Aug 01 2010
Big fat disconnect
Pre-Ramble: This just in – the hard-working folks on the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion’s advisory panel have completed another round of musical chairs on the deck of the Titanic – they’ve come up with new recommendations for the revered Food Pyramid (not their version at right).
The USDA began its nutritional education campaign over 100 years ago, providing general info on food composition and dietary standards. In 1992, the iconic Food Pyramid was unveiled, delineating various foods into groups and indicating the relative amounts of them that should be consumed by the American consumer. Apparently, the committee gets together every so often ”to review the latest science and state of the American diet” and make any needed adjustments. According to the USDA website:
“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are the cornerstone of Federal nutrition policy and nutrition education activities. The Dietary Guidelines are jointly issued and updated every 5 years by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS). They provide authoritative advice for people two years and older about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines remain the current guidance until the 2010 Dietary Guidelines are published.”
A sneak preview of this latest round of tweaks includes reducing daily sodium intake from 2,300 mg to 1,500 mg; reducing the percentage of saturated fat in the diet from 10% to 7%; “drastic” reductions in foods with added sugars; and, “avoidance of artificial trans fats altogether.” The panel’s recommendations also continue to endorse nutritional darlings vitamin D, calcium, potassium, and our good friend dietary fiber.
It isn’t that they aren’t trying … I’m sure the USDA wants to foster the best of the best nutritional practices out there so we can all live healthy, happy lives. In this technologically enhanced era of fan pages and crowd-sourcing, Dr. Robert Post, deputy director of the UDSA Center, assures us that in their high level nutritional discourse, all comments made by public citizens are taken into consideration, along with scientific reviews “and lively debate within the committee’s meetings.” Great effort around public engagement, guys!
Seriously, though … What new information can that discussion have possibly uncovered that I can’t see jiggling up and down the aisles at my neighborhood Super Target? Has anyone at the USDA been to Disneyworld? Do they know that people at the Minnesota State Fair are carrying around chocolate-covered bacon on a stick? Show of hands — who thinks there’s a huge gap between public health policy and real-world practice? … It doesn’t take a super-sized bucket of science to see that the state of the American diet is in dire need of adjustment.
No news here - the Food Pyramid is not pulling its weight in the battle of the bulge. The nice people at the USDA can change the direction of the stripes from horizontal to a more slimming vertical; … put the latest nutritional trends out there on a happenin’ new website (mypyramid.gov); … they can even recommend that the entire pyramid endorse leafy greens … or reduced fat Triscuits, … or PURE LARD! It wouldn’t make a lick of difference.
The Take-Away: I think I’m speaking for more than myself when I suggest that despite our best efforts (ok, maybe we’re not even trying), the average American Joe is not up to the task of understanding, calculating and strategizing around every little morsel that we put in our mouths. We don’t know (and/or don’t care) how many milligrams of salt can dance on the tip of a curly fry. We don’t know how much 10% of our daily intake of anything is, so ratcheting that down to 7% should be no problem.
We just want to eat stuff and not get too fat or dead. Can we fit that solution set somewhere on the Pyramid?
Touches a nerve with me too, K! And schools think putting posters of the Food Pyramid up is the way to get kids to eat differently (have you seen how ugly–and uninviting, and overwhelming– those things are?) I agree, there’s a disconnect between what the “rule setters” want and what the general public wants. Happens all the time in communication–the Communicator wants to get the message out, but assumes the Communicatee cares about the same thing they do–so they basically communicate to themselves. (They also take a “more is more” approach, because they think if they include everything they want them to know–THAT will make it successful.) And when the communication is to kids, they just “dumb it down” with “fun characters” (hmmm, like the ones on sugary cereals or video games?) or make it BRIGHT and COLORFUL (“wacky” typefaces seem to go hand in hand with this approach) or include lots of photos of “real kids” who are totally BLISSED OUT about this info. (Another phrase for this kind of “solution” is “polishing a turd”–it’s still a…you know.) Makes me nuts. What I believe IS helpful is educating kids about where food actually comes from–through activities like gardening and field trips (to farms and kitchens), written and appealing visual info, education about label reading, opportunities to cook, etc. And from there, keep the message simple: real food is healthier than processed food (and you need to know the difference). Easy for me to say, huh? Well, I’m still working on ways I can contribute to food/nutrition/physical activity encouragement that is appealing and substantive (rather than wrapping a “top down” or authority-driven overwhelming initiative in a “fun” wrapper). Also, fyi, there is an organization called Let’s Move that Michelle Obama is the main spokesperson for, and they’re working on this. It’s still seems rather “policy” heavy, but they are getting out in communities and schools and trying to encourage and publicize actions that are being taken.
Will the new food recommendation look like a pyramid? How could it after you reduce fat, carbs, red meat, salt and sugar? It may lool like a square.