Kath,

>Have people in other countries been exposed/subjected to similar food
>pyramids?  Are schools, prisons, state run nursing homes, etc. forced to
>abide by a pyramid diet anywhere else?

I've just come across the 'Healthy Eating Pyramid' (copyright 1999), put
out by the Australian Nutrition Foundation Inc. (or Nutrition Australia).
This is 'a non-government, non-profit, community-based organisation that
aims to provide scientifically based nutrition information'.

The pyramid has only three tiers, compared with the five-tiered ones I have
seen in the past:

Eat most -
vegetables
dried peas, beans and lentils
cereals
bread
fruit
nuts

Eat moderately -
lean meat
eggs
fish
chicken (without skin)
milk
yoghurt
cheese

Eat in small amounts -
oil
margarine
reduced-fat spreads
butter
sugar

In addition, it puts a tick next to a dripping tap, and a cross next to a
salt shaker.

That doesn't look too bad if you take out the non-paleo items and ignore
the anti-fat slant. It would be possible to be paleo and still comply
reasonably well with that kind of pyramid.

The previous ones I've seen had breads and cereals all on their own in the
bottom layer, with 5 or more serves of them to be eaten per day - I used to
wonder how to get through this much grain in a day. My body knew that it
wasn't healthy for me, but the authorities said it was, so I struggled to
comply. I know better now.

Barbara