Franklin Pierce University

Wellness Center
 

The New Food Pyramid

The food pyramid -- a monolith that has stood intact since 1992 -- has undergone a major overhaul. In April 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a new pyramid, this one featuring colorful vertical bands to represent different food groups. When properly decoded, the new pyramid provides reasonable guidelines for healthy eating.

Unlike the trusty old pyramid, with its tiny pictures of bread and other staples and the recommended number of daily servings clearly spelled out, the new pyramid doesn’t include pictures of food. It doesn’t make any references to servings, either. Instead, the architects made some of the colored bands wider than others. The orange band, representing grains, is the widest. The yellow band, representing oils, is the thinnest. The message is that you need more grains than oils, but you already knew that. The pyramid also features a set of stairs with a figure climbing to the top, a reminder that exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle.

-Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grain is a grain   product. Bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereals, tortillas, and grits are examples of grain products.

-The amount of grains you need to eat depends on your age, sex, and level of physical activity. Recommended daily amounts are listed in the chart, which can be found at mypyramid.gov.  Most Americans consume enough grains, but few are whole grains. At least ½ of all the grains eaten should be whole grains.

Vegetables

-Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice counts as a member of the vegetable group. Vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may be whole, cut-up, or mashed.

-The amount of vegetables you need to eat depends on your age, sex, and level of physical activity. Recommended total daily amounts are shown in the chart, which can be found at mypyamid.gov. Recommended weekly amounts from each vegetable subgroup are shown in the second chart.

Fruits

-Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as part of the fruit group. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and may be whole, cut-up, or pureed.

-The amount of fruit you need to eat depends on age, sex, and level of physical activity. Recommended daily amounts are shown in the chart found at mypyramid.gov.

Oils

-Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature, like the vegetable oils used in cooking. Oils come from many different plants and from fish.

Most Americans consume enough oil in the foods they eat, such as:

• Nuts
• Fish
• Cooking oil
• Salad dressings

-A person’s allowance for oils depends on age, sex, and level of physical activity. Daily allowances are shown in the chart at mypyramid.gov.

Milk

-All fluid milk products and many foods made from milk are considered part of this food group. Foods made from milk that retain their calcium content are part of the group, while foods made from milk that have little to no calcium, such as cream cheese, cream, and butter, are not. Most milk group choices should be fat-free or low-fat.

-The amount of food from the Milk Group you need to eat depends on age. Recommended daily amounts are shown in the chart at mypyramid.gov.

Meat & Beans

- The amount of food from the Meat and Beans Group you need to eat depends on age, sex, and level of physical activity. Most Americans eat enough food from this group, but need to make leaner and more varied selections of these foods. Recommended daily amounts are shown in the chart at mypyramid.gov.

Physical Activity

- Physical activity simply means movement of the body that uses energy.

- For health benefits, physical activity should be moderate or vigorous and add up to at least 30 minutes a day.

 Moderate physical activities include:

·         Walking briskly (about 3 ½ miles per hour)

·         Hiking

·         Gardening/yard work

·         Dancing

·         Golf (walking and carrying clubs)

·         Bicycling (less than 10 miles per hour)

·         Weight training (general light workout)

            Vigorous physical activities include:
 

·         Running/jogging (5 miles per hour)

·         Bicycling (more than 10 miles per hour)

·         Swimming (freestyle laps)

·         Aerobics

·         Walking very fast (4 ½ miles per hour)

·         Heavy yard work, such as chopping wood

·         Weight lifting (vigorous effort)

·         Basketball (competitive)

- Some physical activities are not intense enough to help you meet the recommendations. Although you are moving, these activities do not increase your heart rate, so you should not count these towards the 30 or more minutes a day that you should strive for.