Page 4 - Winter2009

ThE WESTON A. PriCE President’s Message

FOuNdATiON ®

Education  Research  Activism

BOARD OF DIRECTORS THE USDA 2010 DIETARY GUIDELINES COMMITTEE:
Sally Fallon Morell, MA, President and Treasurer
Mary Enig, PhD, FACN, CNS, Vice President REARRANGING THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC
Geoffrey Morell, ND, JP, Secretary
Tom Cowan, MD
Cherie Calvert Every five years, the United States Department of Agriculture
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
Valerie Curry Joyner convenes a group of university and industry “experts” to update the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Congress gave USDA the mandate
GENERAL COUNSEL
James Turner, Esq. for telling us how to eat in 1980, and the original guidelines recom-
mended a “well-balanced diet” that included fruits, vegetables, grains,
HONORARY BOARD
Jen Allbritton, BS, CN legumes, dairy products and meats, and avoided “too much” sugar, salt,
Christian B. Allen, PhD
Naomi Baumslag, MD, MPH alcohol, saturated fat and cholesterol. The emphasis on carbohydrate-rich
Marie A. Bishop, CDC foods began in the late 1980s and became enshrined in the Food Guide
Jerry Brunetti
Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD Pyramid—with its base of six to eleven daily servings of bread, pasta,
Lee Clifford, MS, CCN
Christapher Cogswell, MA crackers and cereals—in 1992.
Monica Corrado The most recent guidelines—published in 2005—put more empha-
Janice Curtin
Eric Davis, BDSc, DAc, DCN sis on fruits and vegetables than grains, while limiting calories to 2300
William Campbell Douglass, MD per day, saturated fats to 10 percent of calories, total fat intake to 25-30
Sara Bachman Ducey, MS, CNS
James A. Duke, PhD percent of calories, and cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams per day.
Carol Esche, DNP, MA, RN, CNA
Mike Fitzpatrick, PhD Meats should be lean and dairy products lowfat or fat-free—horrid and
Ruth Ann Foster, MA inedible. You aren’t permitted any butter or cream on all those fruits and
Donna Gates, BS, MEd
Zac Goldsmith, Editor, The Ecologist vegetables—you have to choke them down dry to avoid exceeding your
Nicholas Gonzalez, MD limit of saturated fat. And on this starvation fare you are supposed to
Trauger Groh
Joann S. Grohman engage in “moderate-intensity physical activity” sixty to ninety minutes
Barry Anthony Groves
Beatrice Trum Hunter, MA per day.
Richard James, MBA, LLD Let’s put the cards on the table: these guidelines are not based
Mark A. Kastel
Larry Klein on science but were designed to promote the products of commodity
Kilmer McCully, AB, MD, MA (hon) agriculture and—through the back door—encourage the consumption
Frank Melograna, MD
Carlos Monteiro of processed foods. For while the USDA food police pay lip service to
Kenneth Fielding Morehead, DOM
David Morris, BS, DC reducing our intake of refined sweeteners, trans fats, white flour and
Bruce Rind, MD salt, this puritanical lowfat prescription ultimately leads to cravings and
Julia Ross, MA
Jordan S. Rubin, NMD, CNC indulgence in chips, sweets, sodas, breads and other empty food-and-
Ethan Russo, MD
Adrienne Samuels, PhD beverage-like products just loaded with refined sweeteners, trans fats,
Jack Samuels, MSHA white flour and salt.
Ron Schmid, ND
Andreas Schuld Coupled with the USDA-sanctioned industrialization of agriculture,
Frederick I. Scott, Jr, BE, MS which resulted in a huge reduction in nutrients and increase in toxins
C. Edgar Sheaffer, VMD
Ted Spence, DDS, ND in the American diet, the guidelines have caused an epidemic of suffer-
Rebecca L. Stearns, LAc, DAc
Alana Sugar, CN ing and disease, one so serious that it threatens to sink the ship of state.
Krispin Sullivan, CN But is the 2010 Guidelines Committee concerned? Are they going to
Joe Tarantolo, MD
Beverly B. Teter, PhD, FACN, CNS abandon their Frankenstein creation and scurry to the lifeboats before
John Umlauf it’s too late? Not at all. Rather than chuck out the food pyramid and their
Susun S. Weed
David Wetzel, BS horrendous strictures as a tragic and failed experiment, they are merely
Bruce West, DC
George Yu, MD fiddling with some of the details, such as how to get Americans to eat
more tomatoes. Some committee members are actually proposing reduc-
tion of the saturated fat allowance to a mere 7 percent of calories and
2 Wise Traditions WINTER 2009