Food Portion Sizes And Groups

There are multiple food pyramids that are based on the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid. The USDA's Food Guide Pyramid is designed to help you balance your meals in a healthy manner. The types of food you should eat less of appear at the top of the pyramid, and those you should eat more of are on the bottom (see figure 5.1). Other food pyramids take into account food types based on cultures, vegetarianism, and new dietary philosophies. You can find these on the mayoclinic.com Web site. A good way to look at a food pyramid is to compare it to what is on your plate during a meal. Even though putting smaller portions on your plate can be helpful in preventing overeating, you should make sure that you eat more foods from the bottom of the pyramid (that is, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) than from the top of the pyramid (such as fats and sweets). The foods from the bottom of the pyramid are less dense in calories and usually contain less fat as well. As you progress up the pyramid, the food becomes denser with calories-not to mention tougher to resist.

The foods toward the top of the pyramid are those that we tend to overeat, which lead to weight gain, elevated cholesterol, and other diseases. I have found that if I eat more foods from the bottom of the food pyramid early in a meal, I consume fewer foods from the top of the food pyramid. It's more difficult to do this if you eat many meals away from home. A lot of restaurant meals, including fast food, fall short of the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables. One way around this is to eat your servings of fruit at home before you go out to eat, or you can ask for extra vegetables and fruits with your meal.

Figure 5.1 USDA Food Guide Pyramid.

You should realize that there are many similarly structured food pyramids that describe the number of servings from each food group. There are various food types to suit ethnic group, culture, religion, region, and many other factors. You can review these pyramids by doing an online search and finding one that fits your lifestyle.