We're the government, we're here to help!

Yeah, right!

It seems like the government is always interfering with things better left alone, or meddling where they don't belong. At the beginning of the year, the U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. By law, they are required to review and possibly update the guidelines every 5 years.

Well, they updated it all right. It seems we have been given some faulty information in past guidelines, such that they are taking the drastic measures of providing us with such valuable tidbits as "Maintain calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight." and "focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages."

Oh really government? We should eat right all the time, and do it with nutrient-dense foods? I believe that this set of guidelines probably was delivered to the USDA from the U.S Department of Stating the Obvious. But at least they finally are getting it right.

For years we have been told to eat a daily mix containing a large amount of wheat and flour based items that are now being downplayed. Research in recent years has shown that processed foods and refined grains are lacking in the nutrients that their original component foods contain. The act of refining and processing these items, like sugar and white flour, has almost completely removed any nutritional value.

One of the interesting sections describes the current top sources of calories in American diets by category. It's truly horrific to note how children get the majority of their caloric intake.

For example, the number one category of caloric intake of kids age 2-18 is grain based desserts, which includes cake, cookies, pie, cobbler, sweet rolls, pastries, and donuts. This is followed directly by pizza and sodas.

Fortunately, the guidelines also include the ultimate importance of physical exercise in the caloric balance equation, shows sodium intake levels needing to decrease, and actually recognizes the differences between saturated, monosaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acids.

All in all, it looks like a massive improvement over previous nutritional guidelines, so all kidding aside.... Good work government.