The cartwheel versus the pyramid.

We all know the SAD (Standard Australian/American Diet) Pyramid. You know the one. The one with the solid foundation of healthy whole grains, held together with smatterings of lean meat, fruits, vegetables, and lovingly topped with a small drop of golden vegetable oil.

Just in case you've been living on Pluto for the past 40 years, here it is:

The biggest problem with this representation of our diet is that it WAY over-emphasis the very food group that (1) destabilises our insulin production (which in turn drives fat storage and other unpleasant stuff), and (2) provides the least nutrition. The foods in all the other groups provide plenty more nutrients in our diet (provided you are eating them as close to a natural source as possible - and no, industrial vegetable/seed/nut oils are NOT in a natural form). Grains are empty calories devoid of nutrition.

Let's back the Studebaker back over to 1959 and let's see what the representation was of our diet at that time.

Yes folks, it's the diet cartwheel! Oh, I love this. What a great representation. The best thing about this is that it doesn't overemphasise any one food group. All are equal in importance for a balanced diet.

The pyramid is clearly not balanced. In my high carb/low fat days, I religiously followed the pyramid. I checked nutrition labels of food I was buying to make sure I was not eating too much fat and that the grains were whole grain. Well, that all lead to the unpleasant side-effects I was experiencing. As soon as I got off the grains, especially wheat, and upped my protein and (natural) fat intake, I started feeling like superman.

We can learn a lot from the way we used to eat, before the "experts" got involved and screwed it up.