(Seemingly) Conquering Obesity One Race at a Time--The African-American Food Pyramid

From the Boston Globe. Didn't WE ALL descend from Africa? So why is there a special pyramid for the permanently-suntanned? This should be broken up by blood type and not skin color or heritage.

"A NEW NUTRITION PYRAMID FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS

Fighting the obesity epidemic and its greater impact on African-Americans was the impetus behind the new African heritage diet pyramid created by Oldways, a nonprofit nutrition education organization based in Boston. It focuses on getting back to home-cooked basic dishes that many blacks in this country grew up on - based on staples from the American South, Caribbean, South America, and, yes, Africa.

Larger image here.

Like other food pyramids and the government’s My Plate, the African diet pyramid focuses on fruits and vegetables. Greens including collard, mustard, and kale appear in the most prominent spot at the base of the pyramid, which means they should be eaten at every meal. Fruits, such as papayas, bananas, and watermelon, and root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes and carrots, are directly above and should also be eaten in plentiful amounts.

Dairy, though, is found near the top - right under sweets - with recommendations to eat limited amounts, once a day or several times a week. That’s in striking contrast to the federal government’s recommendation to drink milk or eat dairy with every meal, which has come under fire from Harvard nutrition experts.

The emphasis on less dairy is a nod to lactose intolerance, according to Oldways, which affects up to 75 percent of African Americans.

Just how much impact the new pyramid will have on rising obesity rates in the black community remains to be seen, but registered dietitian Vivien Morris, who helped develop it, told me it has been well received by African-American church groups that she’s met with."

In my opinion, they aren't going back far enough in the evolutionary timeline--nearly all of us descended from Africa, so we should all be eating Paleo (or whatever approximates Paleo in the area--meat, some nuts, some fruit, non-starchy vegetables, and clean water). Whether someone and/or his family hails from Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico, the Virgin Islands, or wherever else slaves may have washed ashore, Cameroon, Canada, or even downtown Detroit, the family tree can be traced far back enough to show an African origin. Paleo doesn't have dairy foods, and neither do the B and AB blood type diets of Dr. Adamo, which trace ancestry through origin and relevant diet.

This seems to be yet another wedge driven between us--we're ALL Africans!