PROGRESS
- Shift toward more plant foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and plant oils)
- Limit sugar, salt, and saturated fat
- Focus on overall healthy eating patterns like the Mediterranean Diet
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
- Encouraging Americans to make more than half of their grains whole
- Emphasizing the quality of dairy products over their quantity
- The DGs depiction of the Mediterranean Diet was Med Litenot the real Med Diet, which Oldways has been promoting for 25 years (we created the original Mediterranean Diet Pyramid)
- We are disappointed that the Dietary Guidelines do not include a statement about sustainability, because the best dietary advice on the planet is meaningless if we aren’t able to produce or access the foods recommended for health
OLDWAYS PUTS (THE BEST OF) THE GUIDELINES INTO PRACTICE
Despite the importance of the food-based guidelines put forward today, Oldways believes that the best dietary advice should be practical, emphasizing quality over quantity. To address this gap and translate dietary guidelines into easy action, today Oldways introduces the Oldways Cart, which shows a week’s worth of groceries for two adults. An accompanying shopping list and meal plan detail how this sample cartful of foods can be mixed and matched to make up a healthy diet, in line with the original intentions of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Check out the freshly released Oldways Cart materials here.
AVAILABLE FOR COMMENTS & ANALYSIS
- Sara Baer-Sinnott, President of Oldways
- Cynthia Harriman, Director of Food & Nutrition Strategies for Oldways & The Whole Grains Council
- Kelly Toups, MLA, RD, LDN, Oldways Program Manager and staff dietitian
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