Food Pyramid

Definition

The food pyramid is a schematic representation of the principles of healthy eating developed by the Harvard school of public health under the leadership of the American nutritionist Walter Villetta.

Foods at the bottom of the pyramid, you need to eat as often as possible, respectively located at the top – eliminated from the diet or consumed in limited quantities.

So, moving from the bottom up of food pyramid:

• The base of the pyramid contains three food groups: vegetables (3-5 servings) and fruits (2-4 servings), whole grains – wholemeal bread, brown rice, pasta from whole wheat flour, cereal (6-11 servings). In this group, vegetable oils contain polyunsaturated fatty acids (olive, sunflower, rapeseed, and other oils).

  You should consume such foods at every meal.

• Protein-containing food – plant (nuts, legumes, sunflower, and pumpkin) and animal origin — fish and seafood, poultry (chicken, turkey), eggs.

  Consume 2-3 servings daily

• Milk and dairy products, yogurts, cheese, etc. People with lactose intolerance should replace dairy products with alternatives containing calcium and vitamin D3.

  Consume 2-3 servings daily

• On the top step of the pyramid, we have the products, which we should reduce.

  These include the animal fats found in red meats (pork, beef) and butter, and foods with a high content of so-called “fast carbohydrates”: white flour products (bread and bakery products, pasta), rice, sodas, sweets. Recently in the last group began to include potatoes due to the high content of starch in it.

  The use of these products should be reduced or, if possible, eliminate from the diet.

What is a portion in the food pyramid?

Some notional value, depending on the amount of food that you take in a day. For example, if it is 100g, then in your menu for the day should be 700 g of cereal, 300g of bread flour, about 400g of vegetables, 300g of fruit, 150g of cheese, nuts, and meat or eggs. If so many you ate per serving, you can count 200gr, and, accordingly, we will double the weight of all food consumed.