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Comment by lev99 | Hacker News Reader

That's the thing about the food pyramid that was so bad, foods don't always neatly fit into one category, and foods sharing a category can have very different nutritional profiles.

No wonder so many Americans eat iceberg lettuce, and put added sugar in bread.

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Well, even in the 80s, people were mocking the Reagan administration's classification of ketchup as a vegetable.

And for all the flaws of the food pyramid, I can remember a time before that when it was even worse. We had the "Basic Four" food groups: meat, dairy, fruit+vegetables, and grains.

The four lobby groups!

Wait, what's wrong with iceberg lettuce? Seriously, as an American that eats like 1/2 head per day, am I rotting my teeth out? Am I headed for diabetes? You've got me scared.

I think he's just referring to it having next to zero nutritional value.

It's nutritional profile is significantly less than an average vegetable. I advice switching iceberg lettuce for darker leafy greens. Assuming you eat the lettuce in salads this can be done without much discomfort by slowing introducing darker greens in your salad, and adding more as your body is accustom to them.

You aren't hurting yourself by eating lettuce, but it's a missed opportunity to do so much more for your diet. See the difference for yourself.

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Lettuce%2C_raw%2C_iceberg_%28...

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Spinach%2C_raw_nutritional_va...

It's not bad of itself but it's nutritionally deficient. My ex raised herps lizards and turtles. Both die of malnutrition if fed too much iceberg lettuce.

It's nutritionally equivalent to an unfiltered glass of water

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