calories - exercise = total energy in equation, and while it's not that simple when it comes to feeling hungry (lots more chemistry at work), it really is that simple if you want to lose weight.
It's been easier to lose weight since I started keeping a food diary on my phone and tracking everything. If I have a bad week, weight doesn't change or goes up. If I stick to targets for a couple of weeks, it goes down. The biggest change it's involved has been weighing and measuring food because it's really easy to over eat and not notice. Especially with carbs.
have you come across the hacker's diet? nicely engineering approach to the figures. all the diet studies show you can lose weight on low fat or low carb, the main difference is the good cholesterol impact (more from low carb, less from low fat) and the key is tracking.
but there's a whole mix of other things around white fat/brown fat, impact of gluten proteins and some complex things I think we have no idea about, but carb doesn't seem to be the safe filling option the pyramid makes people think (especially when it's low GI carb). Plus butter is better than margarine. anything that comes out of a plant or animal is better than the version that comes out of the factory ;-)
For us, main changes have been adding more meat, bringing butter back into the diet - hell a tablespoon is a lot and only 100 kC, not to mention using real cream in sauces, AND measuring pasta, rice, potato portions.
A serving of pasta is only 60g... it might not look much but it works.
Oh, and trying to work through hunger pangs with water and/nuts.
Whether or not the food pyramid is wrong, I "love" Rand's approach. "The Government is wrong - abolish government!" is like saying "the plane crashed - ban flying!"
Well, I think the food pyramid is wrong(ish) myself, but I do like Rand complaining that government doesn't work, while suggesting that the one thing that has worked beyond all doubt is the food pyramid...
I think the Libertarian argument is always 'government doesn't work except for the things it does that I don't like'; it might be more 'government only works by accident' which is probably kind of true ;-)
When I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes a few years ago, I started using their "exchanges" system, although I'm not religious about counting them. Since I test my blood sugar regularly (twice a day), I get feedback on what I'm doing right and wrong. My A1c levels (long term control) have been in the non-diabetic range now for years. Now if I could just discipline myself a little better, I could lose even more weight and the diabetes symptoms would probably disappear entirely.
(I'm not taking medication for the diabetes; diet and exercise is controlling it. But if I eat something full of sugar, I have to go exercise to counteract it. That's one reason I've taken to walking so much.)
My A1c levels have always been normal, but my fasting glucose level rocks all over the place from high (110) to normal (78), then I've had a few non-fasting tests of 108ish... just to annoy my Doctor.
That said, I'd just let the weight creep on over the years of business travel and enough was enough, so I have been trying to watch what I eat and exercise more with some weeks being better than others, I've been losing a fairly constant 0.5-1lb a week for the last year or so, with a couple of work related hiccups, which now has me a solid 40lbs down from my peak. Sadly, that's halfway to where I want to be.
Although my goal is actually a certain waist size, rather than an actual weight itself - I want to be able to take a 38" jean and a 40" suit which was my norm for about 10 years. If I make that, I know I'm balancing food and exercise well. Of course, the last time I was at those sizes that dang BMI thing said I was Obese... my doctor did a spit take on that too and told me to ignore it.
Oh so this is the guy people keep going on about? Yes he is nuts, isn't he. When I got the new phone I took pictures of everything I ate for a week as a sort of visual food diary. The current strategy is constantly reminding myself that 1 teacake is 3 December on my race time....:/
Rand has been nuts since I first came across him on newsgroups in the mid-90s :)
But the food/drink diary stuff is really helping. I'm so into the app I've been using I'm tempted by an iPhone 4 just to be able to keep using it. It's a good handbrake on snacking and it has common restaurants covered so I can terrify myself before eating.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 11:44 am (UTC)I *still* see it, for all I know that I feel better if I eat fewer carbs (more fat and protein) and make as large a proportion of my carbs as possible whole grains.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 11:56 am (UTC)http://thehealthyskeptic.org/heartdisease is an interesting resource that's quite good on the science
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 02:03 pm (UTC)I think the development of cereal as a cultural item, not to mention the adoption of High Fructose Corn syrup in EVERYTHING, has less to do with the government food pyramid and a lot more to do with fantastic marketing groups wanting to sell a product.
Although the real culprit is probably "size creep" on American Food portions. 40 years ago, a McDonalds burger was considered a meal - that's the small old style burger, which even with a standard portion of fries is still coming in around 500 calories, compared to a McAngus Third Pounder which runs at 700+ just for the burger. People just don't notice that stuff.
Plus the exercise thing.
Rand is also very anti the concept of food calories - exercise = total energy in equation, and while it's not that simple when it comes to feeling hungry (lots more chemistry at work), it really is that simple if you want to lose weight.
It's been easier to lose weight since I started keeping a food diary on my phone and tracking everything. If I have a bad week, weight doesn't change or goes up. If I stick to targets for a couple of weeks, it goes down. The biggest change it's involved has been weighing and measuring food because it's really easy to over eat and not notice. Especially with carbs.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 02:32 pm (UTC)but there's a whole mix of other things around white fat/brown fat, impact of gluten proteins and some complex things I think we have no idea about, but carb doesn't seem to be the safe filling option the pyramid makes people think (especially when it's low GI carb). Plus butter is better than margarine. anything that comes out of a plant or animal is better than the version that comes out of the factory ;-)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 03:15 pm (UTC)A serving of pasta is only 60g... it might not look much but it works.
Oh, and trying to work through hunger pangs with water and/nuts.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 01:56 pm (UTC)Er....
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 03:57 pm (UTC)(I'm not taking medication for the diabetes; diet and exercise is controlling it. But if I eat something full of sugar, I have to go exercise to counteract it. That's one reason I've taken to walking so much.)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 05:20 pm (UTC)That said, I'd just let the weight creep on over the years of business travel and enough was enough, so I have been trying to watch what I eat and exercise more with some weeks being better than others, I've been losing a fairly constant 0.5-1lb a week for the last year or so, with a couple of work related hiccups, which now has me a solid 40lbs down from my peak. Sadly, that's halfway to where I want to be.
Although my goal is actually a certain waist size, rather than an actual weight itself - I want to be able to take a 38" jean and a 40" suit which was my norm for about 10 years. If I make that, I know I'm balancing food and exercise well. Of course, the last time I was at those sizes that dang BMI thing said I was Obese... my doctor did a spit take on that too and told me to ignore it.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 05:54 pm (UTC)When I got the new phone I took pictures of everything I ate for a week as a sort of visual food diary. The current strategy is constantly reminding myself that 1 teacake is 3 December on my race time....:/
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 06:45 pm (UTC)But the food/drink diary stuff is really helping. I'm so into the app I've been using I'm tempted by an iPhone 4 just to be able to keep using it. It's a good handbrake on snacking and it has common restaurants covered so I can terrify myself before eating.