Tales of the misunderstood: The Food Pyramid

Few things erk me as much as the Food Pyramid does. There are so many things wrong with it, yet it is advocated as the "gold standard" in nutrition and the path to healthy living.
So what's my beef with this type of diet?
First of all, let's look at how the pyramid came about. It was first published in 1978 in Denmark, but in 1992 the United States Department of Agriculture adopted it. That's right, it wasn't put together by doctors or nutritionists, but a government department who's aims are to meet the needs of farmers and promote agricultural trade and production determined what we should be eating.

Now knowing that, take another look at the pyramid.
What is sitting at the bottom? Grains. Grains are complex carbohydrates and these are not good for your body as they are broken down into sugar. This then increases your blood sugar, requiring a surge in insulin to bring your blood sugar back to base line. This stresses you pancreas and can lead to diabetes. Too much sugar in the blood will also cause damage to arteries, leading to heart disease and high blood pressure.
Dairy is also a issue, not only does it have sugar (lactose is a sugar) but cows milk is irritating to the bowel and produces sticky mucus.
The other problem is that fats are at the top. I'll let you in on a little secrete, FATS ARE NOT BAD FOR YOU! In fact, fats found in olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado and even high quality organic meat actually help you loose weight, keep your blood sugar level and decrease your chances of heart disease and diabetes.
So if the food pyramid is bad for you, why do we have it?
Money. Grains and Dairy are huge parts of the western economy, even if they are detrimental to health.
A better "pyramid" (or pie, because who doesn't like pie?), that is not influenced by money or government policy, would look like this

 

Sugars are ALL carbohydrates (including wheat products, rice, corn, potatoes, barley and oats) as well as fruit, alcohol, honey and refined sugars, like caster and brown. 

Proteins and fats include meat, eggs, nuts, seeds (including quinoa and buckwheat), oils (but you should stick to cold pressed ones) and a small amount of goat or sheep derived dairy (a little organic cow dairy now and then is ok too).

And, you read it right, 70% of your diet should be vegetables and half of that should be green. The reasons for this is simple, vegetables are full of minerals and vitamins that are good for you and are as close to natural and alive that you can get.  Meaning that they keep you young and healthy. The pie looks a lot different from the pyramid doesn't it?