Food Guide Pyramid: Steps to a Healthier You, Eating Right

MyFoodPyramidWow, went to a Health Fair this past weekend.  Did you know that they finally changed the government food pyramid? Hopefully they'll be teaching this in the schools and working to abide by it for school lunches. Instead of the pyramid being right side up or upside down with horizontal blocks of food recommendations, it now has almost vertical stripes.

So hey, check this out ( one of my fav phrases from American Idol).  At www.mypyramid.gov you can go inside the pyramid and click on each "stripe" to see how many servings you need of each colored category.  Finally, they've decided that people of different ages and sexes have different nutritional needs.  So, climb the pyramid steps to a healthier you.  This is the daily nutritional recommendations "scoop" for women aged 31-50...

ORANGE is grains.  We need 6 ounces of grains daily, preferably whole grains- whole wheat flour, oatmeal, brown rice.

GREEN is veggies.  We need 2 1/2 cups daily, these are broken into subgroups and it is important to eat from each group. Check the pyramid for specifics.  It's all there and really helpful.

RED is fruit.  We need 1 1/2 cups of fruit daily. Stay away from fruit juices, aim for fresh or frozen, canned or dried.

YELLOW is oils.  Our limit is 5 teaspoons daily.  Most of our oil should come from vegetable, fish or nut oils.  Limit solids like margarine or butter.

BLUE is dairy.  We need 3 cups of milk products daily. This includes milk, yogurt, cheese.  See the chart to determine how to convert yogurt and cheese to cup equivalents.

PURPLE is meat and beans. We need 5 ounces of this group.  This group includes eggs, peas, nuts and seeds. Choose lowfat or lean meat or poultry and bake it, broil it, or grill it.

So when it comes to keeping ourselves healthy try going back to a strong balanced diet. Sometimes as busy women we take something like our nutritional program and try to make it more like rocket science than the simple thing that it really is. When on the go and traveling we can easily loose sight of what we are consuming, putting us at health risks and compromising our immune system.  So begin your journey to proper nutrition by creating a personal food guide pyramid based on your caloric and nutritional needs.

Nothing is more attractive than a healthy woman who makes healthy choices!


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