Eat a mostly healthy diet, most of the time

[sakibkhan22197]

In the end, here are the major takeaways from the new guidelines:

Limit sugar, saturated fat, and sodium intake
Shift to healthier food and beverage choices
Eat a variety of foods/nutrients within your daily calorie limit
Eat nutrient-dense food that you like
Support healthy eating patterns everywhere (at school, at home, while traveling, etc.)
Eat a variety of vegetables and whole fruits (limit items like apple juice, even when it’s natural and organic, since it’s high in sugar and has no fiber)
Consume fat free or low fat diary (milk, yogurt, cheese, soy)
Consume a variety of proteins (seafood, lean meats, legumes like beans and peas, nuts, soy)
Enjoy healthy fats in moderation (this is a new recommendation!)
Limit processed meats
She showed this nice comparison of how the recommendations have changed list to data over the years, and said that even though we’ve recommended one thing for a long time, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question the evidence and change our minds to recommend something else as new data becomes available.

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The guidelines received criticism for a number of things, including that they were too vague (a lot of specific targets were eliminated due to a lack of scientific evidence proving them to be beneficial) and that they didn’t do a good enough job addressing controversial topics like low fat vs. high fat dairy products and processed meats leading to cancer. Many of the other sessions that I attended referenced the new guidelines, and pointed out that they are common sense and don’t offer advice specific enough to help people much. Then again, they are just guidelines and should be treated as such.

One thing I thought was really interesting was the topic of lobbying in relation to these new guidelines. A lot of criticizers said that food companies lobbied the government to change the guidelines in one way or another. This has always made sense to me, especially when I think about the old food pyramid that had grains on the bottom and was put together by the USDA, the government agency responsible for promoting agriculture for crying out loud. That was something that always bugged me, so I could see how this could be a relevant concern. While the speaker said that was untrue and that no company could have that much power, she did admit it’s a bit of a problem.