Why the Food Pyramid was Bullshit

Abstract

I wrote “Why the Food Pyramid is Bullshit” because I wanted to educate others on the history of the food pyramid and explain how it actually wasn’t a good metric for determining whether you have a healthy diet. While the food pyramid has admittedly improved over time, this doesn’t take away from the multiple decades that the United States Department of Agriculture peddled the food pyramid as the defacto guide to nutrition when in reality, the food pyramid was a major contributor to America’s ongoing diabetes and obesity epidemics. If you were to follow the food pyramid as it stood from 1992 to 2005, you would have been eating well above your maintenance calories. And you would have been led to believe that crackers and other sweets were as necessary in your diet as bread and rice. I wanted and still want to help people take their nutrition into their own hands, and help people realize that all our bodies are different and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions when it comes to your diet.