Saturday, July 20, 2013

Exactly What Changes Were Made To The Food Pyramid?

By Francis Beall


1. Introduction

For your information, the food pyramid has been retired! That's correct, the USDA does not use this to indicate to consumers healthy eating guidelines. The new approach for establishing exactly what you need to consume, and one that's becoming a lot more popular anyway, is called the "Food Plate."

Although the pyramid was utilized for a long time, the powers that be believed it was perplexing. Sure, there were the levels of "healthiness" that suggested exactly how healthy and balanced some types of foods were, yet the pyramid was a little confusing since it did not really show you exactly what to eat in ratios.

In contrasting the 2 approaches, you will certainly see the distinctions and possibly agree that the food plate is better.

1. First, you might notice that oil, fat and sugars are not noted as categories or kinds of food in the new food plate. The old suggestion was for consuming them in low amounts, yet not now. That's not to claim that you should not eat oils and particular fats at all. I consider it strange that they were neglected.

2. The 2nd thing is that considerably less emphasis has actually been put on grains as a complete group. Actually, when the food pyramid was adopted, it was thought that grains need to be the largest portion of the total food consumed. Now, just one quarter of the food you consume must include grains, even though the pyramid indicated over one half. Fruits and vegetables have actually replaced grains as the food group that should be eaten the most, as recent scientific studies have confirmed.

3. Another noticeable modification is that nutrients as a group are excluded from the food plate completely. The thinking is that by eating the right portion sizes of the different food groups, all necessary nutrients are eaten as well. Protein is a perfect example. No food group in the new food plate points out protein at all. But the researchers that created the food plate state that people will know which meals are full of protein - eggs, meat, grains and nuts for example.

4. The last point that distinguishes the pyramid and the food plate is that there are in fact no more portion sizes mentioned in the plate. The optimum serving size in weight for each and every category used to be a component of the pyramid, however the food plate doesn't say anything related to that. The scientists say that by using the food plate, which actually indicates portions as they relate to the larger plate, the serving size is implied.




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