Disturbing Counsel
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 12:00PM 
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the United States Department of Agriculture is an asphalt factory.
The USDA is responsible for providing Americans with dietary recommendations. Unfortunately, they’re also responsible for creating national and international markets for American crops, a money-driven mission that makes a mockery of diet and health.
The United States’ primary agricultural products—wheat, corn, and milk—are all carbohydrate-rich. This is not a problem in and of itself, were the USDA to recommend their consumption in moderation. They do not. The USDA asks Americans to consume over of 70% of their calories from these sources.
The financial incentive for this request, embodied by the Food Pyramid, is easy to ascertain. More carbohydrate consumption, in the form of wheat, milk, and high fructose corn syrup, subsidizes American crops and keeps the USDA in business. It benefits the economy and the American farmer, a worthy endpoint.
Regrettably, it also prescribes hyperinsulinemia to 300 million trusting souls.
Hyperinsulinemia is a state of chronically elevated blood sugar, brought about by the incessant overconsumption of carbohydrates. It is linked to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity through a very simple and undeniable causal chain.
Insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, removes sugar from the bloodstream, putting it into cellular storage for later energy production. When blood sugar is chronically elevated, insulin is unable to remove the bulk, and the pancreas ramps production back, recognizing the futility of rampant insulin release. Sugar remains in the blood stream, where it oxidizes with LDL cholesterol and creates arterial plaques.
Artery walls harden, and people die.
Clearly, money and health are at odds at the USDA, yet the conflict of interest goes unaddressed. As their mission statement illustrates, the organization is more interested in the economic benefits of high carbohydrate consumption than they are in health of the American people:
“USDA has created a strategic plan to implement its vision. The framework of this plan depends on these key activities: expanding markets for agricultural products and support(ing) international economic development, further developing alternative markets for agricultural products and activities, providing financing needed to help expand job opportunities and improve housing, utilities and infrastructure in rural America, enhancing food safety by taking steps to reduce the prevalence of foodborne hazards from farm to table, improving nutrition and health by providing food assistance and nutrition education and promotion, and managing and protecting America's public and private lands working cooperatively with other levels of government and the private sector.”
Nutrition warrants a brief mention, but actions speak louder than words. Visiting mypyramid.gov, I plugged in my statistics to get a dietary recommendation. As a 5’9”, 170-pound male with less than a half-hour of physical activity per day, the site recommended I eat 2600 calories per day, including a whopping 9 ounces of grains and 24 ounces of milk, while consuming only 6.5 ounces of meat.
Per the Zone Diet, my recommendations amounted to 27 blocks of carbohydrates, 9.5 blocks of protein, and 24 blocks of fat, a short path to hyperinsulinemia and more than enough to induce obesity.
Seemingly unaware that they’d just doomed me to poor health, the USDA left me this little gem:
“The weight you entered is above the healthy range for your height. This may increase your risk for health problems. Some people who are overweight should consider weight loss. Click here for more information about health risks and whether you should try to lose weight, or talk with your health care provider.”
The irony is palpable.
Given the USDA’s (colossally laughable) position as America’s foremost authority on nutrition, this ignorance is unforgivable, and worth fighting. The power to dictate diet needs to be removed from the hands of an organization with so much skin in the game, and transferred to individuals with the knowledge and freedom to act in the best interests of the American people.
This will not happen at the top level. Billions of dollars and an extraordinarily powerful farming lobby dictate that grassroots education and individual change are the only tenable way to affect a diet revolution in America.
American farmer or no, this will not stand. We will bring the USDA’s elemental flaw to light, one person at a time. The road to hell is still under construction, but we’re bringing the jackhammers, and the asphalt will crumble.
Chris fights obesity at Crossfit Boston. Picture courtesy of The Napping Poet.
Reader Comments (21)
Great article Jon. you are spot on saying that we need to take the power away from a large corporation and give that power to people who actually have an idea of what they are doing. Although while reading this one question spurred in my mind. What if an individual is doing starting strength for example? where they are prescribed a gallon of milk a day. just a thought
thanks,
andy
Andy,
Drinking a gallon of milk a day is a poor excuse for nutrition, and a sure path to shitty health, regardless of the individual's goals. Just because it works doesn't make it good for you!
Best,
Jon
27 blocks?! Wow, did you start at a high number or work up to that? I started the zone a few months back. I'm 5’9” and 165 lbs, I started at 14 blocks but found out quickly that it wasn't enough when doing CrossFit 4 times a week. The guys I train with said to double my fat blocks and go to 18 or 19 blocks, that helped big time. However after moving to 5 times a week I'm starting to feel like I should add a few more blocks. I noted that in CF Journal article #21 the table with examples stops at 25 blocks.
Thanks for all the vids and articles Jon, I've been following your site since October and it's really helped my progress with CrossFit.
Thanks
Joey
The power of choice resides in the people. All the info you need to lead a healthy lifestyle exists. Why so many people choose the most miserable path has always been the most difficult thing for me to understand.
Thanks for the article Jon.
Joey,
You misunderstood. The USDA recommended I eat 27 blocks of carbohydrates per day. It's almost as much as I eat in four days. I'm currently on 16 blocks at two times fat, at a half carb load, with fat replacing the missing carbs.
Four meals per day, 4 blocks protein, 14 blocks of fat, 2 blocks of carbs.
You're eating too much. Dial your blocks back and up the fat.
Best,
Jon
Jon, fantastic article. If you're inclined, I would love to see you discuss your menu in a new article or comment--I think a lot of people would be surprised at how much good food can be packed into a 16 block prescription (especially at 2x the fat).
Thanks for the clarification Jon, I read "Per the Zone Diet" and glance over the other part. My bad.
I'll take your recommendation and see how that works.
Joey
Jon-good stuff bud! I'd be just as interested to here your formal take on the FDA. I've been doing some reasearch, those folks are seriously evil.
Always,
Mike
Great piece Jon. Ive been really enjoying your writing lately.
Keep it up!
-Justin
Bravo!!
Once again Jon you've said what I've wanted to say so, only so much more eloquently and concisely than I ever could.
I will forward this article on to all my clients immediately to help spread the truth here in Australia with one edit - DAA (Dietary Association of Australia) in place of USDA - identical guidelines.
Thanks again.
Jon,
When I say the same thing over here, pertaining to the UK Government's seemingly pathological obsession with making sure we're all obese and ravaged with hyperinsulinemia, I have oft been cited as a conspiracy theorist with my head firmly ensconced where it ought not be. Clearly, it seems we're all in agreement. From the US to Australia and back to the UK - the guidelines are a recipe for misery, disease and death. The more noise we make about this, the more people will be educated. That's what we're here for.
I feel less like the crazy man shouting at cars now you've written this brother.
Craig,
You can still shout at cars. Don't let me stop you!
Best,
Jon
"The road to hell is still under construction, but we’re bringing the jackhammers, and the asphalt will crumble. "
Great line!
Jon you make several cogent points.
The USDA is another enormous redistribution of taxpayer dollars. It is just another failed bureaucracy and yes it does make people think they are eating well by following USDA lead. The only flaw in your article I would like to point out, that in no way, is this redistribution to farmers beneficial to the economy nor to responsible farmers.
You mention, “The USDA asks Americans to consume over of 70% of their calories from [carbohydrate] sources.” You also quote at length from their mission statement which smacks of governmental corruption. To see this scandal in full bloom simply look at the gargantuan subsidies corporate farmers receive. These subsidies have been around since the New Deal. And the idea that "It benefits the economy and the American farmer..." is part of the reason why they never disappear. To use the modern parlance it is merely a perpetual “bailout” for farmers…only worse.
See Tom Woods' Plunder or Enterprise: The World's Choice
Burton Folsom's The Origin of American Farm Subsidies Brian M. Riedl's How Farm Subsidies Harm Taxpayers, Consumers, and Farmers, Too and Tom Dilorenzo's Farmed Robbery See also Woods’ brief discussion of interventionist economic policies here.
You are correct in your assessment that “[B]illions of dollars and an extraordinarily powerful farming lobby” necessitate that those of us with a background in sound nutritional and exercise science let our message be heard loud and clear. It is up to us to sound the clarion call which we are well prepared to do.
You are also right we have little effect on those at the top. But let us think about them (those at the top) for just a moment. Let us not forget those parties truly responsible. Who controls those dollars once they leave the farming lobby’s hand? Or any other lobby for that matter. We all know it is the Congress. The farmers are only there trying to receive freebies from the governments trough. But as Milton Friedman once said, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Moreover, it’s not simply the abuse of power but their power to abuse we must be leery of. Consider the damage done by such a woefully flawed dietary program and think of any other nationally subsidized program. Then we should consider George Washington’s wise counsel "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
Jon, I heartily agree. Let us take heed and do everything we can to affect change in our local communities one citizen at a time. Let me know when you are ready…I’ll load my up my truck with jackhammers and meet you in Washington.
Best,
Matt
Great article! I love this site. I am just beginning to research the zone. My stats are male 30yrs 5'8" 145lbs. Typical hard gainer. Any recommendations?
Armandi,
Eat more. No sarcasm intended or implied.
Best,
Jon
HaHa yeah I know! I need to eat more but make sure I eat clean. Im wondering how I should break the Zone blocks down.
Great article Jon!
The paragraph on insulin really helped things click for me. I follow Zone/Paleo pretty closely but my LDL has always been on the high side. If I control my insulin thru diet (which I do) then the LDL won't oxidize and form plaque. Thanks for clarifying that for me.
Another beautiful thing about the grassroots movement for REAL advice about nutrition is that by eating more vegetables/fruits and free range meat this generally causes the consumer to support smaller and more local farms. This is beneficial to the real american farmer, not the agribusiness farmer.
Thanks for the post.
Jon, Great article!
I have been looking into this myself for my own similar article. I agree that economics is the strong driver of the USDA but I am looking at it from a different point. If you think about the current cost of protein vs the cost of carbs for the consumer, what costs more? A bag of Doritos or a loaf of bread is less than a pound of beef (of course its grain fed beef, more on that later). With diverse economic classes in the US do you think it would be politically smart for the USDA to recommend a diet that for some may be financially impossible? That would mean either the government would have to do something to close the gap between the economic classes (which it hasn't and can be argued whether it should) or it would be perceived as the gov't oppressing the health of lower classes. Of course there are faults in this, obviously costs drop as production increases and becomes more efficient however how much cheaper can quality protein get? Back to the grain fed beef idea, grass fed beef is far superior and has fat ratios closer to fish, which has been proven to be far superior nutritionally. In order to raise grass fed cattle for beef they need to be raised longer to get their weight up, the longer it takes to raise the cattle the more money it costs which means higher prices for consumers. Not to mention the land required to raise a grass fed steer, more land=more cost, more cost= higher consumer prices.
Whatever rational the government uses to justify their recommendations needs to be considered with caution. Government funded studies can be just as bad as corporate funded studies, they can influence what their desired outcome is.
It appears to me that the USDA's recommendations are economically as well as politically driven, health seems to be a limited factor when deciding what our dietary guidelines should be. I am in 100% agreeance with you on the need for dietary guidelines to be placed in the hands of individuals/groups independent of governmental/political connections that posses the knowledge and freedom to act in the best interests of the American people.
I had never heard of mypyramid.gov until today in the breakroom at work. Someone was having a frozen dinner and I looked at the box. It said that according to mypyramid.gov this meal constisted of 20% of the daily requirement for vegetables. The meal contained a pork patty, corn and mashed potatoes. Ugh. The marketing is unbelievable!