David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

The Inverse Food Pyramid

2 Jan 2014 · 2 min

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2:19

In this presentation, Dr. David Perlmutter challenges the long‑standing governmental food‑pyramid model, arguing that it is fundamentally misaligned with human evolutionary nutrition. He points out that the pyramid’s base—high‑carbohydrate foods such as whole grains, fruits, and many vegetables—represents a diet humans have only consumed for the past 10,000 years, not the millions of years of hunter‑gatherer evolution. Perlmutter proposes flipping the pyramid upside down: the majority of calories should come from healthful fats (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and some saturated fats) that humans have historically eaten, while carbohydrate‑rich foods, especially those high in sugars and fructose, should be minimized. He emphasizes that even fruit, being pure carbohydrate, contributes damaging fructose when consumed in large quantities. The core message is a shift toward a high‑fat, low‑carbohydrate diet as the basis for optimal health, contrasting sharply with current dietary recommendations that prioritize grains and fruits.

Chapters

It does seem that the dietary recommendations that we get from governmental agencies do change year to year, but still the fundamentals of what we should be eating are built upon what used to be called the food pyramid, and the bottom row of that food pyramid are foods that are very high in carbohydrate. The whole grain goodness that we're told to consume, the fruits, and to a lesser extent the vegetables, make up the bottom, the base of that pyramid. Above that we have things like meat, other types of foods, and at the very top are the higher fat-containing foods, the oils and the eggs and the nuts that we are all told to avoid. And in my opinion, that approach to nutrition is topsy-turvy. It is the recommendation for a diet that humans have never consumed in the entire time that we have lived on this planet. It's only with the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago that we even had access to these foods that now make up the fundamental part of our food— so-called food pyramid. In a very simple way, if you look at the generally accepted recommendations for what we should be eating and flip it upside down, I think you're going to get a better picture. Number one, as to what humans have consumed for millions of years. Right. And number 2, what is the fundamental premise of the Grain Brain diet? And that is that most of your calories should come from good, wholesome, healthful fats— the monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and even some saturated fats. Again, foods that we've consumed for millions of years. The main thing that has to get at the very top of the food pyramid that we need to avoid desperately are foods that are high in carbohydrate. Now, I think we all understand that high sugar-containing foods, sweet drinks, etc., kind of, it makes sense that we should avoid those foods. But please recognize that fruit is pure carbohydrate. And when we load our plates with the 6 to 8 servings of fruit every day, we're loading our body with damaging sugars, damaging fructose. So again, more fat, less carbs.