94 Part II: Enjoying Total-Body Health: Eating Well and Staying Injury-Free
illustrates one of the pyramid’s main flaws: failure to distinguish healthful fats
from disease-causing fats. The pyramid lumps together meat, poultry, fish,
dry beans, eggs, and nuts, and recommends two to three daily servings from
this group of protein-rich foods. (One meat serving is 3 ounces, thereby
allowing for the 8-ounce burger.) But these foods aren’t equally healthful.
Some cuts of red meat are loaded with saturated fat, while nuts, which contain
vitamin E and heart-healthy (monounsaturated) fat, are very nutritious.As for that whole milk: The pyramid recommends two to three daily servings
of milk, yogurt, or cheese but doesn’t specifically recommend low-fat or
nonfat versions of these high-calcium foods. (Full-fat varieties are loaded with
saturated fat.) At the same time, the pyramid groups fats, oils, and sweets at
the top of the pyramid, with the admonition to “use sparingly.” Yet research
clearly shows that the fats found in olive oil and canola oil may protect
against disease.One benefit of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid is that it specifies a range of
daily servings for each food category. Still, the numbers can be confusing.
The pyramid recommends two to four fruit servings a day, but this is
intended as a minimum. On the other hand, two to three servings from the
protein-rich group is intended as a maximum.Figure 7-1:
The USDA
Food Guide
Pyramid.