- Pacific
(NaturalNews) The average U.S. consumer eats significantly too much meat and
grain, and not enough fruits or vegetables, according to data form the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's (USDA's) Economic Research Service.
The USDA estimates food consumption by tracking how much food is produced and circulating
through the U.S. food system ("food availability"), then adjusting that for
losses such as spoilage, inedible parts of vegetables, and food that is cooked but not
consumed. These values are then divided by the population to get an estimate of per-capita
consumption.
According to these figures, the average U.S. resident consumes 30 percent too much grain,
primarily in the form of bread. The data given do not specify whether this is mostly whole
or refined grains; if refined, it is possible that people are both overconsuming grain in
general and underconsuming whole grain in particular.
Meat consumption is 20 percent higher than recommended.
"And the dietary recommendations
aren't exactly skimpy on meat,"
writes Tom Philpott on Grist.org.
In contrast, vegetable consumption is 20 percent too low, and fruit consumption is a
shocking 60 percent too low.
Dairy consumption is estimated at 40 percent too low, but the USDA's dairy recommendations
are controversial, as there are many other dietary sources of calcium, fat and protein.
The USDA attributes U.S.
overconsumption of calories in part to "supersizing of food portions by food processors, eating places, and cookbook
authors." Yet as Philpott notes, federal policies bear much of the responsibility for
U.S. dietary habits.
"The federal government has facilitated the abundant availability of meat in a
variety of ways -- through massive subsidies of livestock feed crops like corn and soy, by
looking the other way as meat packers consolidated and drove down the price of meat, and
by allowing meat packers to externalize public-health costs and environmental costs, and keep
labor costs to a minimum at expense of worker safety," he writes.
"In short, the net effect of federal policy has been to encourage the public's
appetite for meat, by creating an environment in which cheap meat thrives." (Natural News, 8.30.2010,
David Gutierrez, staff writer) http://www.naturalnews.com/z029603_meat_fruit.html
Sources for this story include:
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-0... http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/....
The fact is that "political correctness" is all about creating uniformity. Individualism is one of the biggest obstacles in the way of the New World Order. They want a public that is predictable and conditioned to do as it's told without asking questions.
"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." Thomas Jefferson
Knowledge is the key to good health!