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Another day, another Food Guide! This time, it's CANADA. They boil it down to one picture, where half the plate is fruit & veg, 1/4 is protein, 1/4 is whole grain. Let's compare it to the EAT-Lancet report, shall we? 1/ food-guide.canada.ca/en/food-guide-… 
It's not that different, but there's one difference I'd like to talk about. STARCHY VEGETABLES. I know y'all are used to wonky threads, but this one is SUPER-DUPER wonky, and not for the faint of heart. eatforum.org/content/upload…
Canada includes STARCHY VEG with other, perfectly innocent veg. EAT-Lancet breaks it out separately because STARCH, which is long chains of GLUCOSE, which is the thing that elicits an INSULIN RESPONSE. They hate that.
I am not a believer that INSULIN RESPONSE is a terribly meaningful indication of the healthfulness of a food. I recently ranted about that, and how the glycemic index of foods doesn't correlate with hunger.
And those of you following along at home know that I am vehemently pro-potato. washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food…
But there's another, really important thing. If you're looking at the ENVIRONMENTAL consequences of diet, STARCHY VEG are a clear win because they let you grow TONS (literally) of nutritious food on little land. Let's take an example: SWEET POTATOES.
And here's the SUPER-DUPER wonky part. I'm going to compare SWEET POTATOES to BROCCOLI, but on a PER-ACRE basis. Stick with me here. If you look just at calories, sweet potatoes produce FIVE TIMES what broccoli produces per acre. But I hear you! What about NUTRIENTS?
Per-acre, sweet potatoes out-produce broccoli on nearly every nutrient. Exceptions are vitamins C&K, fat, and folate. The difference is that you get STARCH with your nutrients.
For an overweight nation like ours, getting CALORIES with your NUTRIENTS sounds really BAD. But for huge swaths of the UNDERNOURISHED world, it's critical. But there's more.
If we are trying to feed a growing population with limited resources, growing CALORIES and NUTRIENTS together is a HUGE WIN. Hooray for STARCHY VEGETABLES!
OK I'm done now.
OK I'm done now.
