GOVERNMENT: IS IT FOR THE PEOPLE? 307the report advises that we need a minimum of 45% of calories as car-
bohydrates, more than half of this amount (i.e., 25%) can be the sugars
present in candies, soft drinks and pastries. The critical assumption of
this report is this: the American diet is not only the best there is, but
you should now feel free to eat an even richer diet and still be confident
that you are "minimizing risk for chronic disease." Forget any words of
caution you may find in this report-with such a range of possibilities,
virtually any diet can be advocated as minimizing disease risk.
You may have trouble getting your mind around what these figures
mean in everyday terms, so I have prepared the follOwing menu plan that
supplies nutrients in accordance with these guidelines (Chart 16 .l)yl
CHART 16.1: SAMPLE MENU THAT FITS INTO THE
ACCEPTABLE NUTRIENT RANGES
Meal Foods
Breakfast 1 cup Froot Loops
1 cup skim milk
1 package M&M milk chocolate candies
Fiber and vitamin supplements
lunch Grilled cheddar cheeseburger
Dinner 3 slices pepperoni pizza, 1 16 oz. soda,
1 serving Archway sugar cookiesCHART 16.2: NUTRIENT PROFILE OF SAMPLE MENU PLAN AND
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
Nutrient Sample Menu Recommended
Content Ranges
Total Calories -1800 Varies by height/
weight
Protein (% of total calories) -18% 10-35%
Fat (% of total calories) -31% 20-35%
Carbohydrates (% of total calories) -51% 45-65%
Sugars in Sweets, or Added Sugars -23% Up to 25%
(% of total calories)Folks, I'm not kidding. This disastrous menu plan fits the recommen-
dations of the report and is supposedly consistent with "minimizing
chronic disease."