Tip of the day: don’t listen to nutrition advice given by fat people.
The exact picture of an optimal human diet isn’t yet entirely clear, but one thing is abundantly clear: the USDA recommendation (MyPlateOfMetabolicSyndrome, formerly called the Pyramid Scheme) is a disaster for everyone.
It advocates what amounts to 60% of calories from carbs, and most of that from grains (which means the multiple-threat all-purpose human toxin sold to you as “wheat”).
“The first lady said families realize the country is facing a “health crisis,””
That is correct, actually. The incidence of non-infectious chronic diseases is rising faster than the GNP. We cannot afford a healthcare system for it (whether that system actually works or not).
Poster child for the problem is the Type 2 (not 1) Diabetes trend. Not just high. Not just rising. Accelerating. T2D is arguably a “non disease” that is merely a largely predictable metabolic response to a full time moderate to high glycemic diet (such as the USDA MyPlate). T2D is easily reversed at the syndrome and pre-diabetes stages with diet. It is usually reversible after that, depending on the severity of irreversible side effects.
Shifting to any of several low-carb high-fat diets (LCHF, paleo, primal, Wheat Belly, etc.) would be a vast and prompt improvement for most people, for a wide variety of ailments (and weight). The recent cover of Time “Eat Butter” signals that what the low carb community has known for years is now starting to show up in pop culture.
Phasing out government schools would also make the instant problem (school lunches) a non-issue.
Corn - This is the chief grain fed to hogs in the United States. It is usually the cheapest grain and when fed with skim milk, pasture or some nitrogenous food it is the most effective of all grains in producing rapid and cheap gains.
The US policy of cheap food serves to keep the masses from becoming disagreeable as government asserts ever more control over daily lives of the average American.