The evolution of the 'Plant-based' dietary guidelines
Let’s start at the start of my journey … when I was simply trying to understand why Gary was in trouble for talking about reducing sugar and Low Carb Healthy Fat (LCHF) principles. It wasn’t until I realised that the dietary guidelines had become a ‘Plant-Based’ Rule-Book that I asked … ‘where did the meat go’?
In the 1940’s nearly half the food guidelines were meat and dairy and even the 1950’s ‘Foods for Health’ chart shows dairy and meat at the top.
By 1979 meat had started drifting down the guide while breads and cereals moved up.
This change coincided with the McGovern report of 1977 demonising natural Saturated Fats thereby offering the processed food industry the perfect opportunity to create fake foods and add lots of sugar into ‘Low Fat’ products.
1992 gave us the Food Pyramid that Gary and I knew well and the one we took into our medical practices and used to raise our family.
This pyramid was heavily influenced by the American agricultural sector and the 1988 American Dietitians Association vegetarian review paper, written by Vested Interests and Ideology!
Just look at the explosion of cereal and grain products forming the base of the guidelines - with recommendations of 6 to 11 servings of processed carbohydrates per day!
Where are we at now?
Gary created this slide for his 2016 talk at the Crossfit Games in America, pointing out that we need to send out a ‘search and rescue party’ to find the red meat and dairy in the 2013 Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.
But, no problems at all finding vegetarian and vegan friendly processed foods including cereals and grains, soy, fake meat, fake dairy and fake oils … shot-gunned all over our Australian guide to ‘healthy’ eating.
The US My Plate can’t even bring itself to mention the word meat … instead, it references ‘Protein’ to include, fake meats, legumes and soy products.
When did the current nutrition doctrine; which espouses cereals, grains and vegetable protein come to be accepted as the gospel truth … and more importantly, why?
If you want to delve into the history of the 'plant-based' dietary guidelines I suggest you set aside 45 minutes, make yourself a drink and see for yourself, the vested interests and ideology shaping our dietary and health guidelines...
