Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Published: January 31, 2005

by: Susan Phillips

Updated: April 19, 2005

A revised food guide pyramid was released on April 19, 2005 to accompany the new guidelines. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also created some on-line tools to help people make healthful changes in their eating and exercise habits.

What we all need to eat more of, according to new federal guidelines
What we all need to eat more of, according to new federal guidelines.
One of my favorite images from the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs features desperate townspeople being chased down the street by an enormous rolling donut. In light of the new federal dietary guidelines, even a normal donut looks pretty scary. (Krispy Kreme glazed donut: 200 calories, 12 grams of fat.)

The guidelines released on Jan. 12, 2005 call for approaches to eating and physical activity that are very different from the norm. And they are more explicit than earlier versions about the link between exercise, nutrition and good health – it’s no longer just about eating right, but about living right.

read the transcript of the news conference
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans — and you've heard me talk about this so often — two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. And more than 50 percent of us Americans do not get the recommended amount of physical activity— 30 minutes a day for adults and 60 minutes a day for children,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson at a news conference to release the new guidelines. The result: higher rates of chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. These ills affect children as well as adults, and are on the rise in virtually every segment of the population.

Advice from an Expert: Take it Slow
Nutritionist Joanne Ikeda says it’s important not to become overwhelmed if there is a yawning chasm between your family’s current eating and activity patterns and those recommended in the guidelines.

“When people make changes, what we know is that for it to stick, they need to make one change at a time,” says Ikeda, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California at Berkeley. “If a family looks at these guidelines and says, ‘We’re drinking whole milk, we need to switch to low-fat,’ that’s a starting point. But even that is a process, and it will take time.”

Here are some of the key elements of the new guidelines:

• Eat more fruits and vegetables – a lot more. Nine servings per day, up from five in the previous guidelines. And new detail on balance within the category – iceberg doesn’t count for much, but spinach and acorn squash win points. (A serving here is one-half cup.)

• Specific recommendations on physical activity – for adults, at least 30 minutes a day to reduce the risk of chronic disease, 60 minutes for those seeking to maintain current weight, 90 minutes for those seeking to lose weight, or those who have recently lost weight and want to keep it off. For children and teens, 60 minutes “on most, preferably all, days of the week”.

• Limiting grain-based foods (cereal, bread, pasta) to six servings per day, of which three should be whole-grain. The emphasis on whole grains reflects current research, which has shown the critical importance of micronutrients such as zinc, magnesium and iron. (A serving here means one ounce, equal to a slice of bread or a half-cup of pasta.)

• Eating less meat – only 5.5 ounces a day for an adult on a 2,000-calorie a day diet. (Estimated calories-per-day requirements for children range from 1,000 for a sedentary 2-year-old up to 3,200 for an active male 18-year-old. A table in the guidelines provides details.) And the meat we eat should be lean.

• Sharply reducing our intake of sodium – the guidelines suggest 2,400 mg. a day, the amount in a teaspoon of table salt, compared to the 6,000 to 7,000 mg. most of us consume. (Most of the sodium in our diets comes from processed foods, with only 11 percent added during cooking or at the table.)

• Limiting intake of added sugars. The biggest source of added sugars in the American diet is regular (non-diet) soft drinks – a full one-third of all added sugars.

Read the Label

Starting next year, nutritional labels will be required to show the amounts of trans-fats in foods. Even without that, there’s a lot on info packed into those labels. Here’s help for adults and kids on making sense of it all.

• Carefully balancing not just the amount but the types of fats we consume: keeping trans-fats (common sources are shelf-stable baked goods, fried potatoes, chips and margarine) to the barest minimum, controlling consumption of saturated fats such as those in cheese, butter and beef, and including more unsaturated fats like olive and canola oil.

Barriers to ChangeThose I spoke with suggested it won’t be easy to turn the guidelines into useful guidance for families.

Ikeda said that she was concerned that the guidelines “are based on the contention that it’s a personal responsibility, rather than a recognition that the environment we live in makes a big difference in our lifestyle.”

“We really live in an environment that promotes a sedentary lifestyle, promotes eating food of poor nutritional quality, promotes not walking, not being active,” said Ikeda. “Schools are one example of environments that used to promote healthy lifestyles and now, may promote it in words, but not in action. Look at the vending machines, the high-fat meals, the bake sales. There’s no daily physical activity or if there is, the kids spend most of the time changing clothes and taking attendance.”

Kate MacKenzie, senior policy analyst with the Community Food Resource Center in New York City, also expressed concern that the guidelines “place the responsibility on the individual. That’s really not enough.” For low-income urban families with children like those she works with, “You have to ask, is there a gym they can go to? Can the children walk safely to school? Do they have adequate income to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, and if they do, are those items available to purchase, are they good quality, will they last more than a day or two?”

“I am a huge advocate of increasing the amounts of fruits and vegetables that people eat,” said MacKenzie. “But on an environmental level, we need to be able to supply that at a price point low-income populations can afford.” She noted that federal nutrition programs like school breakfast and lunch and WIC are supposed to reflect the guidelines. “I’ll be interested to see what changes come about in those programs,” said MacKenzie.

And Debbie Strong, a registered dietician with the Ochsner Clinic Foundation says the guidelines are based on the good science, but run up against both national and regional food habits. “The emphasis on whole grains, for instance, that’s going to be a hard push,” said Strong. “I don’t foresee kids getting into lentils and quinoa, it’s a texture change, plus we’re just not comfortable cooking them. I’m not sure I know where to buy them… Living here in New Orleans, I can tell you I’m not going to be having bulgur or barley instead of rice. But at least they’re trying.”

How Do We Get There From Here?
Ikeda suggests that families can assess their current behaviors and then take a one-step-at-a-time approach. “Say, ‘Let’s make one change here for the better, and if that works for a couple of months, let’s make another. If it hasn’t worked, then let’s think about why, what prevented us? Did we not believe it would make a difference? Was it a lack of time, of money?’ Start out small, maybe with the easiest thing. If people experience success, they may be more motivated to make deeper changes.”

Also, says Ikeda, “Don’t forget to go through the recommendations and look for the things you are already doing right. Pat yourself on the back for those.”

Strong says that canned and frozen fruits and vegetables can help families make progress towards that nine-serving goal. “We’re not saying you always have to buy fresh, though fresh fruits and vegetables in season can be very cost-effective. Canned and frozen can be very cheap.”

One problem with canned vegetables is added sodium. Strong notes that many brands now can vegetables without added salt. “It’s a huge difference, it can be as much as 300 mg. less, that really does a world of good,” said Strong. Another strategy, if no-salt varieties aren’t available, is to run the vegetables under cold running water before using them.

Strong also noted that for both adults and children, our taste for salt can be changed over time. “It takes about 21 days for the taste buds to change,” said Strong. If we gradually reduce the amount of salt we consume, eventually the lower-salt versions will come to taste sufficiently salty.

And there is some family-friendly news on the snack front: popcorn is a whole grain. So is cornmeal, which makes corn tortillas a good choice for tacos or nachos.

It Takes a Family – and a Community
Clearly, for many families, fully incorporating the new guidelines would require a lifestyle makeover that may not be practical. However, even small changes add up.

Parents can lay down some ground rules about screen time, suggests Ikeda. “I’m highly in favor of giving kids a TV allowance,” says Ikeda. “Empower them to choose what they’ll watch for a certain predetermined amount of time, say two hours a day. It’s hard to do as a parent, it takes energy and negotiating, [your] kid is going to argue, but if you give them some say and some power, it becomes easier.”

Decisions made at the grocery store can head off arguments at home. For instance, if your family drinks soda, buy a certain quantity once a week, and no more. “Make it clear it isn’t forbidden, but that it is not something to drink every day…There’s a fine line between providing something in small amounts, as a treat, and going too far, to make it a forbidden fruit so the kids really want it,” says Ikeda.

MacKenzie sees opportunities for community action in the guidelines. “The first emphasis should be on having people understand the guidelines, then on having them use their own voices as advocates to make the demand in their communities for access to healthier foods,” says MacKenzie.

And Strong sees an opening for “a big push for more physical activity within the school day. They’re calling for 60 minutes a day for a child. That didn’t seem a lot to me as a child, but now, it is a lot, and some of it is going to need to take place in the schools.”

As for me, I’m going to take Ikeda’s advice and start small, maybe by sneaking some barley into my next batch of chicken soup.

Resources:

Talk Back

If you’ve got comments or questions about this story, we’d like to hear them. Send your response to Susan Phillips (info@connectforkids.org).


add new comment | email this page | printer friendly version