What’s Wrong With The Food Pyramid And How To Fix It

Reading time: ~ 5 minutes

We live in a world in which whole grains are glorified “super foods” and animal products/ meats are demonized as cancer and heart failure causing foods. This so called “balanced diet” that we’ve been lead to believed to be good for us, is actually a high carbohydrate and low nutrient -eating program that isn’t the answer to reaching optimal health and performance.

This is the food pyramid recommended by the USDA from 2005.

                                                 As one can tell, grains and wheat products should be the staple of our diet (~6-11 servings per day) if we were to follow the food pyramids recommendation.

There are many problems that pop up if we do this. For one, grains (and other foods listed in that section, see picture above) are comparatively low in nutrition and high in carbohydrates. On top of that almost all of them contain the protein gluten, which is known to cause issues in a lot of people. Although grains can be part of a healthy diet (especially if you’re working out) they should only be seen as an icing on the cake, not a substantial part of your diet.

 Foods that have a high nutrient per calorie ratio are the ones we want to be eating a lot of. I’d put non-starchy vegetables such as kale, spinach, bell peppers etc. on that list, but also foods that are not quite as popular amongst the mainstream media, e.g. egg yolks and humanely raised meats. These are foods that are all loaded with vitamins and minerals, whilst some also contain a good amount of essential amino and fatty acids. The egg yolks and certain meats are important; they do not form the majority of what’s on your plate however. This is where the non-starchy vegetables come into play.

Food Pyramid Switch #1: Replace the grains that form the baseline of the typical food pyramid with non-starchy vegetables. How does this change your diet? You’re now eating vegetables with the majority of your meals, which means you’re eating around 7-11 servings of non-starchy veggies a day. This ensures that your body has plenty of Vitamins, Minerals and Fiber. You’ll feel an increase in energy and recovery, decrease in body fat and improved digestion amongst many other benefits.

Food Pyramid Switch #2: The second adjustment we’re going to make is to put protein sources where the veggies used to be. “Protein sources” is a very broad term, as it is made up of meat, eggs, low sugar dairy, plant proteins and more. When it comes to meat and animal products, quality is extremely important. If you can’t buy high quality meat, make sure to eat the leanest cuts of the animal. Vice versa, if you can get a hold of free range, grass fed etc. meat, than go for fatty cuts. This has to do with the omega 3 to omega 6 ratio but also toxin storages. Animals that are treated poorly usually have more toxins in their body, and those toxins are stored in their fat.

Back to the point: protein plays an essential role in building and regenerating tissue and it’s also a thermogenesis inducing macronutrient. This means that protein increases the energy expenditure of your body and therefor can be seen as a weight loss tool.

Food Pyramid Switch #3.1: The third most important food group of your diet should be a combination of fruit, starchy vegetables and pseudo grains such as quinoa and rice. These foods should be consumed thoughtfully, as they contain a decent amount of carbohydrates. In my opinion, the quantity of carbohydrates that you consume depends primarily on what your goals are and how close you are to reaching them. An obese person with insulin resistance who’s looking to lose weight would probably benefit from a slightly lower carbohydrate diet. An athlete with 8% body fat who trains with high intensity 5x week would most likely be better of on a moderate- high carb diet.

Food Pyramid Switch #3.2: This category has got somewhat the same importance to your diet as the third most prevalent staple of your eating program (Food Pyramid Switch #3.1).

Food Switch #3.2 swaps the fruit category in the USDA pyramid with fats in the form of coconut oil and coconuts, avocados, grass fed butter, eggs/egg yolks, fish (also contained in the protein section of your new food pyramid) nut butter and nuts, fattier cuts of meat, cacao etc.

The reason why I value the “carbohydrates” section as much as the “fats” section, is because they can both be used for energy. Typically you’d want to be eating either more fats and less carbs or more carbs and less fat (this excludes fatty acids such as EPA and DHA, they should be consumed regardless of whether or not you’re eating higher fat or higher carbohydrates).

In summary: eat foods from 3.1 and 3.2, but don’t mix saturated fats (e.g. butter) with carbohydrates as this can lead to weight gain.

Food Pyramid Switch #4: Now that we’ve got vegetables as the baseline of our diets, followed by protein rich foods and then carbohydrates and fats, we’re going to look at the icing of the cake: sweeteners and supplements. By sweeteners I’m referring to both sugar containing (honey, bananas etc.) and non-sugar containing (stevia, xylitol etc.) forms. Low calorie sweeteners/taste enhancers such as aspartame and MSG are to be avoided at all costs!

As far as supplements go, it’s best to find what you’re lacking in your already well-established diet and then supplementing it. Whole foods should always be a priority though. The supplements that I’m currently taking are fish oil and protein powder.

REVISION: 1. Non-starchy vegetables (e.g. spinach, kale and bell peppers)

                      2. Protein (e.g. grass fed meat, eggs, fish and hemp protein)

                  3. Carbohydrates (e.g. lower fructose fruits, sweet potatoes, quinoa, buckwheat) or fats (coconut oil, grass fed butter and egg yolks)