In our modern day lifestyle, technological advancements have made us settle into a sedentary life with scope for very little physical work. This in turn has given rise to innumerable lifestyle diseases and disorders. America, being one of the most affected nations in terms of lifestyle diseases like obesity and cardiac malfunctions, The United States Department of Agriculture, commonly referred to as USDA built a strong icon for healthy eating almost twenty years ago.
It was known as the Food Guide Pyramid. With time, researchers and nutrition experts around the world worked on formulating different versions of the food guide pyramid in order to help people follow a healthy food guide with a variety of options to choose from.
What is the Healthy Eating Pyramid?
- An outline to help you get balanced nutrition each day
- It provides you with a visual layout of what to eat and maintain your calorie intake for optimum health.
- It helps you to visually understand the value of each food group and how much of each you should include in your daily meals for a healthy diet
How to Understand a Healthy Food Pyramid?
The food pyramid shows four sections of different kinds of food. It is important to understand the sections so that you can focus and include a majority of the healthiest foods in your diet and minimize the intake of food with little or essential nutritional values.
- The tip of the food pyramid has fat, salt, oils and sugar. These constitute your cooking oil, butter, margarine, fried snacks, desserts, sauces, pickles, seasonings etc. These items should be consumed in minimal amounts.
- The next section is for proteins, iron, and zinc. The foods shown in this area are different kinds of meat like beef, lamb, pork, and fish. It includes other protein rich foods like beans, yoghurt, milk, cheese, nuts and legumes. A portion of this section should definitely be included during breakfast and lunch.
- The section after that mainly consists of foods that are of vegetative origin. Vegetables along with fruits should occupy a large portion of your everyday diet in order to supply the body with essential minerals, vitamins, and fibre.
- The last most section includes staple foods usually made from grains. In includes cereals, rice, pasta, breads, etc. It is filling and gives the body the fuel to work, run, and play throughout the day.
Photo Credit By: en.wikipedia.org
