How do we combat the obesity epidemic?

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The garbage food pyramid (and now food ...array?  idk what stupid thing they're calling this decade) the FDA sells to school children needs to go.  Grains?  Really?  Meat and vegetables, with some fruit for snacks is the best diet for most people.  Grains (and other starches) are fine in small amounts but they shouldn't make up 40% of our diet (or whatever too high percentage they're selling).

There is nothing wrong with eating a bowl of oatmeal or having a sandwich made with whole grain bread.  I haven't seen a single scientific study that has said otherwise.  Meat on the other hand has been implicated in all kinds of miladies.  Oily fish (ie salmon) is good but red meat must be consumed in very restricted portions.  And of course processed meats such as sausage, hot dogs, and bacon are big no nos.  Laying a solid foundation with minimally processed whole grains is an important part of most of the successful diets I've seen.  The Mediterranean diet and vegan diets all feature plenty of whole grains.

That doesn't mean I don't eat bacon or sausages.  But I eat those as a rare treat.  What I like to do is be fairly strict at home and then on those infrequent occasions I do go out to eat I just eat and drink whatever I want.  I really don't give a damn what the calorie count for a meal is when I go out.  I eat that stuff so rarely it is irrelevant.

Really I think that is one of the problems in America.  There are people out there who honestly believe eating oatmeal and whole grain bread is making people fat.  There is so much misinformation.  I have never met anyone who has gotten fat eating oatmeal or whole grain bread.  When people get fat from "carbs" if you go to their home you will see piles of refined grains (cake, wonder bread, cookies, etc).  You go to those peoples homes and you will find a ton of sugar, fat, and ultra refined grains.  If they have money plenty of red meat as well.

This is from Harvard...

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https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/

I couldn't agree more.  I've never met anyone that was doing a reasonable amount of exercise that became overweight eating oatmeal and whole grain bread.  Cake yes.  Oatmeal and whole grain bread?  No.

It's a vague answer, but we have to raise each coming generation with more of an indoctrinated love of being outdoors, enjoying physical activity, eating healthily, etc.  My school system did a pretty good job of this, thankfully.

Lord knows I rarely agree with you but on this you are spot on.  Of all the responses in this thread yours is the best.  I'm glad your school system did a good job with that.  Sadly that is the exception.

One thing you have really pointed out is it is about personal responsibility.  School should give people the tools to take care of their own health.  If we don't show people what healthy food and healthy portions look like they will never know.  If we don't show them what good exercise looks like they will never know.  The problem I see is the private sector has a vested interest in making being healthy look like it is this big complicated thing that requires gym memberships, expensive workout clothes, crazy diets, and a truckload of supplements.

If Americans did something as simple as saying the only thing I will drink is water for 6 out of 7 days each week a ton of weight would be lost.  The average walking speed is 3.1 miles an hour.  So if 5 days a week everyone said I am going to walk for a bit less than an hour we would all be racking up 15 miles worth of walking a week.  

At 3 mph a 180 lb person is burning 95 Kcal (Calories).

https://www.verywell.com/calories-burned-while-walking-3432716

A Coke is 140 Kcal.  You can do the math and see what eliminating Coke for 6 out of 7 days does for you.

There is a lot of debate about how many calories you have to burn and/or eliminate from your diet to lose a pound of fat but sufficed to say the walking and drinking water diet plan will eliminate thousands of calories from your diet every week.

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You could have just empty quoted ElectionGuy.

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Of the three macronutrients, only carbs are 100% unnecessary.  Your body absolutely needs enough complete protein (from animals or combinations of plants) and fats to keep your body running normally.  If you don't eat carbs, your body will convert the other nutrients into carbs in your liver.

Just because the human body can do something doesn't mean it should.  Every major proven healthy diet for health and longevity has whole grains as a major corner stone (Mediterranean, Vegan).  This isn't something to argue about.  The studies have been done.

That is another problem with America.  Everyone thinks stuff has to be complicated.  Is a plain bowl of oatmeal unhealthy or going to kill you?  Of course not.  The average person living a sedentary life in America gets TOO MUCH protein.  Let's give people reasonable cheap and workable diets vs coming up with all this screwball stuff that is totally contradictory to science.  As long as you are living at or above the poverty line and not suffering from Kwashiorkor you don't need to sweat your protein intake.  I don't know of anyone who's been rushed to the hospital because they've eaten too little protein.  Too much, yes (CAD, MI, PVD, etc).  Too little?  Not in America.

I lost 10 lbs eating whole grain pasta almost every day.  Sometimes twice a day.  A chunk of that was eating out.  And I didn't do the BS of subtracting stuff from it.  I just ordered it as it came off the menu.

Something else to keep in mind.  A lot of misleading terms and buzzwords are being used here and being misrepresented.  For example for your 2-3 servings of protein in a day you can eat oily fish and also nuts.  So you are getting tons of both protein and good fats there.  If you eat two to three servings of fat free dairy you get tons of protein right there.  Where do you think a lot of body builders get protein from?  That's right dairy.  Whey protein is a by product of yogurt production.  Also as you pointed out there are plants in the vegetable group that have protein.  Even the so called "carbs" you are going on about contain protein.

My advice is to look at the label on foods.  Advocates fought big business tooth and nail for those labels for a reason.  Pasta is not "carbs".  It contains many nutrients.  And not all pasta is created equal.  Yes, you have to read a bit but just calling everything from cake, to wonder bread, to plain oatmeal and whole grain pasta "Carbs" is malpractice beyond comprehension.