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The food guide pyramid: What has it done for you lately?

© Shelly Morgan

They used to sit it on our doorstep in the wee hours of the morning, they stock our grocer's freezer with huge quantities of it, and they have been cutting it down to frying pan size for years. Every effort (in the past and present) has been made to make sure meat and dairy products are readily available for America to consume - and did we ever.

Steak was a staple, milk was devoured in its' fattiest form and no breakfast was complete without a pile of bacon, ham or sausage on your plate.

But once the milkman went away and the butcher shop wasn't a hot spot anymore, America started making healthier food choices. As heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases increased, so did America's obsession with their hearts, arteries and waistlines. We started trimming the fat from our steaks, we cut out pork, we bought lean meats and skinless chicken and turkey, we opted for skim milk instead of whole and we started cutting down on snacks and calories.

In retaliation, we got pummeled with ad campaigns for the industries responsible for our formerly declining health... remember - "Pork! The other white meat?" or "Eat Beef?" and who could ever forget "cheese glorious cheese?" But the king of all ad campaigns has to be the ever famous, "got milk?"... launched by dairy farmers and backed 115% by the United States Department of Agriculture. It's impossible to forget the got milk campaign. It's still alive and kicking today and it's endorsed by seemingly clueless celebrities who don milk mustaches all over billboards, commercials and magazine pages everywhere. I don't blame them though, I mean they are celebrities and it's clear what their motives are. But what does the government have to gain by watching America's health decline and their weight increase?

Let's think about this for a second, for every attempt at trying to control our weight, the "food industry" does something to sabotage it and the government is there every step of the way either backing it or refusing to do anything to stop it. We trim the fat and cut calories - in return "fat free" is created. So now we get to eat all the fat-free cookies, cakes and chips we want. We cut our portions, then the fast food industry responds with "Super Size it."

So again, what does the government gain from all this?

According to its mission statement, the U.S Department of Agriculture is charged with "enhancing the quality of life for the American people by supporting the production of Agriculture." So basically, it's their responsibility to assist the meat and dairy industry while promoting healthy dietary choices for Americans. Guess who gets the short end of the stick here?

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