Best Healthy Food Pyramids For Teens With Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are common among teen girls and sometimes affect teen boys. The most commonly seen eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Teens with anorexia feel they are overweight and eat less food than their bodies need for sustenance and growth. Teens with bulimia often binge and then force themselves to vomit in an attempt to avoid gaining weight. As these teens recover, they may find a food pyramid helpful in planning their diet.

USDA Food Pyramid

The USDA food pyramid is appropriate for growing teens. It emphasizes five food groups: milk, grains, fruits, vegetables and the meat and beans group. It also includes the healthy oils group, which is indicated by a thinner slice of the pyramid. Exercising is represented as steps climbing the pyramid. This food pyramid recommends eating 3 c of milk, 6 oz of grains, 2 c of fruits, 2.5 c of vegetables and 5.5 oz of meat and beans each day for an individual on a 2,000-calorie diet.

Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid

The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid is somewhat different from the USDA food pyramid. At the base of the pyramid are fruits and vegetables, with the recommendation of three or more fruit servings and four or more vegetable servings each day. Next on the pyramid are carbohydrates, such as breads, cereals and other grains. The pyramid recommends four to eight servings of these carbohydrates each day. It next recommends three to seven daily servings of protein and dairy foods. Higher still on the pyramid is fat, with a suggestion of three to five daily servings. Atop the pyramid are sweets, with 75 calories per day allotted to chosen sweets.

Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid

The Harvard School of Public Health has published a worthy pyramid as well. At the base of the pyramid is daily exercise, followed by a vegetables and fruits category, a grains category and a smaller healthy fats and oils category. Next on the pyramid is a fish, poultry and eggs category and a nuts, seeds, beans and tofu category. The pyramid next highlights the dairy category with a suggestion of one to two servings of diary each day, with vitamin D and calcium supplementation if needed. The top of the pyramid holds a reminder to consume sugary drinks, sweets, salt, potatoes, butter, refined grains, red meat and processed meat only sparingly.

Guidance for Parents

A child with an eating disorder needs medical and mental health care in order to overcome it. You can help by being open to talking with your teen about any topic, helping her build a healthy self-esteem and giving eating-related trust gradually, as it is warranted. Your teen has likely been counting calories for some time and she may enjoy following a food pyramid as she learns to use food properly. The USDA food pyramid best meets her current needs, but the Mayo Clinic and Harvard pyramids also represent healthy teen diets.