EWG's Dietary Guidelines

The Obama administration’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, were released In January. The government guidelines are supposed to represent the best "scientific" judgments on what people need to do to stay healthy.

Although the latest government guidelines, which are revised every 5 years, have reduced the cardiovascular risk from eating eggs, they still have it all wrong about grains and saturated fat.

In my opinion, as well as the opinion of many leading nutrition experts, grains containing gluten can contribute to leaky gut syndrome and should be avoided. Saturated fats and monounsaturated fats from good sources, are extremely healthy for you and should be embraced. What isn't healthy is consuming significant amounts of unsaturated vegetable oil, which contains way too much omega 6 and not enough omega 3 fats.

It appears that the 2016 edition of the guidelines, just like those before it, are confusing to consumers and are being significantly influenced by the trillion dollar food industry.

These guidelines form the federal food policy, which determines what is in school lunches. It also influences how companies label food and advertise food. These federal guidelines also significantly impacts the advice that health care professionals give to their patients.

These guidelines appear to have been influenced more by the food industry and farm-state lawmakers, rather than prominent scientists, whose recommendations were watered down in the final version.

Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and a leading food politics expert, calls the guidelines "a win for the meat, sugary drink, processed, and junk food industries."

The EWG believes that Americans need clear and unambiguous guidelines, not a document that tip-toes around the hard truth. They have put together their own guidelines, drawn from their research and databases on meat, pesticides in produce, seafood, food additives and trans fats.

The Environmental Working Group's 2016 Dietary Guidelines:

1. Eat more vegetables and fruit and avoid pesticides when you can. The overwhelming majority of Americans don’t eat enough vegetables and fruits. People can’t always find or afford organic food. EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce is an easy-to-use list of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that tend to test low for pesticide residues. EWG’s Dirty Dozen list details conventional produce that routinely test high for pesticides. EWG advises shoppers to buy organic versions of those items when possible.

2. Eat less meat, especially red and processed meat - Red and processed meats are believed to cause cancer and heart disease, and their production is bad for the environment. The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends eating no more than 18 ounces of red meats weekly – the equivalent of six hamburgers – and avoiding processed meats. Use EWG’s Meat Eater’s Guide for Climate Change and Health to find healthy, low-carbon protein alternatives.

3. Skip sodas and sugary or salty foods. EWG’s interactive Food Scores database and app helps shoppers find foods low in sodium and added sugars. Adults should limit sugar to six to 12 teaspoons a day. Children should consume even less. A single canned soft drink contains 10 teaspoons of sugar. Drink more water instead, filtered is best. Use EWG’s Water Filter Guide to find the right filter for your water and budget. Limit salt, especially if you have high blood pressure.

4. Eat healthy and sustainable seafood. Many Americans would benefit from eating more seafood rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which can lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. Pregnant women and children should steer clear of seafood with high mercury levels and should limit consumption of canned tuna. Use EWG’s Good Seafood Guide to find fish and seafood richest in omega-3s, lowest in mercury contamination and sustainably caught.

5. Beware of processed foods with harmful additives. The federal Food and Drug Administration allows more than 10,000 chemical additives in food. Some of these substances are linked to serious disorders; others haven’t been studied adequately. EWG’s Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives describes some of the most worrisome additives and gives tips on how you can avoid them. EWG’s interactive Food Scores database can steer you away from the more than 22,000 foods that contain artery-clogging trans fat, a prime culprit in the nation's epidemic of heart disease.

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