The Safer Path
What Should We Eat? Food Rules We Can Digest
By Laurine Brown

Today there is no shortage of food and nutrition advice. Despite this (or maybe because of this) Americans seem more confused than ever about “what to eat.” Our government's newly released MyPlate food guide attempts to remedy this. It simplifies the much maligned Food Pyramid icon, which guided our national eating for nearly 20 years, into a dinner table graphic: A plate, a fork, a glass. Five words: Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Protein, Dairy. And a message: ChooseMyPlate.gov. The website offers more specific guidance, asking us to watch our portions, increase our fruits, veggies, and whole grains while switching to skim milk, and to cut back on sodium and sugary drinks.
Government food models offering dietary advice have been around for nearly 100 years, including the Basic Seven (1940s), Basic Four (1950s), Food Guide Pyramid (1990s), and most recently My Plate (2011). The guides, developed by the US Department of Agriculture, have always been a compromise between what's best for Americans' health, and what's best for American agriculture and food industries. While many agree that the new Plate icon is superior to its' Pyramid cousin, it still has its share of critics, especially when the reported $2 billion price tag is considered. Mocking its simplicity, one internet artist superimposed MyPlate icon partitions with: “Animals. Plants. Water. It's Not That Hard, people.”
They've got a point. As humans, we have been feeding ourselves for millions of years. The US government has been telling us what to eat for nearly 100 years. Shouldn't we know what to eat?

To our credit, over the early part of the past century we solved many debilitating nutritional problems plaguing Americans. For example, pellagra, scurvy, rickets, goiter have all but disappeared in the US, thanks to technologies like food fortification and a more plentiful food supply for nutrients like B-vitamins, vitamin C and D, and iodine. But as we cured diseases of under-nutrition, we ushered in chronic diseases - like diabetes, heart disease, obesity - that were fueled by overeating and our modern Western Diet. Our eating environment changed. Portion sizes exploded. And, with the aid of modern technology, a bounty of highly processed foods hit supermarket shelves. Today over $30 billion in annual food ads convinces us that many nutritionally-dubious foods are based on the latest science, rivaling time-tested nature-made foods dished up by our grandparents. Most of these processed foods don't fit neatly on MyPlate, or any other shape of USDA's food guides for that matter. No wonder we're confused. Historically, only 2% of food ad budgets promote foods like veggies, fruits, and whole grains. Food marketing works. Thus, we shouldn't be surprised to learn that 80-90 percent of Americans don't eat enough fruit or vegetables, and 99 percent fall short on whole grains.

While government food guides like MyPlate can begin to help us portion our plates, we need help, says food author Michael Pollan, maneuvering the confusing inner aisles of our grocery stores stocked with nutritionally dubious “edible-food-like substances” and our unhealthy 24/7 eating environment. His new book, “Food Rules: An Eater's Manual” assembles 64 memorable food rules, distilled from kitchen table wisdom around the world. He reminds us of WHAT to eat (real food, mostly plants), but also HOW to eat (not too much). Here is a sampling:

o Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Ask why you should eat portable Go-Gurt tubes, or items with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce.
o Eat only foods that will eventually rot. Take Twinkies…processing helps extend shelf life by removing things creatures, like insects or bacteria want (often nutrients, like omega-3-fatty acids). If other creatures can't thrive on it, how can we?
o If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
o Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk. No further comment needed.
o Pay more. Eat less. Or as our grandmothers used to say, “better to pay the grocer than the doctor.”
o Stop eating before you're full. Japanese have a saying “hara hachi bu” meaning “stop eating when 80 percent full.” Germans say “tie off the sack before it is full.” And, instead of saying “I'm full” as Americans do, the French say a very different “I have no more hunger.”
o The banquet is in the first bite. Economists call this the law of diminishing marginal utility.
o Buy smaller plates and glasses. The bigger the portion, we eat upward of 30 percent more. Simply switching from a 12-inch to a 10-inch dinner plate can lower consumption by 22 percent.
o Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. Aside from bread and milk, gas stations primarily sell highly processed imperishable snack foods and supersized sweetened soft drinks.
o Do all your eating at a table. No, a desk is not a table. If we eat while watching TV or driving we eat mindlessly, often consuming more calories than if we were eating at a table.

Fortunately, we humans are highly adaptable, and can survive and even thrive on a range of diets… except for the highly processed new (in evolutionary terms) Western diet. Eating doesn't have to be complicated, but your choices matter. How will you set your table, portion off your plate, and feed yourself?
References available at www.iwu.edu/~wellness