Nutrition Basics

The Food Guide Pyramid

Assignment #2
To make sure you get all of the nutrients needed for good health, choose the recommended number of daily servings from each of the food groups displayed in the Food Guide Pyramid.

I looked at the Food Guide Pyramid, now what?

The Food Guide Pyramid is an outline of what to eat each day. It's not a rigid prescription, but a helpful guide that lets you choose a healthful diet that suits your tastes and lifestyle. The pyramid encourages you to eat a variety of foods from the major groups to get the nutrients you need and the right amount of calories to maintain or improve your weight. The pyramid promotes eating more of the food groups towards the bottom and less of the food groups towards the top.

So, what does this all mean for you? Good question. You can use this information for healthful meal planning. For instance, one tasty meal that is consistent with the pyramid's suggestions is pasta with broccoli, chicken, low-fat sauce, grated cheese and strawberries for dessert. A pyramid-friendly lunch could be lean sandwich meat on whole grain bread with low-fat mayonnaise or mustard, low-fat cheese, leafy green lettuce and tomato.

Trimming the fat
The pyramid focuses on dietary fat-reduction because many Americans consume more fat than they should for a healthful diet. You don't have to sacrifice taste to eat a low-fat diet though. Rather than eliminating your favorite full-fat treats, try to hunt for a low-fat version of your favorite items during your next shopping trip, or use your regular products sparingly. You might even try to initially mix them together and gradually wean yourself off of the higher-fat item. If this subject has piqued your interest, lesson #3 on weight reduction has more in depth information on trimming the fat from your diet.

What's a good serving size?
Since few of us carry a food scale around, use serving sizes as a goal to shoot for. For mixed foods, do the best you can to estimate. For example, a big slice of pizza would count in the grain group (crust), the milk group (cheese), the fruit group (tomato, yes tomatoes are a fruit!) as well as a fair helping of the fat we are supposed to consume sparingly. Below are some general serving size guidelines to use with your pyramid-friendly diet:

Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta

1 slice of bread

1 ounce of ready to-eat cereal

1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta

Vegetable

1 cup of raw leafy vegetables

1/2 cup of other vegetables, cooked or chopped raw

3/4 cup of vegetable juice

Fruit

1 medium apple, banana, orange

1/2 cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit

3/4 cup of fruit juice

Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese

1 cup of milk or yogurt

1-1/2 ounces of natural cheese

2 ounces of processed cheese

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts

2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish

1/2 cup of cooked dry beans or 1 egg counts as 1 ounce of lean meat.

2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1/3 cup of nuts count as 1 ounce of meat.

Assignment #3
Is organic better? Are the benefits worth the added cost or added trek to another market? Take a moment to read this amazing article that explores these questions.

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