Dawn was just breaking over the Arizona desert as Ethan Schwartz began his daily regimen of a quart of ice tea, a 1 1/4 -mile hike up Piestewa Peak and a fruit-and-protein shake packed with a medley of dietary supplements.
"Nutrition is kind of a passion of mine," said Schwartz, a buff, 187-pound adherent of high-fiber, lean protein diets.
Then, in his morning newspaper, he saw it: The government was calling on America to help recast that beloved icon of federal nutrition education -- the food pyramid.
The 53-year-old Phoenix loan officer put his own nutritional needs on hold and quickly drew a sketch of six interlocking wheels and another of a bunch of balloons. He penned two pithy slogans -- "Is Your Food Wheel Balanced?" and "Will Your Food Balloon Fly?" -- and dispatched the package to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Since that announcement last year, the USDA has been inundated with letters proposing food wheels, food clocks, nutrition trees, eating scales and rearranged or up-turned pyramids.
Motivational slogans have arrived by the bushel.
"Eat Slim -- And Win."
"If You Build It Health Will Come."
"Eat Right Today, Live to Enjoy Another Day."
Under a blanket of secrecy, the USDA is preparing to unveil its new "food guidance system" in the next few months.
The tension is as thick as a yogurt smoothie.
"PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ... LEAVE THE PYRAMID ALONE ... it is for the health of our nation," implored the Salinas-based Mann Packing Co., the world's largest shipper of fresh broccoli, a vegetable prominently displayed on the pyramid.
Others feel it's high time for change.
"If I ate the number of servings that are listed on the current pyramid, I would waddle!" wrote Mary Vars of Greenville, N.C.
Such passion over a clip-art-like image of foods set on a background of seemingly inexplicable dots and triangles is an odd byproduct of a nation obsessed with eating, but not necessarily eating right.
Studies and surveys have shown that 80% of Americans know what the pyramid is. It is almost as well known as Coke, Cheetos and M&M's.
But surveys have also shown that only about 12% of Americans eat according to its instructions.The rest of the country is blissfully eating beyond the pyramid's walls.
Coincidence or not, two-thirds of Americans are overweight and half of those are obese, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of overweight children has nearly tripled in the past two decades.
