The New Food Pyramid proposed suggest not only how many servings of fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats are needed for a healthy diet, but also how much you should be eating based on your age and lifestyle. If you are a 45-year-old who walks a mile and half to 3 miles a day at a leisurely pace, a 2,000-calorie diet is recommended, while the same-age woman who is a true couch potato should cut back to 1,800 calories.

The New Food Pyramid also includes a category-by-category breakdown for 12 different diets, ranging from 1,000 to 3,200 calories as well as a separate chart to determine which calorie intake is recommended for your particular lifestyle. According to the lifestyle chart, only very active teenage boys should consume 3,200 calories, while active teenage girls can consume 2,400 calories.

One change that is getting positive reviews is a move to make the food pyramid user-friendlier by moving away from the serving designation to more precise cup or ounce designations. Samantha Heller, MS, RD, senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Medical Centre in New York, says this is a significant improvement.

Most people don't know what it means when you say two or three servings. For example, half an English muffin is one serving of grain, so if we are recommending six servings of grain each day, that means they have five servings left. If they eat the whole English muffin, they have four servings left.

In the New Food Pyramid, servings are defined as cups or ounces, and in some cases even more specific details are given. For example, one egg equals one ounce of meat, poultry, or fish. And each of these is the equivalent of one serving. A cup of yoghurt is equal to an ounce and a half of natural cheese, or two ounces of processed cheese. Two servings of grains translate to one cup of cooked rice, pasta, or cooked cereal.

A 1,800-calorie diet should include a cup and a half of fruit and this includes fruit juice. Two cups of vegetables, three and a half cups of grain, five ounces of meat, and two or three cups of milk. Total fat intake should be limited but in some cases it can increase to as much as 35% of calories, which is up from the 30% recommended in the 1992 food pyramid.

The New Food Pyramid can be a guide in making food decisions. There is a lot of data to show that the food pyramid is our most recognized nutrition symbol. A simple guide is to construct your plate so that two-thirds of the plate is given over to vegetables, mostly dark green or deep yellow vegetables and not starchy vegetables.

The Food Pyramid

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Information on this site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or dietitian. Information and statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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