Understanding the Food Pyramid

The Food Pyramid is like building blocks for grown-ups. These blocks represent food groups you can put together to form a pyramid, broad at the bottom, narrow at the top.
The broad base represents the foods you should eat every day, the ones that should account for most of the calories you consume.
The pointy top - a much smaller space - represents the foods that you should eat only once in a while.
The middle blocks stands for foods you should eat in moderate amounts every day.
The Food Pyramid delivers three important messages:
Balance. You can't build a pyramid with a set of identical blocks. You need blocks of different sizes, including the one with a point on the top. The variously sized blocks in the food pyramids show that a healthful diet is balanced. A little more of this, a little less of that.
Variety. The fact that the pyramid contains so many building blocks tells you that no single food will give you all the nutrients you need.
Moderation. Having some foods up at the small, pointy top tells you that while every food is valuable, some, such as fats and sweets, are best used in very small amounts.
Clearly, the virtue of the food pyramid is that it allows you to eat practically everything you like as long as you follow the recommendations on how much or how little to eat and how frequently or infrequently you eat it.
Starting at the bottom with bread cereal rice and pasta, it is recommended that you have between 6 and 11 servings.
What is a serving?
Bread One slice
Cereal One ounce ready to eat
1/2 cup cooked cereal
Rice/pasta 1/2 cup cooked rice or pasta
5-6 small crackers
Vegetables 1 cup raw leafy vegetables
1/2 cup chopped raw vegetables
1/2 cup cooked chopped vegetables
3/4 cup vegetable juice
Fruits 1 medium piece of fresh fruit (apple, banana, Orange, peach)
1/2 cup cooked or canned chopped fruit
1/2 cup fruit juice
Milk Products 1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt
1/2 ounce natural cheese
2 ounces processed cheese
Meat 2-3 ounces cooked lean meat
Fish 2-3 ounces cooked fish
Poultry 2-3 ounces cooked lean poultry
Dry Beans 1/2 cup cooked dry beans
Eggs 1 egg
Nuts/Seeds 2 Tablespoons Peanut Butter
1/2 cup nuts or seeds
Fats/Oils/ No specific amount - very little
Sweets

One useful aspect of the USDA Food Pyramid is that it recommends different numbers of daily servings for people consuming different amounts of calories each day. For example, consider the different recommendations of servings from the bread groupat different levels of calorie consumption.
At the 1,600 calorie a day level sufficient for women wo do not exercise and for many older adults, the USDA recommends 6 servings a day from the bread group.
At the 2,200 calorie a day level that meets the need of most children and active women and many sedentary men, the USDA recommends 9 servings a day from the bread group.
At the 2,800 calorie a day level that provides the energy required by most teenage boys, many active men, and some very active women, USDA recommends 11 servings a day from the bread group.
The Food Pyramid teaches you to choose wisely, but in order to do that, you must read the labels on the food at the grocery store. The Nutrition facts on packaged foods and cans list a variety of nutritional information. Not only should you pay attention to the calorie content, you must also check protein grams, and sodium. An item may be low in calories but very high in sodium. And remember, high sodium levels will keep you from losing weight.
The ideal choice is always fresh vegetables, but occasionally you may need to choose frozen or canned foods. So read those labels. And also, watch the carbohydrate content.
Remember, as the food pyramid teaches, more grains, less fats and sweets, and lots of vegetables. Keep protein in the 2-3 ounce range per serving.
Keep things in proportion. ~Aunt Millie