The Sensible Ms. McArdle Says...

...she's going to cut back on red meat.  I can't poke any holes in her logic...

The Circle Game...

Reader Larry E. writes:

So a commission was put together to come up with a better way of teaching proper nutrition…. Cause the government is really good at that of course. So they spend a few million dollars and come up with the brilliant idea of using a … circle … yes a circle … cause it looks like a plate. In some of the articles I ran across they reminded us why government shouldn’t be doing this. The original food pyramid was modified after complaints from the cattle industry etc. that it made their products look bad. So nutrition by lobby…. Want to bet there was some of that this time too? Nice way of pulling in the belt there Mr. President…

If you know about the history of the federal government's nutrition recommendations, then you already know that there's very little science involved.  Take a healthy dollop of the current nutrition fads, add another health dollop of current financial pressures, and finally add the sheer idiocy that only politicians are qualified to bring ... and you'll have something like a “food pyramid” or our latest offering: at www.choosemyplate.gov

As if that wasn't bad enough, can you believe the ugly background color they chose?

Q.  Is there anything the government couldn't screw up?
A.  No.

Milk and Butter are Good for You?

Nutritionists change their mind so frequently, and offer conflicting results so unashamedly, that a lay reader has a great deal of difficulty keeping track of what's good and what's bad.  I've basically given up myself, and have pursued a course of mindless eating for pleasure, moderated only when my body gives me unambiguous feedback or when my wallet runs out.  But I still read about the scientists hard at work trying to understand all this.  The latest missive: turns out that milk and butter may help you resist diabetes.  Well, that's nice – I drink a lot of milk!