Govt Diet Guidelines: Don’t Eat Crap

The U.S. federal government, via the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, have finally jumped on the abuelita bandwagon: ¡No comas eso! Which is to say, these federal agencies managed to loosen the agribusiness grip on their throats a bit to tell us what we all already knew — processed food and salt is bad for you — in new governmental dietary guidelines.

The basics are eat healthy, exercise, eat lots of fruits and veggies, don’t eat a lot of fat, get your vitamins in and don’t eat a lot of booze, sugar or salt. Pretty standard, ey? Too bad the agribusiness lobby, and the corn lobby in particular, are so powerful that they are able to shove corn syrup into — literally — everything, so that even if you do watch your diet, the bread, tortillas, mayonnaise, juice and whatever else you could possibly think of is already polluted with sugar.

In any case, here are some of the guidelines, for more check out the pretty brochure here:

• Decrease the calories you consume and increase the calories you expend through physical activity.
• Reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and further reduce intake to 1,500 mg among persons who are 51 and older and those of any age who are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.
• Eat as little fat as possible, specifically: Less than 10% of your calories from saturated fat, as little trans fat as possible and as little solid fat and added sugars as possible.
• Alcohol in moderation—up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men—and only by adults of legal drinking age.
• Eat less meat generally and more seafood specifically.
• Eat more whole grains and less processed food.
• Increase intake of fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, or  fortified soy beverages.
• And EAT YOUR VEGGIES, especially dark-green and red and orange vegetables and beans and peas.

So, it turns out our mamis and abuelitas were right all along! Now, the government has managed to get on board, what are you going to do? You going to make a change? Do any of these guidelines make sense to you?