In 2011, the USDA Food Pyramid (pictured) was with replaced with MyPlate, which is very similar in terms of nutrient percentages. Interestingly, a consistent pattern in food pyramids around the globe, from China's Food Pagoda to Greece's Food Pyramid, is the appearance of cereals, grains, bread, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates as the base of the diet – and fats near the top of the pyramid, as a “use sparingly” category. But this type of pyramid can lead to health problems. After all, dietary fat from healthy sources has been shown in studies to actually help to increase weight loss, reduce heart disease risk, lower blood sugars, lower cholesterols and maintain proper brain function (especially in kids). And if you listened to my interview with Dr. William Davis, “The Shocking Truth About Wheat”, or my interview with Paul Jaminet about the Perfect Health Diet you learned that consumption of carbohydrates can cause serious issues with everything from weight gain to fuzzy thinking to heart disease. But the issues don't stop with the predominantly “high carb, low fat” recommendations of most food pyramids. Frequent consumption of featured and recommended foods such as commercialized modern whole milk and hamburger has been linked to heart disease… …dairy is extremely overemphasized – although calcium is important, many vegetable and meat sources contain plenty of calcium with a lower number of calories…. …there is no differentiation between “good proteins” and “bad proteins”, “good carbs” and “bad carbs” or “good fats” and “bad fats”… …and the minimum serving of fruits is 2-4, which is a great way to send your blood sugar levels on a roller coaster ride all day long if you're not careful. Furthermore, when it comes to the American food pyramid, we've barely scratched the surface of how food and agricultural institutions can exert lobbying and political power on the USDA to feature and prioritize subsidized industries such as dairy, corn and wheat as heavily featured or highlighted recommendations (a great book to read more about these shenanigans is “Food Politics“). So what should a good food pyramid actually look like? Although I have yet to be convinced that a food pyramid is the best, most functional way to dynamically depict dietary recommendations, I've decided to act on hundreds of requests from readers and listeners and create a “Ben Greenfield Endorsed” food pyramid. I call my new design the “Superhuman Food Pyramid”, and this new food pyramid address all the issues above, ties in my personal nutritional philosophies that I've expressed many times in blog posts and podcasts, and also gives you a spectrum of choices from “Eat” to “Moderate” to “Avoid” for each food group, so that you don't have to deal, for example, with “Fats” lumped into just one category, or “Proteins” just lumped into another category. To make it easier to practically apply my Superhuman Food Pyramid to your diet, I've also included several pages listing each food category and the Eat, Moderate, and Avoid foods within that category, so you can simply print, grab and go to the grocery store or farmer's market with your Superhuman Food list. You instantly get my Superhuman Food Pyramid for free when you click the button below and share on Twitter or Facebook. [Note: Your timeline/feed must be public for our system to verify your post or tweet]. If you have questions, comments or feedback, just leave it below. Ask Ben a Podcast Question What was the food pyramid greatest mistake?Part of the problem with the food pyramid was that it was too broad in its articulation of what constituted healthy choices, while the MyPlate model focuses on very specific changes that people can make in their diets, from portion sizes to what kinds of foods they should be eating.
Is the food pyramid outdated?In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scrapped the food pyramid in favor of a simpler tool called MyPlate. It's not a magic bullet, but it can teach you general habits that make a big difference in your weight, risk for disease, and well-being. If you don't know where to start, MyPlate is for you.
Why was the food pyramid replaced?MyPlate replaced the USDA's food pyramid, which was in use from 1992 to 2011. Although it was recognized by generations of schoolkids, nutritionists were critical of the pyramid for promoting too many carbohydrates through grains and cutting back on fats.
When did they stop teaching the food pyramid?So what happened to the food pyramid? The classic food pyramid was replaced in 2005 by a funky pyramid with a figure climbing up stairs on the side. If you don't remember this, don't worry — it wasn't around long. In 2011, the new food pyramid was replaced by the USDA's MyPlate.
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