The government recently tried to create a torrential storm of change in the world of diet and nutrition. Instead, their efforts felt more like a drizzle. 
If you missed it, the archaic Food Pyramid was finally removed as the crux of the American eating strategy (although it happened years ago, unofficially) and replaced with My Plate—a new circular-shaped guideline for dietary habits. And despite stealing the name of LIVESTRONG.COM’S popular eating tool (yes, we coined MyPlate first…but imitation is the greatest form of flattery), and having the best intentions, the new government guidelines leave me with more questions than answers. While I will admit this is a step in the right direction, and I applaud the efforts, we should expect more. And after talking to multiple nutritionists, I discovered that I'm not alone in my disappointment. Consider the following flaws of the new guidelines:
1) It’s Confusing
I’m not saying that the new My Plate is the Rubik’s cube of eating, but it’s close. The biggest problem that most people have with their diet is portion control. And yet, the new guidelines provide a pie chart that offers a hefty serving of ambiguity. Sure, you see that fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein should make up the bulk of your eating (and wash it down with a small glass of dairy...that's what the picture shows, right?). But how much fruit? How many vegetables? And what grains? We act like foods only come in one variety per category, when the reality is that most people aren’t informed enough to know good grains from bad grains. And they certainly struggle with portion size. So if this plate is based on the American supersized version, then the changes will be superficial. After all, it doesn’t matter how well you’re eating if you're overeating. And wasn't that the biggest problem in the first place?
Let’s dig a little deeper. If you look at the plate from a meal-by-meal basis (which it appears is the intention), it’s IMPOSSIBLE to know exactly what you should be eating and how much. That should be the goal: Make it easy to know what to eat. Enable people so they can accomplish their goals. In that respect, the new guidelines have failed. Meaning that no matter how much “balance” the plate shows, the average American is still guessing what to eat and the portion sizes. This is a bad thing.
2) It Makes Fat Look Bad
The new guidelines are not developed for the average American. Most American’s don’t view foods in terms of categories. They look at macronurtrients: Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Think about it: When you analyze a food label (if you analyze it, that is), do you look at the ingredient profile? Probably not. You're more likely to analyze the total number of calories and how many grams of protein, carbs, and fats are in each food. Most people do this because they don’t inherently know what food sources possess certain nutrient qualities. To them, food is food and the nutrition label is their guide.
Therein lays the problem with the new My Plate image. Unless you go online to the government site and click on the specific sections for more details, the graph itself doesn’t tell you much about what to eat, which is what American’s need. Not to mention, by grouping into food categories, it makes it seem like fats are bad. Without any context, fats are not listed anywhere on the guidelines, which is a regression back to the low-fat craze of the 80s and 90s. While I’m sure this was not the intention of the government, just looking at the categories makes it seem that fat should not be a part of your eating plan. This runs contrary to numerous research studies which have discovered that high fat diets help you melt your gut and ward off diseases. In fact, research from the University of Connecticut found that a diet as high as 60 to 70 percent of fat led to more fat loss than a diet that consists of only 20 percent fat.
So don’t forget, while it’s not inherently listed on the chart, healthy fats such as nuts, oils, avocados, seeds and fatty fish are still good for you and should be included in your daily diet.
3) It’s Designed for Weight Gain
I don’t believe in setting a standard for what people should look like. Everyone has different goals and expectations for their ideal body. And if a background in psychology has taught me anything, it’s that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. With that said, we—as a nation—are overweight. There’s no debate about it. Most of the population could stand to lose a few pounds. And that has nothing to do with building six-pack abs, having long and lean legs, or building bulging biceps (all are great goals, though, if that’s what you want). But the current guidelines seemed skewed in a way that will make you MORE likely to gain weight.
Let me explain. The grain group still takes up the largest single portion of foods within the new diet guidelines. According to nutritionist Alan Aragon, M.S., creator of the Alan Aragon Research Review, the new My Plate guidelines offers up to a 50 percent allowance for refined grains. While grains are not “bad,” an overreliance on processed foods is one of the primary reasons America is currently waging an ongoing battle of the bulge.
What’s more, we are already a society that is overly reliant on carbohydrates. This is a direct correlation to our carb-heavy diet, and the insulin problems that have led to an onslaught of type-2 diabetes and excessive weight gain. You see, insulin is a complex hormone in your body. When it’s raised at the wrong times, you won’t be happy with what it does to the appearance of your body. This hormone can slow down your ability to incinerate fat, and it ramps up your body’s ability to store fat. Bottom line: If you’re eating an excess of processed carbohydrates day-after-day, in the most simple sense, those carbs will be broken down into sugar that the can end up storing as fat. The fatter you become, the less you exercise, and the more you risk suffering from obesity and diseases like Type 2 diabetes. In other words, it’s a perpetual cycle that starts with an over-reliance on processed carbohydrates, which includes grains.
This does not mean that carbs are bad. They are an essential part of your diet and should be consumed. But they should not be the bulk of your diet, and the majority of your daily carbohydrates should come from non-processed sources, such as fibrous vegetables (think broccoli, spinach, kale and most greens) or from fruit (although in more limited amounts).
4) It Downplays A Vital Component
When I look at the new My Plate guidelines, I’m shocked by the small proportion of protein. The protein allotment offers less than half of the dietary protein that’s considered optimal for active male adults, says Aragon, and it's low for females, as well. And while other food groups contribute some protein, it’s not enough to make up the difference and optimize the demands of physical active individuals and dieters.
That’s not to say that everyone needs to go on a super high protein diet. But the truth is, protein is a satiating component of any eating plan that will not only help you eat less, but it is also activate your metabolism. Quite simply, eating protein helps you burn more calories and lose more fat—without ever stepping in the gym. That’s because your body has to work to break down protein, and that process burns calories. What’s more, protein is also involved in building lean muscle (that fights against your body’s desire to build fat) and it can help prevent a laundry list of diseases that you’d rather not have.
As a general rule of thumb, many nutritionists suggest that you should shoot for anywhere between .7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight. (so if you weigh 200 pounds, but want to drop down to 180, you should aim for roughly 180 grams of protein, per day). Women will tend to be on the lower end, and men on the higher end. Use this as a guideline, and while the protein may seem like a lot, this type of diet will leave you less hungry to desire the other foods that have fewer nutritional benefits and pack on unwanted pounds.
- Adam Bornstein
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