Start With the Basics

It's a clever idea: Organize foods into a pyramid with the healthy foods at the wide bottom, to indicate these should form the foundation of the diet, and put unhealthy foods at the narrow top, to suggest you should eat only small amounts. The USDA developed its first food pyramid in 1992, and chances are it is still hanging in many classrooms and doctors' offices around the country. But nutrition information has changed a great deal since then. Not only has the USDA revised its pyramid, but other experts, including those at Harvard, have come up with their own versions.

The updated government food pyramid is called "My Pyramid" because it has an interactive Web site that allows you to customize it based on your age and level of activity. My Pyramid is an improvement over the old USDA pyramid because it includes exercise as an important factor in the equation and it offers 12 different eating plans. Still, it fails to differentiate between different types of carbohydrates and proteins.

In My Pyramid, the food groups are represented by vertical bands of colour, which vary in width depending on how much people should eat. Along the side of the pyramid is a staircase, to remind us that exercise and fitness go hand-in-hand with nutrition for optimal health.

The updated government food pyramid interactive tool recommends a diet based on your age and amount of activity.

The food pyramid is really a teaching tool: Kids learn about it in school, and health care providers use it to teach people how to eat.

The major points of the USDA's updated recommendations are as follows:

• Eat more vegetables and fruits. Go for those with deep, bright colour.

• Add more whole grains. Whole grains pack more nutritional punch and fibre than refined grains.
   

• Reduce serving size. A portion should be the size of your palm. Alternatively, you could follow the updated USDA recommendations that go by measuring cup size per week.
   

• It's not fat, but the kind of fat. Oil is okay in small amounts if you use vegetable oil such as olive or sunflower oil. Avoid butter, and don't use margarine. It is the bad kind of fat — Tran’s fat.
   

• Include exercise. You are what you eat and how much you exercise. You can't think of one without the other.
   

• Limit salt. The sodium in salt contributes to high blood pressure in many people.
   

• From the Harvard Health Publications Special Health Report, Healthy Eating: A Guide to the New Nutrition.