The New Food Pyramid Explained

The new food pyramid represents the latest research behind healthy nutrition and a balanced diet.

On my Food Pyramid page, I outlined generally the food represented as a hieracrchy in a pyramid form and how many servings and showed other specific food pyramid diagrams for Vegetarians, Kids, Diabetics and so forth.

So let me explain here the key differences with this new food pyramid to the previous nutritional advice.

The old food pyramid showed 'grains' as the base of a healthy diet and emphasised limiting oils and fats and sugars.

This is still not a bad way of thinking ... however, the new food pyramid emphasises in particular two things. Firstly, the consumption of animal fat (red meat, dairy etc) and secondly, the dangerous reliance on carbohydrates.

The new food pyramid is more flexible and accurate. Your daily intake depends on your lifestyle and how much exercise you do in any given week. It will also vary if you are trying to lose weight or gain weight.

One of the main protagonists of the new food pyramid, Dr. Walter Willett, head of Harvard’s Department of Nutrition, argues that weight is best controlled through exercise, rather than strict caloric restriction.

The new food pyramid is a great tool to help you remember how to eat a more balanced diet from a greater variety of food portions without necessarily counting calories.

It emphasizes legume type vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, nuts, physical activity, and weight control.

Originally from the US Department of Agriculture, there are now six groups instead of the old four groups and the number of servings has been expanded to meet the calorie needs of a greater range of the population.

Here's a simple set of healthy switches you can make

1. Limit your eating of red meat and dairy fat, which can increase your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and colon cancer.

For example, use low fat milk and yogurt, or calcium fortified soy milk in place of full fat cow's milk. Switch to poultry and fish, which contain less saturated fat and more unsaturated fat.

2. Eat high glycaemic foods sparingly (that is sugar, sweets, pop, white bread, pasta and rice etc) and especially avoid these later in the day and evenings.

Refined carbohydrates of the sort found in sweets, cakes, white pasta, white bread, etc can be very quickly broken down to glucose, thus increasing blood sugar levels and overloading insulin system, more than whole grains do.

High intake of starch from refined grains and potatoes are associated with a high risk of type two diabetes and coronary heart disease. On the other hand, a greater intake of fibre is related to a lower risk of these illnesses.

3. Fill up on a variety of colourful fruit and vegetables and including legumes (that is fruits or seeds of anything that comes in a pod! e.g. beans, lentils, peanuts, peas) which are high in veggie protein as well as fibre.

4. Alcohol in moderation (or avoid completely for weight loss). Alcohol is 'empty' calories and just turns to fat, particularly when consumed late in the evening, which is when most people have a tipple, when it would not be burned for energy.

The result? A new food pyramid with a base of regular physical activity and weight control.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also released a new food pyramid diagram. This one (below) breaks food categories into a colourful spectrum to emphasize variety and adds exercise into the picture.

12 individualized intake profiles are available to illustrate how this healthy lifestyle plan might look in real life.

You can view an interactive guide at New Food Pyramid Interactive Guide.

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