There is a new ‘Food Guide’, in which the government and the Nutrition Centre set out their views on how the population ‘should or ought to eat’. It is a guide with a moral compass, as key drivers behind this new version are the reduction of lifestyle-related diseases, including obesity, and the shift in diet from animal-based to plant-based foods. Numerous reports are appearing in the Dutch media, and the most striking ones concern ‘being allowed to eat just one meatball a week’ and the reduction of full-fat dairy. More vegetarian, more beans (pulses), less meat is the message. Do they really have our best interests at heart?

The new Wheele of Five (voedingscentrum.nl)

Substances versus properties

The new version of the ‘Food Wheel’ completely overlooks another necessary shift: moving away from industrially processed foods towards more unprocessed foods, and from dead to living foods. Cooking for oneself rather than relying on industrially prepared meals. The way we think about food still focuses on substances (ingredients) rather than on the food matrix and the quality of food. The problem with current dietary advice stems from earlier recommendations, which originated in the 1980s and 1990s, when the same governments and advisers sought to make the world healthier in terms of cardiovascular disease and lowering cholesterol levels. The result: we were told to cut out animal fats and replace them with (processed) vegetable oil. The shameless increase in portion sizes (drinks, burgers), combined with massive sugar consumption, has made people worldwide obese, overweight or fat. What is even more damaging, however, is the rise in low-grade inflammation, which is not solely caused by being overweight. The industry still wants us to believe that we don’t exercise enough; lifestyle diseases must not be caused by any food whatsoever. The industrial lobby makes sure of that.

The food pyramid approach therefore completely ignores how food is prepared. Although there has long been awareness of the Mediterranean diet, it remains stuck in a mindset focused on substances and nutrients. It is a food guide based on ingredients and nutritients, not on processes or methods of preparation, and even less so on origin, how an animal has lived, or whether a product is organic or not.

As a result, there is a complete lack of information about differences in food products – for example, whether a product is made from summer or winter milk, whether it is made from raw milk or pasteurised milk, whether it has been left to ripen or picked too early, whether it has been fermented or not, and so on. Yet we should surely know by now that white cabbage works differently from the sauerkraut you make from the same cabbage, just as the yoghurt or kefir you make from the same litre of milk does.

Nutrition according to Weston Price

I was wondering whether one might not derive a ‘five-step’ guideline from the work of Weston Price, from a time when people still used their everyday diet to raise a healthy next generation, without caesarean section, without obesity, and without non-communicable diseases. The communities Price visited between 1930 and 1940 were all keen on animal products. Their problem, however, was that such animal products were often in short supply. These people ate whole grain products, knew how to handle raw foods and used fermentation to preserve their summer surpluses. They lived in harmony with the seasons. They were unfamiliar with pesticides and had no exposure to PFAS or microplastics. They did not use antibiotics for themselves or their animals. All these elements of their diet are completely overlooked by the food pyramid. And, they were not obese.

I’m going to make a bold claim and say that you don’t need the ‘new Wheel of Five’ at all if you focus on a few simple choices in your meals and how you prepare your food:

• Choose organic products
• Eat a predominantly plant-based diet, making grains (and pulses) the staple of your diet. In a 2:1 ratio, most combinations of grains and pulses provide a high-quality protein that is comparable to animal protein.
• Ferment some of your staple foods (sourdough bread, sauerkraut, yoghurt) and, above all, your summer surplus (milk becomes cheese and butter)
• Make sure you include a sufficient proportion of unprocessed and raw foods, particularly vegetables
• Eat the whole animal, including all its organs and bones; once again, observe the slaughter month of November, which usually marks the end of the grazing season
• Make a distinction between eating the animal itself and products derived from a living animal, such as eggs and milk. Opt primarily for eggs and dairy products rather than meat
• Ensure that the animals you eat lead a fulfilling life; limit their daily output; extend their potential lifespan through breeding
• Choose grass-fed dairy products, summer milk
• Include game and wild-caught fish in moderation
• Prepared fresh every day using local produce, and eaten in moderation

And the milk products?

When these principles are applied to milk and dairy products, they involve a grass-fed herd that calves mainly in late winter and early spring. The milk is derived mainly from grass; the cows graze outdoors in the sun, making the milk rich in vitamins A and D. The summer surplus is fermented daily into raw (drinking) dairy products and farmhouse cheese, rich in vitamin K2. A good farmhouse cheese, made from summer grass, can easily be stored for 1–2 years. There is limited meat available, as the cows are kept primarily for milk production. The whole animal is consumed, particularly the value of animal fat, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and pasture-derived CLA, as well as the milk fat, cheese and butter.

Of course, the above isn’t the ‘Wheele of Five’ guide, but a different approach to achieving a healthier diet. It’s based on experience from a time when people stayed healthy without the need for doctors or dentists.