Better Food Pyramid

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:17 pm

Hi All,

The Harvard School of Public Health has come out with a better food "pyramid", called a Healthy Plate.
Important features include recommendations to limit milk/dairy to 1-2 servings a day and the largest portion of the plate being vegetables. Drinks should be only water, coffee, ot tea.

Check it out:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionso ... index.html

I'll be interested in your comments.

Polly

Post by **tex** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:50 pm

Well, of course, I disagree with the "limit red meat" and "avoid bacon" remarks. And if potatoes and french fries "don't count", then I reckon I don't eat any vegetables at all.

I'm probably not the only one here who disagrees with the "eat whole-wheat bread" recommendation, though.

Love,
Tex

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:39 pm

Poor potatoes! They should at least count towards whole grains or something! I agree with Tex. They should have named hot dogs, not bacon. And I don't count canola as a healthy oil anymore. And why are they pushing coffee, an addictive drink? But it's certainly better than the government's plate!

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 7:41 am

I'm not a big canola fan, either.

But believe it or not, coffee is touted by some to be a "superfood". Unfortunately, it causes D for me, so I don't drink it.:

Health Benefits of Coffee

I scoured the internet to find reliable sources of the health benefits of coffee. Type "coffee" into pubmed (the database of medical research) and your get almost 7,000 results back. Below are some of the major findings about health, life expectancy and coffee.

Heart Disease (up to 25% reduction in mortality risk (for women))
Diabetes (up to 60% reduced risk)
Dementia (up to 65% reduced risk)
Colon Cancer (up to 25% reduced risk)
Cirrhosis (up to 80% reduced risk)
Gallstones (almost 50% reduced risk)
Parkinson’s Disease (up to 80% reduced risk – probably because of caffeine)
Headache Relief (because of the caffeine)
Asthma Relief (caffeine again)
Cavity Protection (because of anti-bacterial and anti-adhesive properties of compounds within coffee)

http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongn ... health.htm

As just one example:

In the CAIDE study, coffee drinking of 3-5 cups per day at midlife was associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD by about 65% at late-life. In conclusion, coffee drinking may be associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD. This may be mediated by caffeine and/or other mechanisms like antioxidant capacity and increased insulin sensitivity. This finding might open possibilities for prevention or postponing the onset of dementia/AD.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20182054

Tex

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 7:53 am

Tex,

Thanks for postng that. It seems every other day I read about another benefit of coffee, but it is impressive to see it all listed like that.

Love,

Polly

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:20 am

Well my family owns a coffee farm and everyone drinks lots of coffee. They practically forced it on me as a kid. One grandma died of heart disease and gallstones, one grandpa had Parkinsons, the coffee producer grandpa died of alzheimers, and they all lost teeth due to decay. Go figure.

I like the smell and taste of coffee now, but i don't tolerate more than a quarter cup. So much for the family religion.

What bothers me is that people cannot function without it. A day-long headache and irritability are the result of skipping their daily fix. Not to mention the sugary, fatty drinks peddled by starbucks and the like. Imagine how much money people could save if they weren't paying for fancy coffee beverages 2 times a day?

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:50 am

I'm a big coffee fan - I drink it every morning never exceeding my usual 'dose' of about 1.5 cups. (We - of course - have a quirky coffee preparation method... it's very strong and tasty.) We actually bring our coffee grinder & brewer on our annual beach vacation (next week!), and this year we'll be hauling the smoothie-blender, too.

I think a lot of the benefits of coffee are completely undone by lousy brewing methods, even before people add unhealthy dairy and sweeteners... My mother trained us to appreciated unsweetened black coffee. I drink a lot of water, some sparkling - rarely with a splash of lemon or unsweetened cranberry juice, but mostly plain - occasional kombucha, and wine.

In addition to olive oil, we use coconut and avocado oils - no 'seed' oils.

I guess no non-Paleo version of the 'better plate' will ever chuck grains or (some) dairy. But since I have done so, I should ponder my own version of the plate! Just based on our menu-sharing yesterday, our individual plate graphics would have a lot in common, but a lot of variation as well.

Love,

Sara

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:52 pm

I don't like coffee, which makes me a true oddity in the Pacific Northwest where even the homeless have their favorite coffee drink, it is said. This leads to incredible coffee snobbishness, with people who boycott Starbucks because of it is too mainstream now, etc., etc.

But in a general way, I can understand developing one's own particular method of ordering/brewing coffee--it's one of the comforting habits we all have. But you can bet I didn't say anything about it to my father when he was ranting on about how Maxwell House or Folger's should be good enough for anybody.

BTW--I ordered a drink at Starbucks for the first time in more than a year a few weeks ago. It was very hot, and they had a new drink, a coconut creme frap. I asked to look at the ingredients, and the only thing I was a little concerned about was the xanthan gum. But I did great with it, and it was very good!

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:30 pm

Hi PP,

I've been away from the boards for a while, and am happy so see so many interesting topics. I like Harvard's food pyramid as it mirrors the way I eat at this point in time

(with the exceptions of canola oil, bread and pasta). Like they recommend, I don't eat any prepared luncheon meats or bacon, and almost no red meats, but this might change over time. Unlike many of you here, I do incredibly well with beans and nuts, which have become reliable staples in my diet.

I have been able to have coffee every day again with no seeming reactions. However, I don't overdo it - just half a cup of black coffee with no sweeteners in the mornings, or sometimes cappucino with rice dream rice milk. Any kind of sugar is not my friend at all, as my body reacts too violently with a scatter brained high, followed by a major crash. Coffee without sweetener does not do that to me at all, and I enjoy everything about it from the aroma, to the taste, to the slight buzz.

I feel very good eating this way, but nothing lasts forever, so I cannot say with confidence that my diet will not change over time. I'd love to add some sugar now and then, as I have always had a giant sweet tooth :). As I continue healing, perhaps sugar will not affect me quite so severely - one can only hope :).

Love,
Kari