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The USDA, in its latest attempt to fight obesity, has introduced a new food pyramid to guide us towards healthier eating habits. "My Pyramid" is designed to provide a personalized guide to selecting a healthy balance of foods, proper portion sizes, and one major new component: exercise, illustrated by the figure climbing up the stairs on the side. As the New York Times explains:
This time, the pyramid is a series of vertical color bands of varying widths. The bands of fruits and vegetables combined take up the most space, followed by grains, with the narrowest bands still belonging to fats, oils and sugars. Also new is the stick figure walking up the left side of the pyramid to match the guide's slogan: "Steps to a healthier you."The new pyramid comes in 12 versions, depending on a person's activity level and caloric need.
The Feds have also given us a website to guide us along in our quest towards better nutrition. MyPyramid.gov is designed to be an interactive site -- it even purports to offer tools that give you an in-depth assessment of your eating and exercise habits, with suggestions on how to change them for the better. Gothamist has tried to explore the site a bit, but has found it a bit sluggish and buggy. As a result, we've decided to ignore the tidbits of advice it offers ("Make half your grains whole!" "Vary your veggies!" "Focus on fruit!") and order in a double-cheeseburger with fries for lunch. We're pretty sure that a good portion of America is likely to do the same.
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Isn't it just so reassuring to see our taxpayer dollars spent on such a worthy revision? What the heck is the point of a pyramid anymore? It could be anything now -- a bar graph or more appropriately a pie chart.
As for me, I'm sticking with a balanced diet from the four major food groups: sugar, salt, fat and preservatives. Yum!
nothing can stop our country from being the bunch of fat-asses we are. life, liberty & the pursuit of an all-you-can eat buffet. f'ing embrassasing
I like how the media is explaining the food pyramids aren't so pyramidy but actually more rhombus like.
What does this have to do with New York?
They picked a triangle, because that is the shape of most everyone's torso.
What does this have to do with NY? Well, unfortuntately, we haven't yet seceded from the rest of the country, so the USDA is targeting New Yorkers along with everyone else.
Gotta love the Screen Bean climbing the stairs. Classic.
So Laren, any national law or national initiative is appropriate for Gothamist? And pretty much anything global too? Makes sense...not really.
"Targeting New Yorkers along with everyone else" Doesn't soung like targeting to me.
A double cheeseburger is so, so, SO unhealthy for you. Only by topping it with several strips of bacon can it be made good for you. And maybe some BBQ sauce.
JT - if it concerns the entire country, well then it concerns NY as well! That aint rocket science.
Saying Gothamist shouldnt report on USDA findings because its "national" is like saying it shouldnt report on who won the presidential election.
"any national law or national intiative is appropriate for gothamist?" Actually, yes! Gothamist can cover whatever they please.
r, Sure Gothamist can cover whatever it wants. But the site is described as "a website about New York."
I realize that logic and grammer may seem like rocket science to some people, but if someone said "Tell me something about New York" and I replied with "The US government put out a new food pyramid" I'd expect to be questioned or even laughed at. If you are that sloppy in your thinking/writing that's your business -- to me it's, well, sloppy and undermines the meaning of our language.
r, one other thing. If I manged a website about New York, and wanted to talk about the presidential election or the food pyramid or anything else national in scope, I'd at least try to tie it to something local. What does the re-election of Bush mean to New York specifically? How does the food pyramid impact New Yorkers in ways that are not obvious. Without that sort of link, the subject is off-topic from Gothamist's own description. I don't see any such local connection in the pyramid story.
jt, i see your point. I still wouldnt criticize Gothamist whenever they decide to report on national news. I enjoy Gothamist becomes it covers many different topics and doesnt solely focus on NYC-centric events and happenings. If something interesting or noteworthy occurs -- even if its national - I think it would interest many Gothamist readers.
New USDA food rhombii = compelling new shapes in which the New York Ultrarich(TM) can fashion their mountains of bling! Presto! New York angle! Get Daniel Gross on the phone!
I think yous guys are missing the real point here--the habits of the gothamist to send hyperlinks to the ny times and call it journalism.
just playing, loren, you lookin' so fine on gawker they even give you an extended run!
my god, you'd think they'd at least hire a graphic designer. that thing is seriously confusing and ugly. bad form, bad function.
jt, are you really offended that gothamist is talking about something that effects every new yorker in the midst of all the other ny-specific articles here? you think gothamist is undermining the english language? (if so, maybe i should point out that it's spelled 'grammar'). hold on... what do ya know... here we are talking about the food pyramid in the context of nyc right here in the gothamist forums. happy?
Yes hijiki, I am offended by everyone who is sloppy in their thinking. Are you really offended by people objecting to sloppy thinking? That's strange to me.
is there a fly in the room?
I think I'll stick to the base of the pyramid/bottom of the stairs. Which, apparently, means that I can eat wide swaths of almost everything!!! Pity those poor people at the top of the stairs/pyramid/whatever.
Although this new pyramid is similar to the old version in structure and a little confusing, it is very impressive that the USDA finally decided promote fruits, vegetables, and grains as the basis for a healthy diet. Previously, heavy lobbying from the meat and dairy industries discouraged any government agency from recognizing countless research projects and studies proving that this diet is healthier for America. Also under severe pressure from the meat and dairy industries were the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association—two organizations that Americans trust with their lives. Recently, all of them acknowledged that a diet based in fruits, vegetable, and whole grains can curb and/or reverse heart disease and promote a long, active life for everybody.