Those of us who are middle aged will remember the old food pyramid charts and lessons from elementary school. Here we are, a quarter of a century later, and with increasing emphasis on dietary research, the simple ratio is a thing of the past. There is value in simplicity, however, so there is a new pyramid. It isn’t really a pyramid, but we get to keep the old name. The new pyramid adjusts for sex, age, weight and amount of physical activity per day.
Arbitrarily, we’ll look at a 180 pound, six foot tall male who exercises just under an hour a day. This hypothetical person needs a 3,000-calorie per day diet, presuming an average metabolism. The new standards suggest you would need to examine your weight for unwanted change, which would require alteration of the diet.
This hypothetical man, we’ll call him “Bob,” should eat at least 10 ounces of grains, half of which should be whole grains. Whole grains often boast of this in the name of the product, and include whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, cornmeal or brown rice. Refined grains have lost some nutrients in processing. These can be added back in enriched grains, but still lack fiber.
Vegetables are divided into five groups, dark green such as spinach or broccoli, orange such as carrots or pumpkins, starchy such as corn or potatoes, dry beans and peas which includes garbanzo beans and tofu and other vegetables such as mushrooms and onions. Our hypothetical man should eat four cups of vegetables per day, divided into 3 cups per week of dark green vegetables, 2 ½ cups per week of orange vegetables, 9 cups per week of starchy vegetables, 10 cups per week of other vegetables and 3 ½ cups per week of dry beans and peas.
Bob should eat 2 ½ cups of fruits per day. These can be fresh, canned, frozen or dried, whole, cut-up or pureed. A 100% fruit juice also counts.
Bob should eat 3 cups per day of milk, cheese and yogurt. A number of deserts are milk based, and may be counted here, but also count against the discretionary calorie fund.
Bob should eat 7 ounces per day of meat and beans. This includes fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and seeds and the same dry beans and peas found in the Vegetable group.
Bob should eat 10 teaspoons of oils per day. This obviously includes oils such as canola oil, but also includes foods high in oils such as olives and some fish, and solid oils such as butter.
Bob should limit his discretionary calories to 510 calories of extra fats and sugars a day. This is where you may add more than the recommended amount of some category above, eat higher calorie versions of foods such as whole milks instead of skim, add fats or seasonings to foods like salad dressings or syrup and foods that are mostly fats or sweeteners, such as sodas or candy.
If Bob is getting more than his minimum daily-recommended dose of moderate level activity per day and making the right choices in diet then he should be as fit as a fiddle.
You need to take these recomendations with a grain-of-salt and a lot of reservation. I personally beliew we are all different and what works for me is not necessarly going to work for you.
I also believe that a lot of study and good intentions went into the new food pyramid and that this would be a great place to start for those who have been abusing their bodies and eating everything they wanted.
Start with this food pyramid and after awhile your body will tell you whats working and whats not.