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The New Food Pyramid
In April 2005
the United States Department of Agriculture released the new
Food Pyramid. And it’s quite different from the old one.
The first pyramid showed the food groups from top to bottom.
The foods to eat more of were on the bottom and foods to eat
less of — fats, oils and sweets — were on the top. |
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Health & Fitness |
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The new
pyramid has been tipped sideways. It shows the food groups
running from the top of the pyramid to the bottom. No
foods are shown on the pyramid, just bands of color.
The widths
of the bands of color are different. For example, the
orange band for grains is wider than the yellow band for
fats. The new pyramid suggests the select more of the
foods in the groups with wider bands. |
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Physical
Activity
Also new in the pyramid is the person walking up set of steps
representing the importance of physical activity. The steps
give the message that food and activity work together in a
healthy lifestyle. Regular activity helps people lower the
risks of such diseases as diabetes and heart disease.
My Pyramid Plan
One neat feature of the whole campaign towards healthy
lifestyle is that the new food pyramid can now be tailored to
your own physical needs. If you go to
www.MyPyramid.gov and
then click on
MyPyramid
Plan you can fill a few basic information and the
usual amount of physical activity you get each day. When you
click on “submit,” you’ll get the pyramid to match the details
you put in.
Keep in mind is that this pyramid calculator doesn’t factor
into these calorie estimates whether or not you need to lose
weight. Yet, many people do. If you want to lose weight,
you’ll need to eat fewer calories a day. |
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Inside My
Pyramid
Once you entered your personal information, and submit the
request, you’ll get your two personalized pyramids: One for
your current weight and the second if you want to gradually
move toward a healthier weight. If you click on any of these
two, you’ll get to look inside your personal pyramid. |
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Following
the links in the table will get you to the details. You
will get suggestions on the type of food to eat and how
much, in order to work towards your healthier weight.
For example clicking on Tips shows you nutrition pointers
for each food group, including tips on how to eat more or
less of these foods. Clicking on a food group, such as
“Grains,” shows you which foods are in that group and how
to choose |
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whole grains.
Clicking on “Vegetables” you can learn more about the
different types of dark green and yellow/orange vegetables.
Etc., etc., etc. |
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Track Your
Progress
You can even print your personal pyramid so can have it handy
by your refrigerator. In addition you can also print you
Pyramid Worksheet. Remember that these pages are loaded with a
lot of useful information and will download very slowly, so be
patient. |
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And for the
brave souls, the website also provides you with your Pyramid
Tracker. Here you can track your progress if you click on “my
tracker” and register at no charge, located at the bottom of
the page. Of course, you can also browse some sections of the
website without registering. But I think, after you read
through that section you will want to register, FOR FREE!
After you register, you will be asked to enter the food you
have eaten so far starting that day. Unfortunately, when I
tested the Tracking section, the website froze. But according
to published reports, this section helps you use the nutrition
and physical activity messages from the new pyramid. It also
allows you to compare a day’s worth of the foods you eat and
the activity you get with the nutrition and physical activity
you need. On the tracker you’ll also get nutrition and
physical activity messages tailored for you, along with links
to wet sites where you can learn more.
And the neatest thing about all these is that these
information is available to anyone for free – courtesy of the
US of A.
Learn more, just follow
this link. |
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