The government really can’t do anything right. Today they released the new dietary guideline updates and they really missed the boat on using this opportunity to make sure people know the dangers of proceeds foods and sodium intake for all Americans.

While they did lower the daily limit of sodium for people at risk from 2300 to 1500..they recommend that everyone else keep pouring it on at 2300. The American Heart Association called for a cut to 1500 across the board last month..but you know…some dudes in Washington know better than the experts.

The new edition of the dietary guidelines sets the following daily limits or targets: • Fat intake: 20 percent to 35 percent of total calories • Saturated fat: less than 10 percent of total calories (mono- and polyunsaturated fats may be substituted) • Trans-fats: less than 1percent of calories • Cholesterol: less than 300 mg • Fiber: 14 g per 1,000 calories • Potassium: 4,700 mg • Sodium: less than 1,500 mg for all African-Americans and those with hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease (including children), as well as persons older than 51; everyone else is advised to consume under 2,300 mg of sodium a day • Fruits and vegetables: at least 2.5 cups • Refined grains: less than 3 oz.

In a perfect world there would be a huge campaign to get us all to stop buying so much pre-packaged foods that is full of salt, preservatives and food dyes. Not to mention gluten. But that’ll never happen so it’s up to us to feed our families as well as we can. It’s hard..and you have to find a balance. Not many of us have time to cook every meal our kids eat from scratch.

I try to apply my personal mantra of “All things in moderation…Balance is Best” to how I feed my family. For example..this morning my kid was fussy and I ended up feeding him Entenmann’s mini fudge brownie muffins for breakfast just to get something in his belly before school. So later today his snack will be celery and yogurt and for dinner ..well not sure about that yet but I’ll let you know later!

Update: I just read that even big bad corporate Walmart has pledged to lower the sodium in their processed products. If Walmart is doing it, and they care NOTHING for the health of it’s shoppers, then how irresponsible is it for the US Government to be so remiss?