I saw this food pyramid plenty of times growing up, did you? And now we are finding out that a diet high in cheap cereals and pastas probably isn't the healthiest way to go. For one, these types of products will commonly promote inflammation in the body and in excess can move the bodies metabolism in the wrong direction (say many food and health experts). So why were we taught that this was the best way to design our food plans and meals? It wasn't.
Before the food pyramid that most of us know, it was the Basic 7 that was introduced back around the early 40s.
After both of those failed models, we had the revamped MyPyramid model which came out around 2005. As you can notice with the updated MyPyramid though, cheap grains and cereals are still a major staple in the diet. Followed by vegetables, fruits, dairy, and meats.
And now we have the MyPlate food plate model.. circa 2011, and it represents recommendations related to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It promotes a lot of "fat-free" choices. It also suggests filling at least half of your plate with vegetables and focusing on five main food groups.
But does anyone actually follow these guidelines?
Many people who follow these guides will often see cheap carbs as a great idea to have in their meals so they will load up on all of the “low-fat” chips and sugar-filled snacks because they view those carbs in a positive light. They'll wonder why they aren't losing their desired weight or getting any healthier and it could possibly be because they are loading up on food items that aren't good choices regardless of their "natural" and "fat-free" promises. The new model promotes a meal plan which is more balanced rather than saturated with one type of food category. But again,
who really follows these guidelines?
sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/food-pyramid-usda_n_870375.html
https://fineartfood.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/the-lie-of-the-food-pyramid/
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/75/5/951.2.full
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/437002-the-effects-of-eating-too-many-carbs/
this post isn't health advice so please don't take it as such, I don't endorse or recommend any specific diet or food plan for therapeutic purposes.