By Jordan Muhlestein
Like the sands of Giza, the United States may soon be home to a bunch of defunct pyramids.
The latest edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans came out this month, and may be the end of the familiar three-sided food guide pyramid.
?We?ve had the food guide pyramid for two or three rounds ,? said Dr. Russell R. Pate, a member of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. ?There?ll be changes, whether or not the pyramid will survive, I don?t know.?
Pate said the new guidelines emphasize weight loss and physical activity, a new focus for the recommendations? 25-year existence.
?There was a very heavy emphasis this time on recommendations that are expected to impact weight status,? Pate said. ?There was a concern about the increase of obesity in Americans.?
College students need to realize the importance of healthy food and active living, Pate said, even though it seems like life is too busy to follow all the guidelines.
?The future is now,? he said. ?Don?t think that at some future time you can figure out how to be physically active. To the contrary, it doesn?t get less busy.?
This edition of the guidelines, the sixth since 1980, has recommendations for healthy amounts of caloric intake of fats and sodium, as well as suggestions for servings of fruits, vegetables and carbohydrates.
One addition is the recommendation on trans fats, found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which says to keep consumption as low as possible.
Pate said many of the diet recommendations are aimed at controlling caloric intake, especially discretionary calories, additional calories consumed after dietary needs have been met. Basically, people need to earn the chance to eat unnecessary high-calorie foods by being physically active.
?If what you?d like is ? to consume some foods low in nutritional density, but high in caloric density, you need some activity in order to be able to do that,? Pate said. ?A person who is sedentary basically doesn?t have any .?
The 2005 guidelines suggest 30 minutes of exercise a day for every one, but suggest 60 minutes for those trying to prevent progressive weight gain. Pate explained that people who have lost a large amount of weight and are trying to keep it off should probably exercise 90 minutes a day.
Dr. Frank Yanowitz, medical director of the Fitness Institute at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, said people need to not think about ?exercise? but think about more ?physical activity.?
?Think, ?How am I going to get 30 minutes of moderate physical activity??? Yanowitz said. ?I can do more physically demanding work around the home and yard and that counts toward accumulating the 30 minutes of physical activity.?
Yanowitz said many people are already exercising, but 60 to 70 percent of general public are sedentary and don?t get enough physical activity, that number includes children.
?There is a lot of junk food for to enjoy,? Yanowitz said. ?There are more computer games and television watching and less emphasis on physical education.?
He said by focusing on being active and not stressing an ?exercise program,? people will be more successful in their pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. He also said ?going on a diet? is doomed to failure. The key lies in moderation, and planning what to eat.
?The public should think, ?what should I be eating, how much should I be eating, how fast should I be eating??? Yanowitz said. ?We need to slow down and enjoy our meals a little more.?
Pate, a professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina who was asked to be on the advisory committee because of his expertise in physical activity and its interactions with diet, agreed that bringing healthy foods into one?s home will help with eating right.
?We eat what?s accessible,? Pate said. ?Fruits and vegetables, skim dairy, whole grain. If that?s what you bring into your home, that is what you will tend to eat.?
Pate suggested limiting consumption of food in restaurants and selecting carefully when eating out.
Pate encouraged people to look at how they live and look for ways to eat well, as well as be more physically active.
?Don?t become one of the people who circles the parking lot for 15 minutes to find a close parking spot,? he warned. ?Don?t be one the people who stands in front of the elevator door waiting . Choose to be physically active.?
Pate and the rest of the committee finalized the recommendations for the guidelines in August and then turned it over to the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture. The departments officially released the guidelines this month.
?The whole process operates in three phases, and only two have happened,? Pate said. ?The third phase is the public communications phase. A public relations firm in Washington is in charge of that.?
When the public communications phase is finished, the world will find out if the 17-year-old pyramid will continue as the poster-child of good nutrition.