What's unsurprising about the release of the 2010 federal dietary guidelines? It took place in 2011. What is surprising? The language. Someone in the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services decided that it would useful for Americans to be able understand what the government was telling them about food, so this iteration of the feds' recommended diet, updated every five years, is the clearest yet. Of course, clarity is relative. There is lots of emphasis on limiting salt, and the recommendations on fats, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, and fiber remain unchanged from the 2005 edition. Your government would like to remind you to cut calorie consumption and increase physical activity. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, only easier to understand.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Although the general outline seems sensible at first glance, one detail caught my attention: the USDA/HHS guidelines now recommend the lower sodium limit of 1500 mg/day for people 51 and over. Maybe I’m wrong, but wasn’t this “40 and over†in the last round of guidelines? A 10-year delay in implementing the shift means a lot more cases of incipient and actual hypertension and kidney disease in the population as a whole. I have to wonder whether the higher starting age was a way to keep the processed food and restaurant industries happy–people 40-50 are a big chunk of their target audience. And the USDA wasn’t exactly emphasizing the other main lower-sodium criterion, overweight. If 2 out of 3 adults, say age 20 and over, are overweight, really the majority of everyone should be going for less than 2000 mg sodium per day. You simply can’t do that while eating at a chain restaurant or eating from the middle aisles at the supermarket.
Nice summary. I agree with Michael Pollan, “Eat food, not to much, mostly plants.â€Â
But, on some level I appreciate what they are trying to do. To tell an individual who isn’t following ANY of these guidelines (like many Americans) to radically change everything they are doing will result in absolutely nothing getting accomplished. Giving people incremental changes to work towards can be helpful.
That said, I agree with you that people need to have more concrete suggestions like “eat beans and nuts for protein and less meatâ€Â. However, it also matters how those beans and nuts are consumed.
A huge part of the problem is that there has been a remarkable decrease in people knowing how to prepare foods for themselves at home. Sodium content WILL be reduced if you are eating food that you’ve cooked from scratch. I’d like to see the government give monetary incentives to supermarkets for offering basic cooking classes and public school’s subsidies for adding meaningful home-ec. classes. People need to feel comfortable in their own kitchens before most of these guidelines can be truly meaningful.