Food Groups and Serving Sizes
The New Food Pyramid
Consumers have two tools at their disposal for figuring out what kinds of food to eat and how much of a particular food to eat: the food guidance system and nutrition facts labels.
The first of these tools is the revamped food guide, known as MyPyramid, which debuted in April 2005, reflecting the government's revised dietary guidelines published in January 2005.
MyPyramid is a visual illustration of suggested healthy eating habits and physical activity. Like its predecessor, the Food Guide Pyramid, MyPyramid combines the government’s dietary guidelines and recommended allowances into six food groups. But instead of illustrating the number of servings based on a one-size-fits-all 2,000 calorie intake, the pyramid symbol itself shows six vertical color bands, each representing varying proportions of the pyramid. These colors represent the food groups.
- Orange for grains
- Green for vegetables
- Red for fruits
- Yellow for oils
- Blue for milk
- Purple for meat and beans
For specific servings of a given food group, we are encouraged to create our own, personal pyramid online. By keying in certain data, we can find out how much we should eat from each food group based on our age, sex and level of activity.
The new dietary guidelines on which the pyramid is based, promoted fruits and vegetables and whole grains. At the 2,000 calorie level, here's what the guidelines would suggest.
- Fruit Group should provide 4 daily servings, or 2 cups.
- Vegetable Group should provide 5 servings, or 2.5 cups.
- Grain Group should provide 6 ounce-equivalents (1 ounce-equivalent means 1 serving), half of which should be whole grains.
- Meat and Beans Group should provide 5.5 ounce-equivalents or servings.
- Milk Group should provide 3 cups/servings.
- Oils should provide 24g or 6 teaspoons.
- Discretionary Calories: These are the remaining amount of calories in each calorie level after nutrient-dense foods have been chosen. Up to 267 calories can be consumed in solid fats or added sugars if the other requirements have been met.
The new symbol does not spell this out because 2,000 calories is not appropriate for everyone. Instead, the color bands represent a visual clue about what proportion of our diet these foods should form.
How helpful is this? In acknowledging that a blanket statement on number of servings per food group simply doesn't work for everyone, the government is encouraging us to take responsibility and customize the pyramid, but how many of us will take the time to do so? And for those of us who do, making sense of food labels will become increasingly important.
Nutrition Facts
To help us monitor what and how much we eat within the parameters of the food guide, we can check the nutrition facts label on the side or back of food packages. Its function is to list the serving size of a given food and the number of servings per package. The nutrition facts label also identifies the key nutrients in a serving, and expresses it as a percentage of daily values based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Again, the suggested serving size of a given food may be too small for an active male weighing 200-plus pounds who needs 2,500 calories or more each day, or too much for a 5-ft, 100lb sedentary woman. And sometimes that huge, single muffin or one yogurt-drink carton you grab for breakfast contains two or more servings. Sure, if we look closely at the food label, it will have that information. But realistically, few of us will look that closely or be prepared to cut our muffin in half to ensure we get only the suggested serving size. We associate a single muffin with a single serving.
Given these problems, the nutrition facts label could use an overhaul. But since only so much information can fit on a small label, it is hard to know how it should be revised so that everyone has a clear idea of what a particular food represents for them. At least within the new dietary guidelines, the government expressed serving sizes in terms of teaspoons and cups, which mesh with how serving sizes are listed on nutrition facts labels.
At face value, the food pyramid is an educational tool designed to help us make better choices. The nutrition facts label offers specific values per serving of a given food based on a certain intake of calories. But how much do they govern our eating habits? Not enough, given that two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Perhaps the new food pyramid is a start. The rest is up to us.
**This information was acquired from About.com Healthy Eating.
