Sample Letter to the Editor:
Dear Editor,
I was very excited to hear that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has committed to revising its Food Guide Pyramid by 2005. The current guide, introduced in 1992, does not reflect the advances in nutritional understanding of the past decade, nor does it take into account the growing number of concerns about the meat and dairy-focused eating advocated by the old model.
Thousands of scientific studies document the health benefits of a plant-based
diet and the risks of consuming meat and dairy products. Animal-derived
diets have been repeatedly linked to obesity and the four leading causes
of death in the U.S. — heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke/hypertension.
The detrimental health consequences of meat-centered eating, combined with statistics connecting the animal industries to desertification and air, water, and soil pollution, make a convincing argument for a shift in our nutritional mindsets. The USDA, the largest supplier of nutrition-related public school educational materials, should look on this revision process as an opportunity to expose people at an early age to nutritionally accurate, environmentally sound, and legibly presented materials able to guide them to healthy eating.
I urge the USDA to create a visual representation of recommended dietary choices that reflects the known health risks of animal-centered eating, while showing the obvious nutritional advantages of a plant-based diet. A revised "veggie friendly" version of the Food Guide Pyramid is a great way to promote healthy eating and to demonstrate that a vegetarian lifestyle is not only nutritionally adequate, but is the recommended way to eat!
Sincerely,
Your Name
