You might have seen pictures of the old food pyramid on posters in your doctor’s surgery or in magazines but you might not have seen the new food pyramid yet.
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.
The new food pyramid has vertical rainbow colored stripes to show the different food groups. It also tells you how many ounces or cups of each food group you should consume each day, rather than how many servings. A lot of people are unclear how big a “serving” should be.
Does the Food Pyramid Work for Everyone?
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.
Everything in Moderation
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 serve your deep fried chicken with some salad or vegetables to balance it out or you might want to eat plenty of fruit and grains for lunch and enjoy the fried chicken in the evening. There is no reason why you cannot be healthy and also be able to enjoy your favorite foods.
Banning all sugars or all fried food is guaranteed to make you miserable. Eating everything in moderation is healthy and is enjoyable too. Unless your doctor has advised you to eat a certain way because of a health condition, eating a balanced range of foods is optimum for your health.
The main thing to know about the new food pyramid is that it encourages you to eat a balanced diet. “Balanced” does not mean a fried chicken in one hand and a pound of French fries in the other but it does mean that eating a wide range of foods is good for you.
If you were worried about the new food pyramid or you were unsure about which foods are not allowed, you can relax because you can still enjoy your favorite foods as much as you did before.
