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Just an aside, if the USDA’s office of Nutri- vegetables with a dollop of butter or cream. Yet The thought
tion Policy and Promotion is tasked with giving the first benefit cited on My Plate for eating veg-
dietary advice, fine; but what is the meaning of etables is that they are lowfat, low-calorie, and of eating plain
including exercise in the brochure? Running, contain no cholesterol. Anticipating our human popcorn and
jogging, walking and other athletic endeavors do frailty, the Dictocrats admonish us that “sauces all those dry
require fuel from our nutrition, but such counsel may add fat, calories or cholesterol.” Nevermind
is clearly beyond the USDA mission. The Diet that sauces also make vegetables more flavorful grains makes
Dictocrats aim to manage not only our calories and satisfying, not to mention more nutritious. you want to
in, but our calories out as well. And isn’t it much easier to persuade a child to apply extra
The meta-message for the colorful, down- eat those virtuous vegetables with a pat of butter
loadable MyPlate brochure is that good health melting over them? butter and a
equals weight loss. Readers are finger-wagged: After the low-in-fat praise for vegetables, sprinkling of
“Think before you eat; is it worth the calories?” their nutrient and health benefits follow in fleur de sel
They are forewarned about restaurant pleasures: secondary importance, illustrating the official
“When eating out choose the lower calorie op- hierarchy of values: condemn fat first and then seasalt on your
tion.” They even receive advise to keep a food di- concede the nutrition content facts. Funny, the fi- next slice of
ary: “Write down what nal reason presented on sourdough!
you eat to keep track of this page is, once again,
how much.” that they are lower in
calories per volume
SEARCHING OUT than other foods.
THE FATS We found the same
Let’s take a look at approach used on the
the fats on My Plate— “Fruits” page of My
if you can find them. Plate and for the same
Fats are scrubbed from low-calorie-content
the dairy section; the standards. Under a sec-
only foods allowed in tion on how to make
the “Dairy Group” are fruit more appealing
those that “retain their (as if fruits aren’t totally
calcium,” which ex- appealing already), low-
cludes cream cheese, butter and cream. Can you fat or fat-free yogurt was suggested for dips and
imagine being kicked out of your rightful food smoothies. Guess strawberries and cream are out
group after thousands of years of serving human- of the question.
ity? And consider the insult of replacement by an You’ve probably heard about the “sandwich”
outright imposter: soy milk with added calcium method of delivering bad news: you give good
is deemed a full-fledged dairy food on My Plate! news first, then the bad stuff, and end with more
We looked for fats in the “Protein” section good news. It seems that those dishing out My
of My Plate. “Go lean with protein” is the main Plate information consider the best news about
consumer takeaway message on this page. Skin- fruits and vegetables is that they contain very
less chicken breasts and 95 percent lean ground little fat. Does that make their vitamin and min-
beef are at the top of the hit parade, along with eral content the bad news?
two servings of seafood a week. Fortunately, they Sleuthing out the fats in the “Grains” seg-
haven’t yet invented a process to manufacture ment on My Plate also proved difficult. Lots of
lowfat seafood. grain-based foods are recommended, grains that
What about the "Vegetables" on My Plate? are only palatable topped with butter: whole
Dr. Weston Price taught that fat is necessary wheat bread, whole grain rice, whole grain
for assimilating and metabolizing vitamins and pancakes, whole oats. The only mention of fats
minerals in the diet, which is why the Weston A. was in the negative. We learn that popcorn is a
Price Foundation recommends always serving healthy snack, but only if served “with little or
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