The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans
from the US government emphasizes proper eating and physical activity
over weight loss and calorie-restricted diets. It does suggest lower
calorie consumption through a switch to less processed foods, but the
goal is to avoid “excess calories” not simply to cut calories. The
Guidelines are ambivalent about the role of weight in health, generally
acknowledging that physical activity and diet are to blame, except in
the chapter on weight management itself. For example, the Executive
Summary starts:
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans [Dietary Guidelines]
provides science-based advice to promote health and to reduce risk for
major chronic diseases through diet and physical activity. Major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States are related to poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
Some specific diseases linked to poor diet and physical inactivity
include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertenstion,
osteoporosis, and certain cancers. Furthermore, poor diet and physical
inactivity, resulting in an energy imbalance (more calories consumed
than expended), are the most important factors contributing to the
increase in overweight and obesity in this country. [emphasis added]
Unlike the infamous CDC study,
this makes clear that the issue is not simply how much one weighs,
although it still uses the inexact but inflexible BMI as the measure of
healthy weight for all adults.
