Live healthy with the guidance of a food pyramid
Many people are not aware of which foods provide certain vitamins and minerals, thus a food pyramid is always and excellent thing to have in order to ne provided with nutrition facts and a guide on how to promote healthy eating. The food pyramid will be equipped with a list of all the food groups that are necessary for a balanced diet, but the amount of these foods that are consumed also plays a part and so the food pyramid provides information on the recommended serving sizes as well. The diverse groups of food will be categorized on the pyramid in order of what to consume and which ones to consume more or less. The bottom of the pyramid being the widest will represent more and as it goes to the top it gets less. The items at the extreme bottom are those that contain whole grains, which are a good source of fibre and because they go through less processing, they retain more of their natural minerals and vitamins than processed foods. Whole wheat flour and its by-products are always a good choice, but you should ensure that you read the food labels carefully to be certain that it in fact contains the whole wheat and not just colouring that is added to give the whole wheat look.
The next items on our pyramid are the items that are rich in such vitamins as vitamin C and vitamin A, these items are none other than the fruits and vegetables. These nutrient rich foods are low in sodium and fat and high in potassium and fibre and the serving size that is recommended by food pyramids for fruits and vegetables each day are 2-4 servings and 3-5 servings respectively. If you are planning to substitute the fruit with fruit juice, then you should ensure that it is 100% fruit juice and not just concentrate. Also be mindful of the amount of servings that are present in each container because these bottled fruit juices contain added sugar and you do not want to over do that. Of course you know that man cannot live by bread alone, so here comes the meat, eggs fish and beans. These additions to the diet provide protein, zinc and iron and the food pyramid indicates 2-3 (3 ounce) servings of meat and fish for daily consumption. In addition, the way you prepare your food plays a vital role in your diet so try to avoid lots of frying and remember to remove the skin and excess fat from your meat before cooking it.
What diet would be complete with the daily servings of dairy products, these are essential to providing additional vitamins and protein with calcium being at the top of the list. For persons who need the dairy’s contribution more than others such teenagers, pregnant or lactating women and young adults, the food pyramid suggest that they try to get 3 servings each day, while everyone else can fall between 2-3 servings. This does not mean however, that you should go crazy with the cheeses and ice-cream as these by-products have additives such as sodium and or sugar, instead try to get pure milk and drink that. If you however want to enjoy your dairy a little more, try to eat yogurts and cheeses that are lower in fat such as those that are made from skimmed milk. Finally we are at the top of the pyramid and this is where all the good stuff are found, however these are also the stuff that we will consume the least as this is where the sugars and oils and butters and desserts are stored. The thing about these types of items is that fact that they have the most added sugar; you have already consumed enough natural sugar in your fruits and other natural foods coming up the ladder, so it is not wise to consume a lot of these things at the top which will simply push the sugar level right over the top.
Once you have gotten your food pyramid, you should also consider getting a BMI calculator, what this does is to help you to decide if you need to gain or lose a few pounds or to simply maintain your current weight, it does this by allowing you to input your height measurement and your current weight, then it calculates your body mass index and tells you whether or not you are over/under weight or if you are normal.
