The 1977 Food Pyramid and Dietary Guidelines: The Beginnings of an Epidemic
You ate what your mother made before the 1970s. Doctors, dieticians, and the government did not meddle with Mom. With the release of the 1977 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the American government for the first time in history began to prescribe food for health, marking a significant shift that began in the 1970s. Eating more carbohydrates and less fat was the conclusion.
These dietary recommendations are modified every five years due to a lack of solid scientific evidence, which typically results in them only reflecting the prevailing national sentiment. According to the most recent Dietary Guidelines, white bread is now considered unfavorable (high glycemic index, highly refined, highly processed) compared to its good (low fat) status in 1977. 1977: Nuts, fatty fish, and avocados are considered high-fat foods (did you know that they cause heart disease?). 2020: avocados, almonds, and fatty fish are all excellent choices (did you know that they reduce heart disease?)
Eating 55–60% of your daily calories as starches and other carbohydrates was the 1977 recommendation. These statements had no solid scientific foundation — rather, they were only the opinions of a few persons identifying as experts. This gave rise to the dietary pyramid in the early 1990s and the low-fat era of the 1980s, with all its counterfactual beauty.
The Growth of Dietitians
Though the full scope was not apparent for many decades, there were a number of significant issues. First, nutritionist — the idea that all foods can be understood as a combination of their macronutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) — rose as a result of the dietary standards. People began to view foods as nothing more than their constituent pieces.
