Food Pyramid Tips

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Meal Planning Food Pyramid Tips While Dieting

The wise dieter bases their food choices on the Food Pyramid of their country - or their origin of birth. The meal plate is built upon the recommended servings from the Food Pyramid Groups - and the number of servings are divided throughout the day.

We'll discuss this further in this article, but for now let's look at three examples of meals which were planned around a specific Food Pyramid - and yes, all differ - at times greatly and other times, slightly - depending upon which country's eating guide we're using.

Food Pyramid Examples, Meal Plate

Let's look at a few examples of meal plates which were build using different eating guides from various countries.

American Food Pyramid: 1 slice of whole grain bread, 3 ounces of baked, grilled, broiled, pan-roasted or oven-roasted fish, beef, chicken, pork or other protein, 1 serving of wild rice, 1 serving of green beans, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese OR 1 ounce of low fat cheese, and one cup of mixed fresh, raw fruit.

Mediterranean Diet Pyramid: 3 ounces of roasted chicken, 1 serving of pasta, 1 serving of beans, 1 side salad, 1 ounce of cheese and 1 serving of yogurt.

Asian Food Pyramid: 3 ounces of fish, 1 serving of noodles, 1 serving of legumes, 1 serving of vegetables and fruit for dessert. Meat is served monthly, sweets, eggs and poultry, weekly. Fish is a daily option, as is dairy.

What Food Pyramids Share in Common

They all recommend a healthy dose of activity. Most also recommend water, milk, fruit juices and vegetable juices as the healthiest beverages. Alcoholic beverages are also limited.

How to Plan Meals

What foods should you have on your weight loss menu? Are you more interested in losing weight quickly or in embracing a healthier lifestyle? Be a smart dieter and embrace the healthier lifestyle and you'll have a much higher success rate than if you had aimed for Cold Turkey dieting.

By starting your weight loss plan on the right path, when you get to the end of your journey - you won't have to do a lot of adjusting. You won't have to worry about ever regaining that lost weight. You will have achieved permanent weight loss success - and a healthier body.

As we promised, let's discuss how to plan a healthy meal plate using the Food Pyramid as our guide.

First we need to know the recommended amounts our body requires from the Food Groups housed within the Food Pyramid. They are as follows: Grains, 6-11 servings | Fruits, 2-4 servings | Vegetables, 3-5 servings | Dairy, 2-3 servings | Proteins, 2-3 servings.

Example of Meal Plates Using Food Pyramid as Guide

Let's see what a typical meal plate might look like over a one-day span.

examples of meal plates using Food Pyramid

Meal Plate Tips for Planning

Breakfast Meal Plate Tips

For breakfast we see lots of whole grain foods along with fruit and milk. It's challenging to insert vegetables into the breakfast meal, so we need to compensate for such at lunch, dinner and snack times.

Lunch Meal Plate Tips

The lunch plate holds a large salad with light dressing, oven-roasted proteins, pasta and raw natural fruits. We can also add a serving of yogurt or milk to our meal.

Dinner Plate Tips

For dinner we have more roasted proteins, whole grain bread, raw fruit, a large side salad containing healthy raw vegetables and a baked potato. We also have a serving of dairy in the form of milk.

Satisfying Daily Food Group Nutritional Needs

Snack times should be filled in with the food groups which were missing from the three main meals of the day.

From our picture example above, we see that we have satisfied our daily needs for the following food groups: dairy, fruit, proteins, and vegetables.

The pasta for lunch was large and counted as two servings. We had bread for both breakfast and dinner.

We also had oatmeal at breakfast - so we're at about 5 servings for grain.

We should add grain selections to our snack time along with other healthy foods that we enjoy which are minimal in fat and caloric content.