Watching a video recently got me revisiting this. I did a whole post before realizing I'd already started down this same path over 8 years ago. Funny how life keeps bringing us back to the same places over and over. anyway, the WAPF dietary guidelines are excellent, but I also feel like they're going to be something that the average person will flatly refuse to deal with. Maybe there's a way to integrate their clear guidelines into a setup that offers more flexibility. I could see different foods getting different scoring maybe. Anyway, my most recent thoughts were as follows:
I don't think servings is a good measurement since what is a reasonable meal to one person is way too much for another. I somewhat like percentages, but think that might throw a lot of people off. How do others feel about ratios? Like 1 part this, 2 parts that, etc?
Another thing that I was thinking about was something where it is all about getting the vital nutrition rather than any specific 'eat this generic group'. So for example:
- Vitamin A Group - Orange vegetables like Pumpkin, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes
- Calcium Group - Dairy Products, Collards, Broccoli
- Potassium Group - Bananas, Spinach, Grapes, Blackberries
I could see having these groups for Proteins, Fiber, Omega-3 Fats, Vitamins, Minerals, Phytochemicals, etc. Something where it offers ways to overlap the parts of the total ratio so things like how some of the Vitamin A group tends to overlap some with carotenoids. Possibly a section where it is an optional 1 part allowance for purely personal things so it isn't painfully strict about processed foods for those who feel a desire for them, but also isn't counting them as valuable.
It might also need some tweeking to note that things like 'Whole grains' need to be at a certain percentage. Right now, anything with 51% whole grain gets counted for purposes of grocery labeling. That means eating those whole grains is giving you almost 50/50 for heavily refined carbohydrates. Anyway, these are my initial thoughts on how such a Permaculture Pyramid/Plate would work. This could tie into the point idea. The value gets higher the more whole grain percentages are present? Anyway, it was worth looking at things again for me at least.