Scaling the new pyramid
Now that the new food pyramid has been revealed -- to mixed reviews -- many Americans will attempt to navigate it.
As they do, nutrition and health experts are weighing in on the best ways to use the comprehensive guide to food and exercise. Some see it as a helpful tool that can be used many ways, such as identifying the basic food groups and obtaining individualized diet and exercise plans. Others, however, consider it little more than an oversimplified chart that few will use.
The pyramid’s new structure features vertical bands representing a varied diet. Each food group has subcategories (orange vegetables, poultry, processed cheese), plus alternatives for those who are vegetarians, for example, or lactose intolerant. When people plug in their age, height, weight, gender and physical activity levels to the My Pyramid Tracker feature on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website (www.mypyramid.gov), they can get suggestions for diets that incorporate fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins, and exercise.
So what is the best way to use the information, especially when planning family meals? Should guidelines be tacked on the refrigerator, toted to the grocery store or consulted periodically?
“I think that it can be used in any way,” said Netty Levine, a registered dietitian with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “For families with people of different heights and weights, you can go with a more global approach and have foods from all the different groups in the house. And then each person can go into more detail if necessary.”
She also sees the food group breakdowns (dark green vegetables, whole grains, for example) as a “great shopping list,” especially for families “that are working together and saying, ‘Hey, let’s find something that’s a leafy green vegetable.’ ”
Unlike the former one-size-fits-all pyramid that reigned for 13 years, consumers can now benefit from a pyramid that can be customized, said Connie M. Weaver, head of Purdue University’s department of foods and nutrition. “The concept was to try to be flexible -- you don’t have to eat meat, you can be flexible with your own personal taste and cuisine.”
Weaver also notes that if users follow the pyramid’s basic (but hardly new) concept of burning more calories to eat more calories, they may finally understand how to lose weight: “As people play around with it,” she said, “they’ll see that as they get more active, they can get more flexible calories for treats.”
MyPyramid’s specific breakdowns of what foods to eat on a daily basis should be regarded as the “bible for the day, the commandments for healthy eating,” said Gail Frank, professor of nutrition at Cal State Long Beach and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Assn. “The pyramid gives them a daily intake of what to strive for,” she adds. “If we would meet our fruit and vegetable requirements, that is the first step toward healthy eating.”
Using the pyramid to determine portion sizes should be easier, said Frank. Before, food was measured in the amorphous “servings”; now portions are given in ounces and cups.
But not everyone believes the new diet and exercise guide is user-friendly. “It’s so ambiguous, you can take it almost any direction you want,” said Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. “I don’t see this addressing obesity at all.”
Frank, however, is hopeful people will learn to use the pyramid. “If we can succeed in 25% of the population taking it seriously, then it might be enough impact for people to model a healthy approach.”
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
How many calories can I have?
To go with its food guide pyramid--the iconic reminder to Americans to make healthy food choices--the Department of Agriculture announced 12 calorie-intake models.
Using the calorie column, find the daily amount of each food group you should consume.
*--* Calorie Fruits Vegetables Grains Meat /beans Milk Oils level (cup) (cup) (ounce) (ounce) (cup) (tsp) 1,000 1 1 3 2 2 4 1,200 1 1.5 4 3 2 4 1,400 1.5 1.5 5 4 2 4 1,600 1.5 2 5 5 3 5 1,800 1.5 2.5 6 5.5 3 6 2,000 2 2.5 6 5.5 3 6 2,200 2 3 7 6 3 6 2,400 2 3 8 6.5 3 7 2,600 2 3.5 9 6.5 3 8 2,800 2.5 3.5 10 7 3 8 3,000 2.5 4 10 7 3 10 3,200 2.5 4 10 7 3 11
*--*
Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Associated Press