untitled

Chapter 7: Nutrition Basics 95

A final gripe: The base of the pyramid — which includes bread, cereal, rice,

and pasta — fails to distinguish between whole grains (thought to decrease

risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers) and refined grains (which

are essentially stripped of vitamins, minerals, and fiber). For this reason, the

federal government is now putting together panels to update its pyramid. As

we went to print, the new pyramid wasn’t ready, but check the Internet to see

whether the USDA has made the radical revisions to the food pyramid that

they’ve proposed.

The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid ......................................................

Many of the USDA pyramid’s problems are addressed by the Mediterranean

Diet Pyramid (shown in Figure 7-2). Although refined in light of current nutri-

tion research, the Mediterranean diet pyramid essentially reflects the eating

habits of certain Greek and Italian populations around 1960, when their chronic

disease rates were among the world’s lowest and adult life expectancy was

the highest despite limited medical services.

Daily beverage Monthly

recommendations:

6 glasses of water

Wine in

moderation

Meat

Sweets

Eggs

Poultry

Fish

Cheese and yogurt

Olive oil

Beans,

legumes,

and nuts

Bread, pasta, rice, couscous, polenta,

other whole grains, and potatoes

Daily physical activity

Fruits Vegetables

Mediterranean Diet Pyramid

Weekly

Daily

Figure 7-2:
The
Mediterra-
nean Diet
Pyramid.