Nutrition Pyramid And Facts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced the most commonly-used nutrition pyramid, the Food Guide Pyramid, in 1992. It was based on the USDA's Dietary Guidelines, which changed every five years, and reflected the growing belief that healthy diets should include more bread, cereal, rice and pasta and less meat.
The USDA introduced MyPyramid in 2005. It emphasizes "a more personalized approach to healthy eating and physical activity" than the Food Guide Pyramid.

Food Guide Pyramid

The Food Guide Pyramid is included on many food labels. It was designed to encourage Americans to eat more nutritious foods by dividing the pyramid into larger sections with more nutritious foods and smaller sections with less nutritious foods.
The pyramid has six sections. Each represents a food group and includes pictures of foods.

Pyramid's Serving Sizes

The Food Guide Pyramid's base says you should eat six to 11 servings from the Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta Group daily. The pyramid's second-from-the bottom part recommends three to five servings from the Vegetable group and two to four servings from the Fruit group daily. The pyramid's third-from-the-bottom part includes the Milk, Yogurt and Cheese Group and the Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts Group. You should each two to three servings of each group daily. The tip of the pyramid recommends very little consumption of fats, oils and sweets.

MyPyramid

MyPyramid was designed to replace the Food Guide Pyramid although the earlier drawing is still common on food packages. You can see the new drawing and its advice if you have access to the Internet via http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html.
MyPyramid has six sections, just like its predecessor. It also has a drawing of a person climbing steps because the USDA now factors physical conditioning into its dietary recommendations. The six sections are vertical rather than horizontal and are represented by colors rather than drawings of foods.

Grains Recommended

The orange Grains section is MyPyramid's widest section because the USDA wants you to eat more grains than any other food. The green Vegetables and blue Milk sections are slightly smaller. The red Fruits section is slightly smaller than the Vegetables and Milk sections; the purple Meat & Beans section is much smaller. The yellow Oils section is so small that it looks like a boundary between the Fruits and Milk sections.

No Servings Sizes

MyPyramid doesn't recommend servings sizes. Instead, you can get general advice on each food group by clicking on its vertical bar and get lists of foods in each group and tips on which foods to select by clicking "learn more." The pyramid's advice on quantity is in cups for vegetables, fruits and milk and in ounces for grains and meats.

Personalized Advice

MyPyramid's major advantage is that it gives personalized advice. You can click "MyPyramid Plan" on the left side of MyPyramid's home page--http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html and then enter your age, sex, height, weight and physical activity level into a form. After clicking "submit," you will learn the USDA's recommendations for how much of each food group you should eat daily.