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In the old days, we grew up with the USDA's Basic Four Food Groups and nutritional guidelines for sensible homemakers boiled down to three square meals a day.
By Ruth Goldstein
You thought you knew what to eat until Atkins came along, followed by The South Beach Diet and even then, you questioned in your heart the efficacy of these diets. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) jointly with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 to help nutritionists, healthcare specialists and providers, and especially moms and dads to make critical decisions about how and what they and their families should eat.
Although most Americans were familiar with the "Food Pyramid", the well-meaning efforts of nutritionists and health education experts are often drowned out by multi-million dollar "ad" campaigns launched by food industry giants pushing sugary cereals, fast-food burgers and fries. So even though we're aware of the best foods to eat, we don't. Therefore, the USDA and HHS have provided consumer-friendly materials and websites to help us better understand its new Dietary Guidelines.
In 1992, the familiar Food Pyramid was introduced to accompany the Dietary Guidelines, which are updated every five years. It represented a quantum leap forward and helped the American public to visualize complex scientific data. The original pyramid represented the basic four food groups. At its foundation were the "bread, cereal, rice and pasta group" - literally, the staff of life - followed by the "fruit and vegetable groups" then "meat, fish, poultry, dairy..." and finally at its pinnacle were "fats, oils, and sweets" which were to be used sparingly.
But the pyramid had problems. So last spring the USDA and HHS decided to introduce a new graphic to go along with its Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. They introduced MyPyramid, a new, three-dimensional, interactive, Internet-friendly pyramid - with steps running up one side to represent physical activity, a first. The new pyramid reversed the original design and divided the food groups, vertically, from the base to the pinnacle. These intrinsic food groups now appear within the pyramid as five, multi-colored streamers of varying widths which correlate to their importance in the American diet.
MyPyramid represents five, basic food groups and exercise: Orange: Grains Green: Vegetables Red: Fruits Blue: Milk Purple: Meat and Beans Person (walking the pyramid): Exercise
But the USDA on its website, www.mypyramid.gov, is very clear when it cautions, "One size doesn't fit all." That means that the amounts and types of foods you should consume from these groups depends upon your age, fitness level and gender. To calculate the amounts and types of foods you and your family should consume, the USDA has provided a calculator on its website based upon the aforementioned criteria. It's prudent to input your family's information to come up with a formula that's just right for you and yours: http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx
Lynn Coley, RD, and Clinical Nutrition Manager at LifeBridge Health's Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, says, "It (the pyramid) was way overdue for an overhaul... There was a lack of specificity... People want much more detail..." (to help them make good choices). "This pyramid is more practical and has broader health implications..." For example, "The new guideline for physical activity is specific for children and adolescents and recommends 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity most days of the week." This should come as no surprise to parents, but probably poses a challenge to our children's caregivers who after school, battle with kids when it comes to exercise or watching TV or playing computer games.
Suzanne Hobbs, a dietician on the faculty at the University of North Carolina's Department of Health Policy and Administration, Chapel Hill, who writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for the Charlotte Observer, agrees. "The Food Guide Pyramid was way out of date. It was out of sync with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and it didn't address the obesity crisis. The emphasis on exercise has no political cost attached to it. It is an attempt to shunt responsibility for personal health onto the individual..." Finally, she says, "No matter how much you exercise, it would be impossible to burn enough calories to offset the number of excess calories people are consuming in their daily super-sized diets."
Although Hobbs is critical of the Guidelines she concedes, "They are better than they were. But still, "There is a reticence. Sometimes practical considerations take precedence over pure science." She cites sodium as an example. Americans consume more salt than they should but would be hard pressed to follow a recommendation that suggests they consume less. The Dietary Guidelines represent a compromise.
Hobbs points to a number of optional pyramids for dietetic comparison and reminds consumers that there are alternatives to the USDA's and HHC's model. She is partial to Oldways' Preservation and Exchange Trust's Mediterranean www.oldwayspt.org/pyramids/med/p_med.html) and Vegetarian (www.oldwayspt.org/pyramids/veg/p_veg.html) Pyramids. Both of these pyramids are based on a solid foundation of daily physical activity and emphasize whole grains. In this respect, they are similar to the latest offering from the USDA. She also recommends the Vegetarian food guide pyramid published in A new food guide for North American vegetarians: (www.eatright.org/Public/NutritionInformation/92_17086.cfm).
So what should you as parents look for in a healthy diet for you and your children and how can the Dietary Guidelines help you achieve that goal? For easy access and information, log onto www.MyPyramid.gov. There you'll find enough activities to keep your family busily entertained for hours learning about nutrition (through individualized meal plans); calorie trackers; and physical activities (click on the "steps"). You might even play an interactive computer game with the kids; good for children six to 11, it teaches them to recognize the food groups, how they fit into the pyramid, and the value of physical activity.
One of the drawbacks to the new pyramid is that the information is not readily available to thos who don't have computers or those who are not computer literate. If you fall into this category, you may write The United States Department of Agriculture for information.
USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1034
Alexandria, VA 22302-1594
In addition, educational pamphlets featuring MyPyramid can be found at the literature counters of most large supermarkets. In Baltimore, for example, Giant Foods publishes Your Healthy Shopping Guide, a 12-page book.
On September 28, 2005, MyPyramid for Kids was introduced for children six to 11. The new slogan, "Eat Right. Exercise. Have Fun." encourages children to make healthier food choices and to be active very day. Most importantly, new teaching materials accompany the kids' campaign with age-appropriate lesson plans, posters,activity sheets and parent handouts for grades one through six. Parents should make sure that their children's teachers are aware of these materials (available at www.mypyramid.gov/kids/index.html) and incorporate them into their lesson plans. After all, those fun-to-watch, bad-for-their-health Saturday morning cereal commercials aren't going to stop any time soon.
Note: To download the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/pdf/DGA2005.pdf or write the USDA at the address found in this article.
