The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed food recommendations for more than 100 years. Its guidelines have gone through many revisions during that time; the current nutritional food pyramid, MyPyramid, was released in 2005 together with an interactive website. "MyPyramid for Kids" is filled with catchy phrases, ideas to improve children's nutrition and some useful advice to help parents and caretakers provide nutritious meals while building healthy eating habits.
MyPyramid Overview
The 2005 "MyPyramid for Kids" includes graphics designed to symbolize important health concepts. It shows a figure walking up stairs to remind kids to be active every day and to teach them to take one step at a time so they understand the importance of making healthy changes gradually and as part of an ongoing lifestyle. The food groups have stripes in varying sizes to remind kids to eat more foods from the groups with the widest stripes. Each food group--grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, oils, meat and beans--is a bright color, which is the basis of the USDA slogan "every color every day." Oils are represented as a narrow strip of yellow as a reminder that developing children need to include healthy oils in their diet.
Pyramid Guidelines
The USDA has created slogans to engage children and serve as memory aides--"make half your grains whole," "vary your veggies," "go lean with protein," "change your oil" and "don't sugarcoat it" are some of the key examples. The MyPyramid website has a tips and resources page that provides practical examples of how to implement the guidelines in your children's diet. The USDA also has developed an Inside the Pyramid page that provides information about which foods are included in each group, how much your child needs to eat and the nutritional benefits.
Tips for Parents
As the USDA tells parents, "You are the most important influence on your child." It offers tips to help parents implement the food pyramid and help their children build habits to last a lifetime. Some of the advice is standard--for instance, show by example (let your kids see you snacking on veggies) and make healthy snacks available. But other tips address issues that can unknowingly lead to bad habits. One such tip is "reward with attention, not food," to help you avoid turning food into an emotional issue. Parents are encouraged to stop being "short-order cooks" (don't cook separate meals for each child) and are reminded of the importance of the family eating meals together.
Activities and Materials
You'll find printable materials, posters and online video games to help you teach your children about MyPyramid for Kids, nutrition, exercise and health. The MyPyramid website has interactive tools that allow you to type in age, activity level, height and weight; then it automatically calculates how much food your child needs from each group and creates a personalized plan. You also can register to access a free menu planner.
Considerations
The Harvard School of Public Health disagreed with some aspects of the nutrition pyramid created by the USDA, so it created the Healthy Eating Pyramid. It states that "the Healthy Eating Pyramid is based on the best available scientific evidence about the links between diet and health." In addition to redefining the food groups, the Harvard pyramid is built on a foundation of daily exercise and weight control.
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