The Eight Edition of the Dietary Guidelines was released this week, The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020. The guidelines refer to three different eating styles, Healthy U. S. Style, Mediterranean and Vegetarian. Please see the link below for all of the details. Please keep in mind the guidelines do refer to preventing “disease”, and they consider “obesity” to be a disease by definition. Those of us who believe in a Health at Every Size approach (HAES) understand that a Body Mass Index in the “obese” range does not mean a person is not healthy. It is all about lifestyle and healthy habits. So please look beyond the lingo and check it out if you want to know some of the details. I recommend using these only as a general guideline (it is good to know if you are not eating enough fruits, vegetables, calcium, etc.) but it would be nearly impossible to meet some of the unreasonable expectations for things such as sugar. I am a dietitian, trained in calculating needs regarding nutrition and I could not spend even one day on trying to calculate if what I ate exceeded the recommended 10 percent of calories from sugar. You do not have to do that to be healthy. Becoming aware of your eating patterns and how you feel (do you snack on sweets all day and crash every afternoon? Then adding in some healthy foods and protein of course will make you feel better!). You really don’t have to be so specific and add things up like that. Seek the help of a Registered Dietitian Find a Dietitian for even one visit if you really aren’t sure if you are getting what you need. Here is the link for the new Dietary Guidelines
Tag: Dietary Guidelines 2015
Hot Off The Press! Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report, just released!
Get ready for some changes! The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee(DGAC), a group of scientists who review the literature and scientific evidence to help come up with our Dietary Guidelines (every 5 years) just came out with their final report. They are responsible for providing evidenced-based recommendations to the secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services who will review the recommendations and eventually finalize the Dietary Guidelines. These guidelines are so important because they will influence us all (especially schools, restaurants, food assistance programs, and the food industry in general). One of the biggest changes is they are no longer emphasizing a low fat diet as there is enough evidence that shows there is no strong relationship between dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol. They also concluded that reducing total fat in the diet and replacing it with carbohydrates does NOT lower cardiovascular disease risk. Instead, the guidelines are more general and focused on promoting healthful food that included more healthy fats, more veggies and fruits, whole grains, seafood, legumes and dairy products but less meats, sugar-sweetened foods and drinks and refined grains. Check out the article in the Journal of the American Medical Association for more details! In the meantime, I like the emphasis on including more healthy foods…a focus on health, not restriction : )
Joanne Arena MS, RD 