The Food Pyramid

One of the cleverest tools to help you to keep to a balanced diet has to be the food guide pyramid.

The food guide pyramid is a simple way of visualising the kinds of foods to eat and the proportions in which we need them for a healthy diet. The pyramid is a standard for health, and it is incredibly useful for dieters as you can still use its principles, but just eat less. An added bonus is that the more you know about food, the greater your chances of slimming successfully.

It's important to be reminded that eating a variety of foods is considered essential for optimum health. By eating as the pyramid suggests, you should get your protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre, without overdoing the fat, cholesterol, sugars, salt and calories! Each group in the pyramid has a suggested amount of servings attached to it, with the lowest number intended for people consuming 1600 calories a day, such as sedentary women, while the highest number is intended for people needing around 2800 calories a day, such as male manual labourers. The large differences in calorie needs have confused some people, so right now the Americans are working on making it clearer. As long as you remember to look to the lower levels, you'll be doing well!

The food pyramid works like this. At the bottom of the pyramid, the wide base, you'll find the bread, cereal, rice and pasta group, of which the recommended intake is 6-11 servings. Moving up a layer are the fruits and vegetables, with a little more emphasis on vegetables, with 3-5 servings recommended and 2-4 of fruit. The next layer of the pyramid is for milk, yoghurt and cheese (dairy products), but excluding butter and cream and, sharing the space on this tier, is the group featuring meat, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts. You should aim for 2-3 servings per day from each of these groups. Then at the top, in the tiny space at the pyramid's summit, is the fats, oils and sweets group, with the caution 'use sparingly'.

As an exercise, compare the pyramid with your daily or weekly food intake. How does your diet shape up? The vast majority of people in the Western world have diets that turn the pyramid on its head, with fats and sugars making up the bulk of their food consumption.

By this point you may feel as though your head is exploding, but I have to tell you one more thing: within each of the groups there are healthier and more diet-friendly choices to be made. For example, in the cereals group, choose wholemeal, brown or unrefined products because they give you more fibre, vitamins and minerals. In principle cakes such as muffins and croissants belong in this group, but they bring more fat and sugar to the party than anything really nutritionally interesting.

You can't go far wrong with fruit and vegetables, apart from serving them up with cream, butter or deep-frying them! Frozen and canned fruit and vegetables count too, but with canned produce check that what you're buying doesn't contain added sugar or salt. Wherever possible choose lower fat versions of dairy products and watch out for creamy dishes. With meats, look for lean cuts or trim off any visible fat; for example, chicken is much less fatty if you remove the skin. Avoid processed meat products as far as possible, as they tend to be very fatty. Fish is mostly lean, apart from oily fish such as fresh tuna, mackerel and salmon. However these contain the omega-3 essential fatty acids which have great health benefits, such as reducing the risk of death from heart disease. You should definitely aim for two portions of oily fish a week.


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