= Full article availableAn active 25-year-old man and a sedentary 75-year-old woman have very different nutritional and caloric needs. But until now, the US government’s food pyramid, introduced in 1992, has given them—and all the varieties of ages and lifestyles in between—the same graphical dietary advice.
The new pyramid, unveiled this spring to reflect recent revisions to the federal dietary guidelines, replaces that one-size-fits-all approach with a dozen different versions, customized to your age, gender and activity level. Dubbed MyPyramid, it’s the entry point to a sophisticated suite of tools you can use to match your eating and exercise to the latest nutritional knowledge.
Besides being customizable, the new pyramid also flips the familiar food bands sideways. A rainbow of vertical color bands symbolizes variety among the five food groups and oils. The varying widths represent the updated dietary guidelines’ recommendations of the relative proportions you should consume from each food group. Although these do not represent exact proportions, they provide a general guide to eating grains (orange), vegetables (green), fruits (red), milk and milk products (blue), meat and beans (purple) and fats and oils (yellow). Foods from all groups are needed each day for good health. Moderation is represented by the narrowing of each food group from bottom to top. The wider base stands for foods with little or no solid fats, added sugars or caloric sweeteners. These should be selected more often to get the most nutrition from calories consumed.
Also new is a step-climbing stick figure on the pyramid’s left side, emphasizing the importance of getting daily exercise and matching the program’s slogan, “Steps to a Healthier You.” The recommendation is for adults to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all days of the week.
“No one single graphic can capture all the recommendations in the new dietary guidelines,” cautions Eric Hentges, director of the US Agriculture Department’s (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The revised guidelines, which are based on the most up-to-date science, he notes, include 23 recommendations for the general population plus 18 for specialized groups. “MyPyramid is designed to be simple but motivational. It personalizes the recommendations for individuals and helps them to make healthier lifestyle choices.”
The previous pyramid scored high in public recognition, familiar to more than 80 percent of consumers. But not enough people have followed its recommendations: Today, according to the USDA, 65 percent of Americans ages 20 to 74 are overweight, and nearly half of those are obese.
MyPyramid seeks to counter that unhealthy trend with three key messages, according to Hentges:
- Make smart choices within every food group as well as between food groups. Among vegetables, for example, it’s important to include dark green vegetables and orange vegetables along with such familiar starchy choices as peas, corn and potatoes. The emphasis on dark green vegetables is one of the biggest changes in dietary patterns most people need to make, Hentges says—doubling or tripling their intake. “That sounds huge, but it amounts to about two more cups over a week’s time. You might change your mix of salad greens, add broccoli or cooked spinach. It’s a challenge but it’s not an undoable change.”
- Keep a balance between food intake and physical activity. What’s important, advises the USDA, is to be active most days of the week and to make physical activity part of your daily routine. For example, you might reach a 30-minute daily goal for physical activity by walking the dog for 10 minutes before and after work, plus a 10-minute walk at lunchtime. Or swim three times a week and take a yoga class on the alternate days. Strive for at least 10-minute stretches of activity; shorter bursts won’t deliver the same health benefits.
- Get the most nutrients from your calories. “For people who are basically sedentary and overweight or obese, there are not a lot of calories to spend,” Hentges says. That’s why it’s important to focus on nutrient-dense foods that deliver a high proportion of what your body needs for their amount of calories. “The base of the pyramid, the widest part of each food group, represents the most nutrient-dense choices. You have to be able to get the most nutrients from the calories you have. What you don’t eat are the foods in each group that have more calories, less nutrients. Those trade-offs are pretty graphically laid out.”
MyPyramid includes a category for “discretionary calories”—extras that can be used on solid fats, added sugars and alcohol, or on more food from any group. But the USDA warns, “Most discretionary calorie allowances are very small, between 100 and 300 calories, especially for those who are not physically active. For many people, the discretionary calorie allowance is totally used by the foods they choose in each food group, such as higher-fat meats, cheeses, whole milk or sweetened bakery products.”
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