Food Pyramid

What should you really eat?

The Food Pyramid is powerful and appealing symbol that explains what are the elements of a healthy diet. This Food Pyramid was developed in April 2005 by the US Department of Agriculture and has now received worldwide attention.

Better Choices for Healthy Eating

The Healthy Eating Pyramid is built on a foundation of daily exercise and weight control. Why? These two related elements strongly influence your chances of staying healthy. They also affect what and how you eat and how your food affects you.

In this Food Pyramid, a rainbow of colored, vertical stripes represents the five food groups as well as fats and oils. Here's what the colors stand for:

Click here to view the Food Pyramid.

The pyramid is arranged in a way that all the food groups are treated equally. Each food group is represented by a colored stripe in the pyramid with the base of each color indicating that the healthier choices in that food group should be used for the most portions.

The strips narrow as they ascend, indicating that the less healthy selections in a given food group should be eaten less. For example, in the breads and grains food group (carbohydrates), whole-grain bread should be eaten more often than doughnuts. Whole-grain breads are at the base of the pyramid; doughnuts are at the top because the doughnuts should be eaten less.

The pyramid also adds a nonfood component that is vital to healthy living — exercise. It shows a figure climbing up the side of the pyramid, which has steps. The figure symbolizes that healthy living is step by step.


The Pyramid Speaks
Let's look at some of the messages conveyed by the Food Pyramid:

• Eat a variety of foods. A balanced diet is one that includes all the food groups.

• Eat less of some foods, and more of others. You can see that the bands for meat and protein (purple) and oils (yellow) are skinnier than the others. That's because you need less of those kinds of foods than you do of fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy foods.

• You also can see the bands start out wider and get thinner as they approach the top. That's designed to show you that not all foods are created equal, even within a healthy food group like fruit. For instance, apple pie might be in that thin part of the fruit band because it has a lot of added sugar and fat. A whole apple - crunch! - would be down in the wide part because you can eat more of those within a healthy diet.

How Much Do I Need to Eat?
Everyone wants to know how much they should eat to stay healthy. It's a tricky question, though. It depends on your age, whether you're a girl or a boy, and how active you are. Kids who are more active burn more calories, so they need more calories. But we can give you some estimates for how much you need of each food group.

Grains
Grains are measured out in ounce equivalents. What do you mean by them? Ounce equivalents are just another way of showing a serving size.

Here are ounce equivalents for common grain foods. An ounce equivalent equals:

1 piece of bread
1/2 cup of cooked cereal, like oatmeal
1/2 cup or rice or pasta
1 cup of cold cereal

4- to 8-year-olds need 4 to 5 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 5 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 6 ounce equivalents each day.

And one last thing about grains: Try to eat a lot of whole grains, such as 100% wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal.

Vegetables
Of course, you need your vegetables, especially those dark green and orange ones. But how much is enough? Vegetable servings are measured in cups.

4- to 8-year-olds need 1 1/2 cups of veggies each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 2 cups of veggies each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 2 1/2 cups of veggies each day.

Fruits
Sweet, juicy fruit is definitely part of a healthy diet. Here's how much you need:

4- to 8-year-olds need 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of fruit each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 1 1/2 cups of fruit each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 1 1/2 cups of fruit each day.

Milk and Other Calcium-Rich Foods
Calcium builds strong bones to last a lifetime, so you need these foods in your diet.

4- to 8-year-olds need 1 cup to 2 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 3 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 3 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.

If you want something other than milk, you can substitute yogurt, cheese, or calcium-fortified orange juice - just to name a few.

Meats, Beans, Fish, and Nuts
These foods contain iron and lots of other important nutrients. Like grains, these foods are measured in ounce equivalents.

An ounce equivalent of this group would be:

1 ounce of meat, poultry, or fish
1/4 cup cooked dry beans
1 egg
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
a small handful of nuts or seeds

4- to 8-year-olds need 3 to 4 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 5 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 5 ounce equivalents each day.

Visit www.mypyramid.gov to get your personalized diet plan and cool nutrition tips based on your age, physical activity and gender.