Food Guide Pyramid - New Image
Food Guide Pyramid - Pear Shaped Americans
The U.S. government will refashion its Food Guide Pyramid to help pear-shaped
Americans eat less fat and exercise more. As two-thirds of Americans either
overweight or obese, consumers have largely ignored the government's dietary
guidelines, and keep eating too many high calorie sweets and fats rather
than fruits and vegetables.
Developed in 1992, the Food Guide Pyramid
offers a general outline on how much a healthy person should eat each
day from the five major food groups. The Pyramid is the main educational
tool used to help consumers interpret the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which
will be revised in 2005. No new shapes have been proposed yet.
Food Guide Pyramid - Calories &
Fat
For the first time, the USDA takes into account that most Americans do
not exercise regularly.
Under the proposal, the USDA offers significantly
more detail on the amount of calories certain groups should consume on
a daily basis. Groups are based on age, sex and level of exercise. The
proposed recommended servings of fruits, vegetables, grains, meat and
milk are based on 12 calorie levels ranging from 1,000 to 3,200 calories
daily. The current Pyramid bases food portions on only three levels -1,600,
2,200 and 2,800 calories.
An example, a 25-year-old female who doesn't exercise needs about 2,000
calories per day. While a woman at the same age who walks three miles-a-day
needs 400 more calories.
2003
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