Felicia: Y'all, I feel like last week or two have been a bit of a whirlwind in the political world. Just I feel like so much, so much has been going on in the past one or two weeks. But today ⁓ we're only just going to be focusing on the one that I definitely have had a lot of you already come into me asking about, and that is comments, my thoughts on the brand new 2026 food pyramid dietary guidelines that. Our US government has now put out. Everyone's talking about it right now. And so we're actually going to be doing a deep dive into my thoughts. I've actually taken taking a quite some time to gather my thoughts in regards to this, ⁓ take notes, kind of things I want to talk about. And we are going to be discussing all the things in regards to the new dietary guidelines food pyramid. So welcome back, y'all, to the Grains and Grit Podcast. This is the podcast. An extension of the Grains and Great YouTube channel, but with the podcast, it says this is unedited, unscripted. We just sit down and have a chat. So this one's probably going to be a bit longer than usual because there's so much to cover. And so be sure to grab some coffee, some tea, maybe even a notepad to take some notes because we're going to be going there. Deep dive, deep dive into all of this. And again, there is so much to expose. Whenever I first saw this food pyramid come out. ⁓ boy. And I I saw that. It's like we definitely need to address this. ⁓ and then I started watching like the ⁓ the press announcement, ⁓ the press conference about it. Both of them actually that I've seen, including the one that was done actually at the White House, so on and so forth. So I could I just really want to make sure that I've gathered as much information for y'all and actually giving y'all just accurate information because I think a lot of this as with anything that comes out, especially with the government politics, people definitely react. There's a emotional reaction, there's a gut reaction. People just instantly react. And I kind of wanted to take the time to think on things first before I just came out about certain things. And I and I in a way, in many ways, I am glad that I did because that allowed me to gather more information to make sure we're we actually understand what's going on here. Okay, so first of all, ⁓ before we begin, full disclaimer. Okay. Disclaimer, y'all. Every time that ⁓ now I teach all about real whole grains, whole milling, things like that from a biblical perspective. But anytime that I dare mention anything about politics or what people deem falls under politics, ⁓ I kind of get crucified a little bit. So ⁓ but I do feel people say, like, I don't want to hear about politics. This is I come here for bread, so on and so forth. But y'all, let's be realistic. We do live in this world. And whenever politics, government policy, things like that cross over to this channel, like we're talking about grains, we're talking about food, then yes, I'm going to comment about it. However, with this being said, I want us to all be adults here. Okay. ⁓ regardless of how you feel about this administration. Regardless of how you feel about government, there are just certain facts that we need to discuss. So I'm asking y'all to let's all be adults here. Let's put on our big boy and girl panties and not just react emotionally. So let me give you an example. If you're wondering, ⁓ I can totally listen to this without any emotion. So let me give you an example of how something like this, something like food, can cause people to go at each other's throats. So we are gonna test these emotions right now. So for example, if I was to say Trump, President Trump is the greatest president the United States has ever had, I want you to take a moment, acknowledge how you feel about that. Okay. Take a moment. How do I feel about this? What emotions am I feeling right now? All right, now let's go to this statement. President Trump is the worst president, the United States. has ever had. And I want you to think about how you feel about that. Acknowledge it. Acknowledge these feelings. Acknowledge these emotions. And now I want you to set them all aside. I want you to set those emotions aside. Because I will go ahead and let you know that what I'm about to disclose, I would be saying no matter who the current administration is, it doesn't matter if it is Trump, if it was Biden, if it's Obama, your mama, ⁓ it doesn't really matter, whoever the current administration is in regards to the food pyramid, these dietary guidelines, and the things that I'm going to be saying about it. ⁓ so I just want to make that clear that we need to have this discussion without thinking how we feel about the current administration. Same thing with let us have discussions about, for example, COVID or vaccines, all of these hot topic issues. without thinking and regarding of who was in office during that time that you were thinking it, because we still can have these discussions, but I think people tend to be more biased one way or another, whether they like or hate the current administration. So that's a big, huge, long disclaimer to put there and encourage y'all to let's think logically about this. Let's set aside our emotions. And that also includes just the emotions that we feel about diet. Overall, because diet actually re ⁓ you start talking about people's food, that definitely gets an emotional response from people. ⁓ so we need to acknowledge that these emotions exist, but let us allow us to set them aside and actually look at things logically. And also we're going to be looking at things biblically as well through the lens of scripture, because that is definitely what we do here. That is a foundation for everything that I do is the Bible, the word of God. And so Hopefully that was a very long disclaimer there to finally get to our point. So let's discuss this, all the thoughts that I have about this new food pyramid dietary guidelines. So, first of all, I will go ahead and tell you my very first initial thoughts. So we're actually going to pull up the new food pyramid that was released. So this is the graphic that probably every one of you have seen floating around. So even if you're just listening to this. Not actually watching this podcast on YouTube, just know this is the graphic of the new food pyramid that that pretty much all of y'all have seen. So we're gonna add this right here. So this is the new food pyramid that's now out. ⁓ it is an inverted triangle. And I know the very first thought that came to my head, my head was: hmm, that's interesting. Why did they invert the triangle? So This is where we put on our tinfoil hats in a way, because anybody who has studied other religions, false religions, the occult, especially Gnosticism, if you ever read the Da Vinci Code, which that's a throwback ⁓ way back, ⁓ the inverted triangle, an upside down triangle, as you will, has huge significance in the occult. And so I thought it was very interesting that they flipped the triangle because this is actually a very well-known sign for a the the divine feminine, which if you've ever gone down that rabbit hole, and there are channels out there that talk about this, it is a very, very anti-god philosophy. It's a Eastern mysticism, mysticism. ⁓ I mean, it goes back way back thousands of years. Most religions in the world with the exception of Christian of real biblical Christianity is all about the divine feminine in some way, the feminine goddess, ⁓ those type of things. And there's definitely a movement ⁓ to get back to the divine feminine. And that's a whole rabbit trail right there. Let me tell you. Like if you know, you know. And if this sounds new to you, this may be a surprise. But for those who might have studied it, who are familiar with this concept, ⁓ that's actually one of the first thoughts that I that came to my mind was wow, they they switched it where the regular pyramid, as you would regularly draw a triangle, would typically be the symbol for masculinity. The inverted triangle is a symbol for the divine feminine, the feminine. And then whenever you put them together, that's where you get like the star of David type thing, which is actually the star of reframe, ⁓ rim frame. ⁓ an Eastern mysticism thing, go back then another rabbit hole, all all the things, all the things. So that was actually my first thought when I first saw this. Was I thought it's interesting? That's very interesting. They inverted it. Now, according to the ⁓ the press conference that I saw where RFK Jr. he actually stated that they inverted it because basically they stated that we we are now showing the pyramid we in the right way that it should have been done. So that's the reason that they said it. But I just found it. Very interesting. And my tinfold hat kind of went on there. That it was instantly a symbol for the divine feminine ancient symbol. Anyway, so that may have surprised you that those were my first thoughts. But I'll be honest, they they were. They those are my first thoughts. And then of course the second thought soon after that was, ⁓ of course, whole grains is like the smallest part of the pyramid that they are recommending the least, or so the graphic seems to portray. And this is where ⁓ I want y'all to start actually looking into if you haven't actually watched the press conferences that they ⁓ that they did to release this to talk about the new food dietary guidelines, I would encourage you to do so. ⁓ the the first one I watched was actually the one where they were actually with the press secretary in the White House press room and she kind of in she was introducing everyone and and they talked about it. So do know that that one stated like it was like an hour and a half, but it was only like 30 minutes that they actually did that. And then after that I cut off because then they were answering questions about, you know, Venezuela and whatever else is going on with the government at that time. So ⁓ just know it's only about 30 minutes. But that was my first one. And then I didn't quite finish the one where HHS did themselves ⁓ to release this, but from what I was listening to, a lot of it was very similar. A lot of the same things. Excuse me. So ⁓ so what the image shows is, I would say, not actually super accurate to what they are actually recommending in the dietary guidelines, which is disappointing in a way because images, this image is what everyone sees. This image is what every like most everyone took and then formed all of their opinions. And in this world where everything is visual and on social media, they they Really should have taken that in mind. And from what I have combed through with the dietary guidelines and everything, the image does not seem to be accurately portraying what is in the guidelines. And we're gonna get into that in a bit. but I will say the press conferences were very interesting, as well as the I'm just grabbing my notes here, as the actual dietary guidelines that you can read yourself. ⁓ it is the dietary guidelines for Americans from the USDA. I think if you go to C D N is a Nancy dot realfood.gov, ⁓ that's where you can see them. And a lot of this is kind of what they were stating in the press conference. And I want to kind of dive into this because there's a reason why this was done. So the last food pyramid that came out, the last dietary guidelines, if I remember right, was like in the 1960s. And well, or 1970s. I think it was the 1970s. And that's also happens to be when they really started tracking obesity rates and things like that here in the United States. And then they came out with these dietary guidelines because already back then they were seeing a lot of red flags. And you may have remembered the old dietary pyramid where like whole grains was the base at the very bottom, and then fruits and vegetables. And then there was the dairy, which come the nineties, they were really recommending like the low-fat dairy, which I definitely disagree with. ⁓ and then like meats, fish, and or sorry, like fish and ⁓ your proteins. And then above that was then like your meat, and then at the very tip of the pyramid, smaller amounts are sugars, oils, those type of things. And so this is this is definitely changed and it definitely sounded like thing, and we obviously knew things needed to be changed. And that was really coming out in the press conference and also just in the message from ⁓ RFK Jr. himself. And so much of this, I was like, ⁓ yeah, this is so true. I don't, I think, regardless of where you stand politically, I think we can all agree the health of this country has is not that great. And they were coming out with. They stated that more than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese, which is a lot. Nearly one in three American adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 has pre-diabetes. And they were coming out with all of these statistics that were quite alarming. One of them they said is for ⁓ for children, about up to 60% of their diet is processed foods. 60% of a child's diet being up to ⁓ up to that in processed foods. And then the one statistic that was absolutely alarming, and I don't know if they put that anywhere else other than in the press conference, is they stated that 77% of military age people in this country, which they did not state military age, but logically speaking, that is I mean the Prime would be 18 to somewhere in your twenties, I would think. But bottom line is I I got the impression those who would be drafted, the age that would be drafted if a draft ever happened, 77% of them are unfit for military service due to health issues, their weight, their diet, things like that. And they pointed out that if you really wanted to invade America, get the people sick where they couldn't, they were unfit. for combat duty. And I when I heard that, knowing that 77% of those who were of the age to, if we were invaded and were would be called up to fight or at least the optimal age to fight and defend this country, the fact that most well over most of them are unable to do so, that's just That's not good. And not just from a defense standpoint, just knowing that it's that many people that are supposed to be in the prime of their life, that they're not that they're they're not healthy to do things like that. This is the prime of your life. You should be perfectly healthy. And 77% of them aren't. Like that that absolutely blew my mind. And then also just the amount of processed foods, which you know, I think we generally knew that kids were. amount of sugar that they put in cereals and all of that type of stuff that we're feeding to our kids, I think many of us kind of already knew that. But to actually hear those statistics, to hear of how many young people, again, that should be in the primer of their life or they are growing children, how many of them are obese, they're sick, they have health issues, so on and so forth. And I know that there are other factors involved besides diet. But Everybody eats and we eat multiple times a day. And this definitely is a big, huge part of it. So that was some interesting statistics that they were coming out in the press conference. And some of that also is in, I'm trying to pull up my notes here. No, come on. Come on. Okay, there we go. And some of it actually is in ⁓ like the message from RFK Jr. in the dietary guidelines, ⁓ things like that. And so I I do recommend watching that. Now, a few things. Let's get to the basic facts of the dietary guidelines. I'm gonna remove this here now. Okay, so here's just some basic facts that they have stated in the dietary guidelines. And one of them is ⁓ the big one that they've said is overall, the message is simple eat real food, which is kind of a duh, you know. But we also have the problem people generally don't know what real food is anymore. I mean, we have so many food like products out there. And y'all, I just talk about bread and just bread like products alone is insane of how much of the market that actually takes. So that is overall what they are getting across with these new dietary guidelines, is just eat real food. Just it's simple. Eat real food. And I also say that as well. So does a net reader with a biblical nutritionist as far as what would what should we be eating, especially as Christians, the three principles. Of healthy living. This is in ⁓ Dr. Rex Russell's book. ⁓ the biblical, ⁓ I'm blinking. Hold on, I have it here. ⁓ the Dr. Rex Russell's what the Bible says about healthy living. There you go. Three main principles. One is eat the foods that God has given us for food, two, eat it as close to the way as God gave it, gave it to us as food as possible. And number three, don't let anything become an addiction, because addictions mean that you place something over the Lord. Which we should not be doing as Christians. And it's kind of really that simple. The Bible's been saying that all along, but you know, we sometimes need to be reminded. However, the problem is again, is that we kind of don't we don't know what real food is anymore. And people kind of need to be reminded. Okay. So, and the point of this, and also other things that they were saying, ⁓ my word, I didn't even write these down. So I wanted to go back, yeah, because one thing they stated is why food is so important. Why This needed matter. And trust me, I was super excited when RFK Jr. was coming in to do this about making America healthy again, knowing that there'll be real changes. I was really excited about it because one thing that they've they said is statistically speaking, nearly 90% of healthcare spending goes to treating people in this country who have chronic diseases. And many of these illnesses are not genetic. They are the predictable result of the standard American diet, the SAD diet, which is generally highly processed foods and also sedentary lifestyle. And so that is so much. And one thing that they were pointing out was that if people just get healthy again, that's less that we spend on healthcare. That's more than that, maybe they're able to work. And so that increases the GDP of this nation. And again, it doesn't matter what you think about RFK, about Trump. It doesn't matter. It does not matter because I think we can all agree that healthy people is a good thing. Okay. Having more healthy people and not burdening our healthcare system so much with diseases and sicknesses that are can that can be prevented. Okay. I think we can agree that something has got to change. So that is the basis of the new dietary guidelines is overall eat real food. Now let's dive into what that is. What actually does this food pyramid show? I'm gonna add this, add this up here again. Okay, because one thing that I definitely noticed is it does appear from this diagram that they are really pushing the protein, dairy, healthy fats, and fruits and vegetables and whole grains very, very small. But what they say has been different. Because ⁓ they kind of just it seems like they kind of all lump this together. Yep, we just need to eat healthy protein, dairy, and healthy fats, fruits and vegetables and real and and whole grains. And they kind of just throw that out there in whole grains. And they do have dietary guidelines like of how much of each one that you should be consuming each day based on the amount of calories that you should be consuming. And that is based on your age and your weight and your sex and you know, those type of things. So they have all of those out there, but I was at least pleased that they weren't completely throwing out whole grains. However, with the category of whole grains, people still don't know what whole grains really is. So even in their dietary guidelines, they gave an example. And one of them, for example, was like half a cup of cooked whole grains. And they gave an example of oats, quinoa, ⁓ what was yeah, there's some other ones. Or they said one slice of bread. Or one tortilla. Well, there is a whole different, it's a whole different ballgame of that one slice of bread if it is store-bought versus made with 100% freshly milled flour that you mill yourself and bake and eat fresh at home. ⁓ so there's still a lot of confusion with whole grains because by whole grains, what I mean by whole grains are especially with wheat, is that you are milling the wheat yourself. And making 100% whole grain flour at home and you're baking it fresh. You're milling it fresh, you're baking it fresh, and you're eating it fresh. And those are gonna get you the best nutrients. Now there are other whole grains. Now I was extremely disappointed if you look at this graphic here. I saw no beans. If they have beans here, I cannot tell. So it must it's gotta be a graphic that I just cannot see. And I was like, Where are the beans? Are you kidding me? Like, where are the beans? They do actually. ⁓ state it in the actual guidelines. They put it actually in with the protein. They lump the beans in with the protein. And we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna have a little moment here to talk about the bean, the humble bean. ⁓ Beans are incredible because beans actually are a something that goes over so many categories. Now I actually state that beans are grains. How I define grains is generally how I see that God defines grains, where it's pretty much the seeds of the plant. So coffee is a grain. It's the seed of a plant. And I would say, you know, even barley, oats, quinoa, ⁓ all the beans, I lump them into grains in whole grain form. I know our scientific community breaks it up among that, but they're grains, y'all. Beans, wheat, barley. It it sorry, it's all grains. ⁓ but let's talk about the humble bean because the bean is so cool. Okay. The bean can be high protein, it's rich in fiber, it's a whole food, and it's cheap. Okay. They're also ⁓ good, good, ⁓ a decent fat type source, if I remember right, but ⁓ or sorry, high in fiber. So they are a great source of protein, a great source of fiber, and they're cheap. Okay, because One thing that I did notice with this pyramid, we're going to add that again here. Is I kind of see this as like a wealthy person diet. Okay. Let's be honest. Let's be honest. Meat is expensive. Good organic vegetables. Again, depends on the vegetable. Okay. Like carrots are definitely cheaper. Cabbage is super cheap, but yet wonderful food. the cruciferous foods are incredible. ⁓ nutrient dense foods and some like cabbage are actually very, very cheap. You need to be eating your cabbage. ⁓ but overall, like meats are very expensive, especially if you're going like organically raised and grass fed and maybe even from a local farmer, that's you can really get up there with the price. ⁓ fruits and vegetables also can be expensive. That kind of hit and miss, like peas are pretty cheap. Okay. Frozen peas are pretty cheap. ⁓ but sometimes vegetables Organic vegetables are always just going to be a little bit more expensive. And for people who are pinching pennies, every penny counts. ⁓ so overall, the way that I see this is it is kind of a wealthy nation, a wealthy people's diet. And that's kind of one of the problems that I have with this graphic is is showcasing that. ⁓ there there are two parts to this. So that's one, a wealthy people, this can be very discouraging, I think. And to those who may be On a very, very tight budget. Or if maybe you're like me and you just have a large family. Y'all, do you have any idea how expensive it would be if I was like feeding everyone in this family steak every single night? Holy moly. Holy molly. Even ground beef has gotten like pretty, pretty expensive. Meat is expensive. Now we are blessed where we're able to raise our own chickens, which we do. Had to take a break last year because my husband being shot, but overall. You know, we are able to do that. We have chickens for eggs. ⁓ not laying right now. Sorry, slackers, but ⁓ but we do have them. ⁓ and then we do also have this space where you know we could have goats or we could raise steers. You know, I am blessed to have this where I can actually raise my own food. ⁓ a lot of people are not able to do that, or maybe you're just not comfortable doing that. Well Buying these by the cuts. I mean, this is just this can be really expensive or fish. I'm in Florida, y'all. I can get fresh fish here. How much does it cost to get fish if you're a landlocked? Like if you're in Missouri or something, my word. I mean, I guess you're looking at your lakes and rivers for that, not really saltwater fish, but you know, all of this can be very, very expensive. Very, very expensive. Now, of course, if you can raise your own, do it. If you can ⁓ grow your own vegetables, do it. Okay. Do do something. You can certainly do something to help your budget. But the fact is that for thousands of years, even people who were farming, okay, grains have always been what sustained humanity. And they actually talked about that in their press conference. They were saying how the old food dietary guidelines was about ⁓ making sure that people aren't starving. And now we're going beyond starving because we don't want to just not be starving, we want to be thriving. And I get that, except Grains have still been a staple food, no matter the wealth of a country, for thousands of years. Jesus said that he is the bread of life. Of all the foods that he picked, Jesus said he was the bread of life. So many times throughout scripture, you actually see the pairing of like bread and a meat. And God constantly was feeding people with bread, with with meat, with bread and meat. And ⁓ we're gonna get to why I this is also a staple thing in a bit. But That is that is the thing, is like you look at this and it is a wealthy people diet. Grains, yeah, they're cheap. And they kind of took a swipe at that, saying, like, we've just been feeding people cheap food. And I think they were mainly talking about the highly processed food because unfortunately the junk, the food like products, tends to be the cheaper of the quote food that you find in the grocery stores. But but just because it's cheap. Does not mean it's bad. Brown rice is cheap. Dried beans are cheap, but they are very nutritious and very good for you. They fill up bellies, they have fiber, they contain a lot of nutrients. Y'all, wheat, when even buying the wheat berries and milling it myself, baking bread, even doing that at home, so cheap. And another thing that they did not mention is whole grains. Especially wheat. And by wheat, I mean the whole wheat berry, milling it yourself, baking it fresh, milling it fresh at home. That is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. Wheat alone contains 40 out of 44 essential nutrients. Meat does not do that. I just did a quick Google search. So let's just do essential nutrients in beef. Okay. So essential nutrients in beef. It of course is high protein. ⁓ let me see here. ⁓ yeah. I sent I need to say how many, how many essential nutrients are in beef. So we're just going to good old Google Google here, and it says beef contains 10 essential nutrients in a standard three-ounce serving, including high-quality protein sink, iron cyber beef. 10 in beef. Wheat. 40 out of 44 essential nutrients. Okay. Let's just gonna let that sink in. Want you to think about this. So they're pushing meat. Again, excellent source of protein. You know, if you want to eat smaller amounts and get high bits of protein, ⁓ animal products definitely do that. However, not the most nutrient dense food. Mm less bang for your buck. ⁓ so ⁓ as you will. 40 out of 44 essential nutrients is in wheat. And you only get those. You only get those if you mill the grains yourself, or you have the wheat berries and you boil them, you know, something like that. You consume them whole. Okay. ⁓ that's the only way you're gonna get it is to do it yourself because you can't get it in the store. You can't find that in the store. ⁓ but wheat, 40 out of 44 essential nutrients needed for life ⁓ compared to tin in. Beef. Let's let's let's just on a whim, on a whim here. Let's check chicken. So essential nutrients in chicken. okay, they just say it doesn't tell me exactly how many. but yeah, it's probably about the same because they talk about several. ⁓ okay, it is a high quality protein. It has all nine essential amino all nine essential amino acids, several B vitamins, and then other minerals, selinum, phosphorus, bonds. Okay, so it looks like roughly about the same with beef. So Grains, they are cheaper. They so long as you do it right, they are cheaper, but you know, get the brown rice, not the white rice. Get quinoa as a whole grain, wheat as a whole grain, barley as a whole grain, all of these type of grains that you can find, but you just need to get them whole. And that's where you're gonna get going to get more bang for your buck. And ⁓ good news is beans is actually very great as well, and you can find those in the store. So That's the thing is I was seeing, like, ⁓ my word, if you only knew, like, don't you know like the importance of whole grains? And also, whole grains has ⁓ the fiber that we need. Now, vegetables also have that as well. Fruit and vegetables also have that, but they are two different types of fiber. You have soluble and you have insoluble. One, ⁓ and they do two different things. So it's kind of ⁓ basically you have one that bulks up your stool. ⁓ you know, it gets it nice and thick, and that allows it to scrape. The colon and kind of clean out your colon as it's exiting and everything. ⁓ and then the other one also just helps you to stay full longer. So you eat less because you're satisfied. So fiber is very important. And it's funny how everyone these days, I probably need to do another video or podcast about this because everyone talks about how we need more protein. We need more protein. You know what we're really deficient in? We're only 90 ⁓ there, we're only 5% of Americans actually get the amount needed. Fiber. Fiber. Okay. Everyone is stuck with protein. And I'm not knocking protein. Protein is important. But to get like a hundred grams of protein, have you ever actually tracked that? It's ⁓ it's hard. It's kind of hard to get up to a hundred grams of protein. Like you really have to think about it. You really have to ⁓ you know, really calculate that and watch that to get to a hundred grams of protein. And in my philosophy If you really have to pay attention to it and if ⁓ to track it, maybe God didn't intend for us to get that much at all times. I could be wrong, but I just see it where like if it's so hard where we have to track it and God didn't tell us of how much protein certain things are. He nothing came with food labels. Okay. God did not put food labels on anything. And for it to take that much effort to get to that much protein that they were recommending Excuse me. It kind of just makes me wonder are we supposed to have that much? Okay. As opposed to whole grains, do you know how easy it is to get your fiber? Sorry, I have I have like a hair in my mouth. Hold on. Hold on. Do you know how easy it is to get your fiber if you were having whole grains? Pretty easy. Okay. Because real whole grains are a power punch with fiber. And if you're just basically consuming whole grains at every meal, you're probably gonna be just fine. Okay. With hitting your fiber. ⁓ even for me, I may I I may not necessarily have ⁓ my grains at every single meal, but I get them at least two out of three meals. And all I can say is my digestion is fine. Okay. And nobody in this family is constipated or having any digestive issues. So I'm just saying, and I don't track the fiber. I don't track that in our house. We just eat real food. We just eat real bread and and we're okay. All right. So that leads to the other part of why I think it's so important that we need to put a little bit more emphasis on whole grains. And this is a really, really big part. And again, this also kind of makes me want to put a tinfold hat on. Maybe not, but I'm just saying tinfull hat warning here is out of all these foods on this food pyramid. Guess what is actually easily storable for long terms for food security? Okay. And I want to say easily storable as in you don't need electricity and you don't need canning methods. Guess which of these foods are actually very easy to store with very little effort. You guessed it. Whole grains. Whole grains, y'all. So if you look in scripture in ⁓ Joseph, in the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, it was grains that he stored up for seven years for the seven long years of famine. It was not meat, it wasn't vegetables. And again, not knocking meat and vegetables, but it was grains that you're able to store because all you need to safely secure to store most of your grains. There are some exceptions. is you need a good container with a good lid that's going to keep out your bugs, your pest, all pest, and all types of moisture. Okay. So most of the time this just looks like you grab up ⁓ some wheat berries and you dump it into a bucket and you put it on there with a very good lid and boom, done. Okay. And you can open up that bucket about 20 years from now. And it's still fine. Y'all, I store my grains here in Florida where it gets extremely hot. Extremely humid, and my grains are out in buckets in a un in an uninsulated shed. No air conditioning, nothing like that. And they are just fine. And they hold their nutrition just fine. I could plant them 20 years from now, and they plant just fine. You just got to keep the enemies away, which is your pest and your moisture, and grains store beautifully. Now I will say this about Beans, if you do store dried beans for that long, they store well. But I've just noticed older beans, they're going to take longer to cook. Just a little fun fact there. Fun little tip. Freebie, freebie tip today about the beans. So ⁓ your dried beans store well, but ⁓ I've just noticed older beans, they they just take that longer. So I find that very interesting that here they are. Our government is pushing this type of diet that A requires more money. to to spend on food, which I do believe that Americans actually should increase, be increasing their grocery budget and actually focus more on food and less on other things. I do think we should prioritize that. However, okay, that's beside the point. Bottom line is the the meat, the organic produce, ⁓ they are going to be more expensive than your real whole grains, especially when you are milling everything and consuming whole grains at home. So cooking from scratch will always be cheaper. And then those grains at home will always be the cheapest ever, but really, really ⁓ gives you more bang for your buck because they're so nutrient dense and they are nutrient powerhouses with food. So I do find that interesting that here our government is it's like, ⁓ no, you don't need as many whole grains. Y'all, you can't store meat for that long. You need freezers, you need safe canning methods. In order to do that. And even then, you know, they're not gonna last more than what, a year or two, maybe. I'm not I'm not quite sure. I've never tested it. ⁓ but usually people were consuming that within a year or two, not 30 years from now. Okay. or and in order to do this with meat and vegetables, a lot of effort has to go in to preserve them. So before our modern electricity, ⁓ whenever you slaughtered, say, a cow. ⁓ each year for your family. You either had to live far enough north and you're slaughtering it in the cold, where now you're gonna wrap it and freeze it in your attic, like they did in Little House in the Prairie series. Or if you're like me, where we're down here in Florida. Now, granted, we don't have the snow in the in the freezes. So generally we can grow all year round, we can hunt year round, but we still have, depending on the part of Florida, I'm more north. ⁓ we still it can still get cold. It's about to get in the 20s this week, which I'm super excited about. But Even then, in order to preserve our food here, you had to smoke it. So the Native Americans generally smoked their meats, which takes a very long time. ⁓ slash you just kept having to hunt. You know, you just had to hope in the winter you could still catch fish, ⁓ kill deer, you know, whatever it is that you're doing. Which we do have a little bit more flexibility here. But bottom line is a a huge amount of effort has to go into preserving meats and produce for long term, where there just isn't that width. Grains. And that's why for thousands of years, society, civilization, humans have grown their own grains because that's how easy they store. And they're able to feed people so well through the winter, through hard times. They will be stored even through famine, even if you can't grow anymore. So long as you have enough, they're still going to be there. And they can feed you, they can feed your animals. ⁓ you know, there's there's so much that can be done with grains. They make you so much more self-reliant, okay, than meat. Because let's face it, if society just stopped right now and just stuff hit the fan, okay. Where do you get your meat from right now? Probably the grocery store. Okay. That's out if food supplies are done. Think of just what happened with COVID, y'all. Okay. I remember chicken being one of the first things that people couldn't find in the grocery store anymore. So do you know a farmer that you can get that from? Or can you grow it, you know, raise that animal yourself? Same thing with produce is, you know, ⁓ most people can probably garden, but ⁓ and here in Florida, we have a year-round growing season. But what if you're way up north and you only have like a couple months out of the year? What would you do in the winter? I mean, unless you happen to have a really amazing garden and you know, and then you've canned all of those things and where are you going to put all the canned goods? ⁓ you know, you can have that for winter, but Again, that's just a lot of effort. Grains, not so much. Whole wheat berries store, they are amazing. So I find that that was my little tinfull hat moments that here we are with these new guidelines. And I kind of can't help but wonder if later on down the road we're now going to see where, you know, maybe we didn't need as much protein as we were pushing for. We need less. And again, I'm glad that they are at least stating. Just eat real food because I think that's more of what people need to focus on is just just eat real food. Okay. Stop stressing. Just eat real food. Okay. If it's on the outside, the exterior part of the grocery store, it's gonna be real. If it grows on the ground or you can raise it, it's you know, eat real food, not something that took a lab to process because then it takes a lab to process. And so overall, just eat, just eat real food. ⁓ again, grains are those complex carbs. So again, they're they're throwing out a lot of the foods that I agree need to be thrown out. Margarine, for the love of all that is good. Stop eating margarine. Okay. Margarine is tastes horrible and it's just so bad. It's a chemical. Butter is real. And that's one thing that they're saying is yay for butter. I'm all for olive oil is great. ⁓ not vegetable oils that contain genetically modified ingredients. ⁓ so these things I definitely agree with, but I feel like just once again with grains, you're like, Okay, you say eat more whole grains, but most people still don't know what that is. ⁓ and also just knowing that whole grains are complex carbs, not the highly refined carbs. So they're gonna be less likely to spike your blood sugar and all of that. So so overall, these are kind of my thoughts with the food pyramid. Now, other thoughts that I so far have yet to see them talk about, except just maybe in a blurb here and there. And I guess because, in fairness, this is mainly focused on the diet, the dietary guidelines. But a huge part of this is overall as a society, we just need to also move more. We predominantly live sedentary lifestyles now, and we just don't move the way that I believe God intended us to move every single day. Now, don't get me wrong, I am so thankful that we have washing machines and I'm not having to do that by hand. ⁓ same thing for as much as I love drying on a line, when you have as many clothes as I have that I have to wash, it is far easier to just throw those bad boys into a dryer. So I am grateful in many ways for our modern technology. ⁓ electrograin mills. Praise the Lord for the electrograin mills. So I'm glad for the convenience, but that does come at a cost. It is less movement that we are doing, especially as women. Think of all the effort that it took to run a house like gardening and doing all of these things by hand. That's a lot of movement. It burns a lot of calories, but it also keeps your body limber. And in much better shape. Same thing for men. ⁓ you know, if you were if you are more in a manual labor as opposed to someone who sits at a desk. So these are things that I think a lot of people we now spend more time in the front of the TV or doom scrolling on our phones. ⁓ or we s you sit at a desk all day under like fluorescent lighting. And I'm so sorry if you do, but ⁓ so we're now more sedentary than ever. And so I think we need to make more conscious decisions to move. throughout the day. and yes, definitely, you know, exercise ⁓ you know, four or five whatever times a week, but just find ways to move more. Even like, you know, you're waiting for water to boil for your tea or whatever. Sit there and just, you know, stand there and do some squats. Do something to just get those extra movements in. I know for my husband, before he was shot and must left him paralyzed, it was astounding. How much food he could eat and not gain weight. ⁓ but he was actually quite active, but not he was not a gym rat. And he did not necessarily, you know, have a ⁓ a full manual labor type career, but he definitely did a lot around the house. He loves to build. And so he would build decks and fences, and he build our barns and fences and sheds and you know, all of these things and all of this movement, he just really liked to just get out. He even did a trail around our property and he just liked to get out and walk that trail. ⁓ it was a good prayer walk time for him and just all of these ways that he was just moving his body throughout the day. ⁓ even though he never really worked out, you know, he did a little bit ⁓ for like his arms, you know, things like that. But overall, he just moved in very natural ways and also ways that he enjoyed. ⁓ and so even if that just means a 10-minute walk after a meal, I've actually been hearing this lately where you tie. ⁓ tie something to ⁓ something you're already doing. So for example, you're already eating every day. Well, how about after you eat? You know, go on like a five or 10 minute walk. You're not committing to like an hour, something huge. And even if it's just like around your living room or around your house, ⁓ you know, something like that, just go on like a five or 10 minute walk after a meal. Just commit, okay, I'm already eating. So after I get done, five or 10 minutes, let's just take a quick walk. That actually shows that it helps digestion, but it's also just extra movement that you can do. And so this is something that I wish ⁓ they had talked about and maybe they will later on the importance of moving more and you don't need a gym membership for it, you know, park in the parking in the farthest parking space from wherever you're going and walk, you know, all of these type of things. We just need to move more because on top of diet that I see, I also see people where they are ⁓ having issues because they just didn't move enough. And as you get older. Know your your joints just start not working as well, especially if you just haven't done it. If you get stiff, those type of things, you just you need to move more. So hopefully, they will also talk about that maybe later on, not just the dietary part, because I think it's two sides of one coin is your diet, but also your movement. Okay, it also helps burn calories, you know, all of those types of things, but also just just good, and you know you feel good, okay. You know, you go out there. And when you've taken a walk or something like that, and then you're done, you might be dying while doing it. But like when you're done, you feel good. Okay, you you know you do, you know you feel good. You don't regret it. Okay, so this is I know a really, really long one, y'all. But I was just really wanted to give y'all my thoughts. Let me know your thoughts below about this food pyramid. ⁓ I really think again the visual I think is not communicating well what they are stating in the dietary guidelines. They they still say Yes, consume whole grains and the servings depend on the calories that you're trying to reach. But I was seeing like around 2,000 calories a day. That's about two to four servings of whole grains that they recommend a day, which you know isn't isn't bad. You know, I say eat it at every meal if you can, or at least two out of three meals if you're trying to cut back a little bit. so that's that's the thing is I just think it's kind of it sounds like they could have done better with the graphic. ⁓ I still think that whole grains should be very much a staple of our diets. Again, it has for thousands of years. And ⁓ yeah, that's something I want to talk about. ⁓ because that's that kind of what leads to and why I was talking about the movement thing, because I know that people talk about, well, if grains do make you fat, and yeah, if you eat anything in excessive amounts more than you're burning, then yeah, you it's gonna help you, it's gonna cause you to gain weight. ⁓ so as far as whole grains go, how much you should be eating. will really depend on the life that you are living, the size the size you are. I am five foot two and I'm a woman. And my husband is six feet and before he was paralyzed, very quite active, just naturally active. He was able to eat far more whole grains than I should be eating. because just from a calorie perspective, he requires more calories than I do. He's bigger than me and he's a male and I'm smaller. And I'm a female and he was more active. I was not as active as him. So these are things that I think we need to be considering. and so for you, that may mean like, you know, for breakfast, one piece of toast, maybe one egg, as opposed to two pieces of toast, three eggs. You know, it really, it really just depends. This is something where you're just gonna have to decide and experiment with your own body of what your body is requiring, and also listen to your body. I've heard people where they switch over to freshly milled. You know, baking their bread with fresh email flour and they're like suddenly I just could not have enough bread. It's like my body just I could not have enough bread. And I find that interesting because I think their body's just like, yes, actual nutrition, give it to me. Now I need this nutrition. And then they kind of taper off and stuff because their body now is their cells are now nourished and now they can they can back off a little bit. So I do believe in listening to your body. And but I think that's something that we need to consider. And They kind of do talk about this again in the dietary guidelines. It's based on how many calories do you need, based on your age and your sex and your weight. you know, and then here's the recommended what we recommend to eat based on how many calories that you're needing. So they kind of get into that, but I just kind of want to give you all example of something to consider. So, ladies, if you have a husband who's able to throw back bread like nobody's business without gaining weight, and you like look at bread and you know, I I feel you, I understand. But You know, men have different needs than we do as women, and it will depend like, are you pregnant? Are you ⁓ fertility age? Are you in menopause? Are you, you know, a lot goes on with women, and men are just ridiculously simple. It's it's just not fair. ⁓ but bottom line is just eat real food, y'all. That overall is the message that they are getting across is eating real food. And as Bible believing Christians, I believe that we need to go back to scripture to know exactly what that is. The Bible has been telling us all along. This is what I gave you for food. God said, This is what I gave you for food. Don't just eat it. Okay. Eat it. And you'll be fine. So that's my thoughts, y'all. I would love to hear your thoughts below. And again, I know that this is a longer one, but thank you so much for if you did manage to listen to this entire podcast. But again, there was just a lot to unpack with this new food pyramid, new dietary guidelines. I will be interested to see what else is coming out ⁓ from RFK Jr. and his team. I'm just glad that we're now having these conversations. Like the fact that people are now talking about this, ⁓ that we can talk to our doctors about this and other things like you know, we're actually can talk about things like vaccines with doctors and not be completely crucified. That's nice. And we should be able to have these conversations. People should be able to ask their doctors questions without fear of being thrown under the bus or looked down upon. And we should be able to have these discussions as adults when it comes to. ⁓ food, what we should be eating, things like this. So I am at least grateful that regardless of what you may think about it, ⁓ I am grateful that we are now having more conversations and able to talk about this so that we can come to truth. Okay. So that's it, y'all. I hope y'all have a wonderful day. Let me know your thoughts below in the comments and y'all take care. Bye.