For many reasons, modern skyscrapers are much better than the pyramids left standing throughout the world. The Ancient Egyptians, Mayans and others contributed tremendously to architectural advancements, but today we don’t find it odd that the only pyramid in San Francisco’s skyline has little in common with far previous designs.
We can walk into the city’s famous buildings and see why they work better than the more stony, ancient alternatives. After taking the elevators, navigating their many climate-controlled floors, and seeing their urban views it’s clear; skyscrapers are better.
Similarly, when it comes to nutrition the whole pyramid idea should be left to ancient history. It’s not just the shape that’s misleading. A few alternative visualizations have come about, dividing quartiles of a simple dinner plate to show what to eat and how much. In another, various foods scattered throughout a rainbow-colored mountain and what appears to be an impressionistic figure ascending a staircase of dietary frustration.
One third of the United States population is obese and we’ve become dramatically fatter over the last 20 years with the food pyramid and its variants holding steady as the central meme of human nutrition.
There’s a lot more to making your body run properly than eating within the lines of the images we’ve seen so far. A seemingly benevolent vegetable such as broccoli can detoxify estrogens and alkalize the body (good things) – but it can also wreck havoc on thyroid function. Our most central nutritional guidelines oversimplify what proper human eating is all about and rather than serving our health, serve the food industry and it’s interests.
Over the next several weeks we’ll be posting helpful tips to guide you as you begin to listen to your body and ditch old health notions in pursuit of a more healthful you.
Michael Espero, Head Health Coach
