Food pyramid to be replaced by food plate

[Fat Guy]

The New York Times reports that this coming Thursday the US government will abandon the food pyramid graphic in favor of a plate design. Farewell to the pyramid.

[Mjx]

The pyramid was rubbish, anyway. The plate concept looks like a riff on the Zone diet, when the author breaks it down into its simplest terms. I see the dairy lobby still has a firm toehold, there... nothing wrong with milk, if you like it, but in terms of human nutrition, it's pretty pointless (unless one is harbouring the hope of morphing into a large ungulate).

[gfweb]

From what I understand the pyramid arose during the depression when cheap calories were the partially political goal. High time to be rid of it.

[BarbaraY]

I think you may have been misinformed as I never saw a food pyramid as a child at the end of the depression. I recall the Basic Seven (six?) followed by the Basic four and then the Stupid Pyramid which got more stupid each time it was revised.

Around 1996 the Citrus lobby got in and they recommended meals had orange juice or oranges in every meal although there was one meal that was so disgusting it hurt to read it. As i recall it was baked potato with a dab of margarine, white bread, and something equally white on the side. I think that was when I tossed the whole thing.

If I'm mistaken, chalk it up to age.

[Dave the Cook]

The USDA has been making dietary recommendations since the late 19th century and published its first food guide in 1916. It followed up with all the schemes -- and more -- that BarbaraY recalls, but the pyramid didn't appear until 1992. It's interesting to note that it was conceived in part because a pie chart (or, erm, a plate) had gone through so many variations that it had lost its effectiveness. What goes around comes around.

In 1993, the department published the story of the development of the pyramid. It's fascinating in some places, and stultifying in others, but worth looking through, especially if you're of the opinion that the symbol was just the product of a few bureaucrats screwing around with a flannelboard.

[Snadra]

I think you may have been misinformed as I never saw a food pyramid as a child at the end of the depression. I recall the Basic Seven (six?) followed by the Basic four and then the Stupid Pyramid which got more stupid each time it was revised.

Around 1996 the Citrus lobby got in and they recommended meals had orange juice or oranges in every meal although there was one meal that was so disgusting it hurt to read it. As i recall it was baked potato with a dab of margarine, white bread, and something equally white on the side. I think that was when I tossed the whole thing.

If I'm mistaken, chalk it up to age.

Barbara I don't think you are mistaken. The NYTimes has an article about the history of government involvement in food and nutrition and there is indeed a seven-group pie diagram (butter IS a food group!) from around that time. Also, who knew that 'Explorer for the Department of Agriculture' was a legitimate job title?

[Dave the Cook]

And here it is. What do we think?

[BarbaraY]

It's certainly a step up from the stupid pyramid. There appears to be a lot of information available although I didn't take time to read it all.

The problem I see is that it probably won't get to the people who need educating the most or if it does may well be ignored. Kids will still be fed boxed mac and cheese with fish sticks because that's all their parents know.

I don't know the answer but I truly wish I did.

Edited June 3, 2011 by BarbaraY (log)

[BadRabbit]

I don't see how the thing is an improvement at all. The information on the website may be updated and informative but the graphic makes it very difficult to even determine group size in relation to the others. They would have been far better off using a pie type chart in the plate as it would be much easier to decipher than 4 irregular shaped blobs.

[Fat Guy]

I agree. More fundamentally, this bad-graphics exercise has no point and was probably quite an expensive undertaking.

[annabelle]

I agree. More fundamentally, this bad-graphics exercise has no point and was probably quite an expensive undertaking.

To the tune of 2 million dollars. I find it rather insulting. It looks like a colorforms board. It only needs stick on cherries, slices of bread, &c, to make it complete.