Human obesity has its roots in the diet of Paleolithic man and its relationship to the diet of modern man. The diet of Paleolithic man represents thousands of years of evolution. The advent of modern mechanized agriculture took place in about 150 years ago during the industrial revolution. Agricultural progress has deviated from the diet of Paleolithic man. The introduction of foods not previously available such as refined grains, dairy, and new types of fats became commonplace. After WWII, the increased use of processed foods in abundance contributed to the epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases that have become prevalent in industrialized and technologically advancing society.
The science of food, nutrition, is a new concept. Governments, the medical community, and business have intensified their study of nutrition for different reasons. The role of the government is to provide nutritional health standards for American public. Big business and big agriculture have increased research to market new and improved food products. They have had a significant influence on our view of appropriate food choices. The medical community has contributed to government, business, and academic nutrition knowledge. Some of the nutrition knowledge base has generated multiple ideas about nutrition and diet. We are left with many conflicting ideas of healthy eating and dieting.
The USDA Food Guide Pyramid finalized in 1992, seen everywhere from the backs of cereal boxes to elementary school bulletin boards, has been proven a misleading dietary guide. The new 2006 guidelines is represented as an abstract pyramid that is web accessible only and linked to multiple pyramids according to individual calorie requirements. This is a distortion of what should be the single most important tool for improving the health of the nation. This contributes to misguided advice by health care professionals, and an epidemic of obesity.
Meanwhile, the proliferation of a billion dollar popular diet industry has attempted to fill the information gap. Popular diets focus on a single aspect of diet such as low carbohydrate, low fat, or high protein. They do not provide holistic nutritional information designed to educate but to sell their product. Most of the published diet books contain recipes instead of nutrition information. Unfortunately, popular diets have blurred the difference between nutrition science and nutrition pseudo-science.
The Food Wheel is based on all the current science and concepts embodied in revised food pyramids such as Mediterranean, Mayo, and Harvard. It addresses foundational information about the history of human nutrition from Paleolithic times to present. The Food Wheel is a guide for the individual and the family to maintain healthy eating by making family changes of eating habits and increasing activity level. The Food Wheel provides a pragmatic eating and buying guide based on current research and concepts. The Food Wheel also provides an explanation of macronutrients, micronutrients, digestion, glycemic load, glycemic index, energy density, satiation, and other underlying active principles of energy utilization. Each chapter is linked to the Food Wheel. Practical rules for eating, buying, and dieting are provided.
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