Understanding the New Food Pyramid

You might have seen the food pyramid on the wall at your doctor’s surgery or you might remember studying it at school or seeing it in your child’s homework. You might not have seen the new food pyramid yet however.

On the older version of the food pyramid, there are several main food groups, stacked on top of each other. The biggest food group, which is on the bottom layer, is rice, bread, cereal, and pasta. This is what you need to eat the most of. Next up are vegetables and fruit. On top of that are dairy, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and beans and right at the top is fats, which you should eat the least of.

With the new food pyramid, there are downwards rainbow colored stripes symbolizing each food group. The new food pyramid also makes it clear how many cups or ounces of each food you should eat per day because not everybody is sure how big a “serving” should be exactly.

Is it Important to Follow the Food Pyramid?

Healthcare professionals all agree that it is important to eat a balanced diet, with food from each of the food groups and this is what the new food pyramid encourages too. Your body needs a combination of fruits; vegetables, grains, meat or poultry and dairy produce to work properly. If you are eating a vegetarian or vegan diet, you can also eat healthily but you will need to make certain substitutions, such as eating beans and lentils instead of meat for example.

So, nothing is Banned Then?

No foods are banned from the new food pyramid but there are some foods, which should be eaten in moderation. If fried chicken is your favorite dish, it will not do you any harm to eat it. You will probably not want to eat it every day but once in a while is fine. Chicken is healthy and lean and fried chicken recipes contain some oil but it is fine to consume some oil each day. In fact, the body needs fats as well as other nutrients.

You might want to make your favorite fried chicken batter recipe and serve the fried chicken with vegetables or a green salad to make it more balanced. Alternatively, you can eat grains, fruit, vegetables, and dairy for lunch and enjoy fried chicken for dinner. You can be healthy and enjoy the tastiest foods at the same time.

Banning all fried food or sugars from your diet is going to make you feel deprived. Eating everything in moderation is good for you and is also enjoyable. Unless your doctor has given you a special dietary plan for health reasons, the saying “a little of what you fancy does you good” is very true and the body is sophisticated enough to extract the nutrients out of what you eat to use and send the waste on its way.

Eating a balanced diet does not mean a whole fried chicken in one hand and a pack of donuts in the other but it does mean eating some of everything and including each food group in your daily diet.

So, if you were unsure about what the new food pyramid means, you can rest assured that your favorite foods are definitely still on the menu!

No related posts.