There have been great steps made recently towards getting the message out to the public
about what a truly healthy diet actually is, with the online nutrition community buzzing
especially about the EAT-Lancet commission and Canada's updated food guide, among other
developments.
However, one public nutrition authority has been leading the way in this area for quite
some time - since 2011, in fact!
In 2011 the Harvard School of Public Health first published their 'Healthy Eating Plate',
which they unashemedly claim to have developed to be an improvement on the USDA's MyPlate.
In HSPH's own words, "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPlate, though it has
been revised to reflect some key findings, still doesn't offer the most complete picture
when it comes to basic nutrition advice.
The Healthy Eating Plate is based exclusively on the best available science and was not
subjected to political or commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists."
From their website, these improvements include "[addressing] important deficiencies in the
MyPlate icon" such as it's "[mixture of] science with the influence of powerful agricultural
interests", and instead provides a guide that is "based on the most up-to-date nutrition
research, and...not influenced by the food industry or agriculture policy."
Based on this methodology, they conclude that "a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole
grains, healthy fats, and healthy proteins lowers the risk of weight gain and chronic
disease."
And the improvements are not merely theoretical, but actually appear to carry over to measurable
improved health outcomes - people that closely followed their guidelines had less risk of
dying or developing a chronic disease than those that closely followed the USDA's guidelines.
So what are they actually recommending?
The guide improves over MyPlate in many ways, including specifically recommending whole
grains, giving advice on which specific plant oils to use based on fatty acid profile and
recommending the restriction of fruit juice, but the part that really stands out the most
to me is their recommendations about dairy products.
People were especially impressed with Canada's new guidelines and their replacement of dairy
with water as the beverage of choice, but Harvard have recognised for quite some time
that "there is little if any evidence that high dairy intakes protect against osteoporosis,
and there is considerable evidence that too-high intakes can be harmful" and as such place
a glass of water as the beverage of choice beside the plate and recommend other healthy
beverages like tea and coffee with little or no sugar.
It warns that "high intakes [of dairy] are associated with increased risk of prostate
cancer and possibly ovarian cancer."
It is so rare to hear language as firm, unequivocal and openly critical as what we find in the
Healthy Eating Guide in the public health nutrition arena, and it is extremely refreshing!
If you're looking for a nice, detailed and yet easy-to-follow set of guidelines to improve
your diet but aren't quite ready to go fully plant-based I highly recommend this guide
because of it's inclusion of a small amount of some of the less-health-detrimental animal
products.
The evidence is now very strong that processed meat and red meat increase the risk of a myriad
of health problems and thus these foods are specifically recommended against in the Harvard
Healthy Eating Plate.
But whilst poultry and fish are definitely healthier alternatives, these products come
with their own long list of negative health consequences such as being the number one
food associated with weight gain and the number one source of many dangerous pollutants, respectively,
in addition to the usual problems with animal protein, choline, nitrosamines and so on.
Because of numerous complicated issues, public health authorities even when not commercially
corrupted usually do not yet recommend against these products and you can be sure I will
be addressing this very topic in the future.
But with all of this in mind, happily the guide also recommends yet healthier sources
of protein again - legumes, nuts and seeds - for when you're fully ready to make that
switch to whole foods, plant-based nutrition.
So to summarise, the wealth of evidence on the negative health consequences of processed
foods and animal products is making it's way more and more into recommendations to the
public.
With increasing frequency we are seeing huge strides towards proper nutrition advice not
corrupted by commercial interests becoming available, and the Harvard School of Public
Health's Healthy Eating Plate is a good approximation of what that might one day look like.
Do you pay attention to official nutrition guides like this, MyPlate, the Eatwell Guide
and so on?
Or do you put more stock in recommendations offered by various channels here on YouTube?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Also let me know if like me you have to laugh whenever you see this picture from the Canadian
guidelines!
Maybe it's just me but I always imagine all the people scurrying around cooking all these
foods, worrying about getting them to look just right and the pressure on that last person
that had to arrange it all for the final photo!
Anyway that's it for now guys, talk to ye soon!
Sláinte.