The famous Food Guide Pyramid lumped adults and children together, recommending the same diets for both. Now, though, you can find out what the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers a healthy diet for your children by going its website and entering their age, sex, height and weight into a form. The recommendations for each child are available in seconds.
History
For decades, the USDA issued its Dietary Guidelines every five years. In 1992, the guidelines were converted into a pictorial pyramid with the healthiest foods at the bottom. The pyramid recommended that people--adults and children--increase their consumption of breads, cereals, rice and pasta to six to 11 servings per day. It also recommended three to five servings of vegetables, two to four servings of fruits, and two to three servings each of dairy products, and meats and beans daily.
New Diet Pyramid
In 2005, the USDA introduced MyPyramid--a personalized healthy diet pyramid for everyone older than 2 years old. You can find your children's healthy diet pyramid by entering personal information into an online program that is on the MyPyramid.gov website (see Resources). The personal healthy diet pyramid includes a drawing of a person climbing steps to emphasize the importance of exercise, six colored vertical boxes representing each food group, and recommendations on how much of each food group to eat daily.
Pyramids For Young Children
The MyPyramid website includes MyPyramid for Preschoolers and MyPyramid for Kids sections. The former is for 2- to 5-year-old children; the latter children aged 6 to 11. The sections include games, posters and growth charts that help convey the importance of healthy diet pyramids.
Healthy Diet For Youngsters
The MyPyramid website's usefulness for youngsters becomes evident when you enter your child's information into the site. According to the program, 5-year-old boys and girls who exercise 30 to 60 minutes daily should eat 1,400 calories of food per day, limit snacks to 170 calories daily, and eat 5 oz. of grains, 1.5 cups each of vegetables and fruits, 2 cups of milk and 4 oz. of meats and beans daily. It also makes recommendations on weekly servings of various vegetables.
Healthy Diet For Adolescents
Adolescent boys should have a different healthy diet pyramid than girls, reports MyPyramid's website. A 15-year-old boy should eat 2,600 calories daily, including 9 oz. of grains, 3.5 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruits, 3 cups of milk, and 6.5 oz. of meats and beans. A 15-year-old girl, though, should eat 2,000 calories daily, including 6 oz. of grains, 2.5 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruits, 3 cups of milk and 5.5 oz. of meats and beans.
Exercise
A healthy diet pyramid and exercise are related, reports the MyPyramid website. If your child weighs too much for his height, the website's program will send you a message, telling you what he should eat.
The website also gives parents tips on how to be a healthy role model for children. Among the tips--exercise with your children, don't use food as an award, food shop together and eat a healthy diet around your children.
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