Seeking to develop a diet shifting away from the original food pyramid, nutritionists started observing eaters in India and China who live on diets not far afield from the one represented by the modified food pyramid to the right.
One problem with the original food pyramid was that it failed completely to distinguish between ‘good carbohydrates’ and bad ones. It also failed to distinguish between highly processed foods that are digested fully before they reach the gut and foods that nourish and protect vital intestinal flora.
Another concern was that it failed completely to distinguish between ‘good fats,’ and ‘bad fats.’ A third was it that failed to distinguish between the social pressures in relatively poor countries where people eat in large extended family groups and those in rich countries where people eat alone or in tiny nuclear family groups. The social forces in India and China powerfully check the most egregious examples of overeating. But the social forces in America tend to encourage excess.
Furthermore, the original food pyramid failed to come to grips with the fact that in western regions where pasta is eaten – Naples Italy for example – dramatic weight gain with age is much more common than in places where refined carbohydrates are less prominent in the daily diet. And finally, in most places where people are thin, there have also been periodic famines for many centuries and people generally live physically active lives.
There is no question about it – we are what we eat, and we might as well accept that reality and take care to consume foods that are appropriate to long-term good heath.
