The USDA Food Pyramid is not my thing. I think it's hard to implement in real life, doesn't contain enough information, and doesn't apply to everyone's unique needs. Food lobbyists also spend billions of dollars to keep their place in the food pyramid so they stay in business, whether or not it's beneficial to our health.
Who eats 11 servings of grains? Who even knows what a serving of grain is, anyway? The new Food Pyramid isn't much better, which recommends "6 ounces" of grain a day, whatever that means. It just doesn't make sense in real life. A better way to guide our food choices is to use a visual like the one to the left. It suggests a plate of food comprising of one half vegetables (and fruit - my 2 cents), a quarter carbohydrates like potatoes and whole grains, and a quarter protein (it doesn't have to be animal protein! my 2 cents again). This visual can apply to one meal, and to your day's intake as well. If you feel like you had a lot of protein or carbs earlier in the day, you can compensate by balancing out the daily "plate" later in the day.
You don't have to organize your food into a pie chart. Just aim for the general idea. For example, a balanced Mexican meal could be a corn tortilla on the bottom, layered with a modest portion of protein, maybe a little cheese, then piled with lots of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa. For a stir fry, you could add extra veggies to the protein, with a smaller side of rice. The water and fiber in the extra vegetables and fruit will keep you feeling full.
This is just a guide, and not a perfect one, but it'll help keep your diet balanced naturally without worrying about calories or servings.
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6 comments:
this is a good one, thanks!
Ya, I like the visual!
this is pretty interesting. also, cool fact about the food lobbyists perpetuating the food pyramid.
if you're going to update more and want to spread the word, you should try twitter. i already checked and "organiclisa" is available heh
haha you are so awesome! i'll look into it :)
Hi Lisa, just came across your blog and enjoying to read the articles. I am originally Dutch and I grew up with 'de schijf van vijf' (disc of 5) as is promoted by our center of good food. It does exactly as you say, visualizing the food groups in a pie and it was first introduced in 1953, but revised a few times when we learned more about healty food. The Dutch have not used a food pyramid ever. Tho the page is in dutch, the graph speaks for itself: http://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/eten-gezondheid/gezond-eten.aspx
Hi Syllie! Thank you for reading my blog! :) That's a very nice graph. Have you seen the American food pyramid? It's terrible! It certainly hasn't helped the Americans get healthier either.... 1 in 3 are obese! It's quite sad and I think we need to completely revise the whole concept of nutrition. Well anyway, thanks again for reading my blog, Syllie!
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