Remember the food pyramid when you were a kid?

I don't think that any information that is given to us as a guideline can really be trusted. We spent out whole lives believing one thing only to get that information refined a bit by various agencies, only to have that information crapped all over years later. I recall when I was in school that we would be given the food pyramid diagram in health class and the teacher, who was also our Physical Education teacher, clearly didn't give a damn about what he was teaching and just went through the motions.

This was a time of true ignorance and nobody ever questioned what we were being told, but it is just funny to me that generally speaking the pyramid has no relevance in the fitness and wellness industry these days at all.

Are you old enough to remember this? It seems so ridiculous but back in the 80's and 90's I would imagine that everyone kind of took this to heart. Go home and eat a bunch of bread and pasta if you want to be healthy! Also, make sure that you don't eat very much meat because meat is bad for you.

These days, it is generally understood in fitness circles that meals should generally be protein rich and your carb intake, regardless of if it is in the form of processed or natural carbs, should be kept to an absolute minimum. Obviously this is going to differ for someone that is doing a ton of cardio but let's be realistic here. How many people do you actually know that do a ton of cardio?

I run / jog/ walk around 30-40 km / week and I do more cardio than anyone else that I know locally. For me, I probably don't need any carbs at all and the work I am doing when I run or cycle is mainly just to keep the carbs that I do intake in check. Without this, I would probably still be ok because I also lift 5 days a week, but cardiovascular health is pretty important and I am going to need some real fuel in order to be able to participate in these activities.

It really wouldn't surprise me if this government-sponsored pyramid was actually the result of back-handers and bribes that were provided to various officials in order to promote the grain industry in the USA and perhaps other countries.

I recall when my parents, who were in their 60's at the time, did something I had never heard of before called the "Atkins diet" and lost a ton of weight in the process. Now I don't think it is a good idea for people to eat only meat and carb-free vegetables, but it is impossible to argue with the results that they experienced. They also combined this with daily hour long walks and they are pretty damn healthy for it these days.

They, like most other people, spent their entire lives being brainwashed into believing that they were not getting enough bread in their diets until one day the entire industry just kind of flipped on its head.

I don't claim to be an expert in these things but I am also very hesitant to believe someone that claims that they are, especially if they are an individual or a organization that can be bought by someone selling a product. This is also why I am very reluctant to jump on any superfood or supplement claim even if the person pushing it is in great shape and charismatic.

For me, being healthy and not fat was accomplished by a protein-heavy diet but with carbs also mixed in. When I was really trying to cut weight I all but completely eliminated carbs from my diet and it worked. This doesn't mean that what I did is going to work for other people though. I just know that there is no "one size fits all" in this game and that people should just be conscious of overuse of any of the food groups other than vegetables. I don't think there is any amount of too much of that food group unless you are deep frying them.