 The first official dietary guidelines for Americans were issued in 1980, and have been updated every five years since. Let's see how they've evolved over time. Originally, they recommended to maintain an ideal weight. They soon realized this was a bit of an overreach, so they switched it to OK, at least maintain a desirable weight. As Americans got fatter and fatter, that became fine. How about just maintain a healthy weight? By the 1990s, they just apparently gave up and advised Americans to at least fine improve their weight, or at least aim for a healthy weight. And by 2005, apparently the best we can do is just try to manage it. Let's go back. Avoid too much sugar. Good for them, started out strong. But that's avoidance language, can't have that. So instead, use sugar. Don't avoid sugar, use sugar, but only in moderation. But only in moderation, anti-American. So that became, choose a diet moderate in sugar, as if we should go out of our way to make sure a diet has at least a moderate amount of sugar in it, who doesn't want to appear moderate. Then they changed it into a verb, choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars. That's a little negative, and by 2005 there wasn't any sugar-specific guideline at all. They went from avoid sugar to basically the same with many of the others. Avoid too much sodium. Ended up choosing to prepare foods with less salt. Choose especially whole grains to choose carbohydrates wisely for good health. That's a guideline? The whole point of the guidelines is to give guidance. That's like asking your mechanic what's the best way to maintain your car, and them saying wisely. Avoid too much fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Started out pretty straightforward, but maybe a little too negative sounding to the meat, dairy, egg, and junk food industries. And so they changed it from avoidance to affirmation. Choose a diet, low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Of course, even. That was too bold, and so again left with the cryptic, choose fats wisely for good health. As the American public has gotten fatter and sicker, you'd think the recommendations would get more stringent, more emphatic. Instead, there appeared to be more emphasis on the industry's bottom line, and less on America's waistline or lifeline.