The 2005 Food Pyramid recommendation looks more like a teleportation beam coming down from a spaceship than the food pyramid that I was taught in school. But, it is our guide until the 2010 revision. Understanding a few facts about each of these food groups helps us plan our meals.
Grains: When refined flours or rice are “enriched,” they return some of the B vitamins that were removed with processing. If you eat the recommended whole grains, you not only get the originally present vitamins but the fiber too.
Vegetables: Don’t be afraid! Try them all. Variety (favoring the dark green and orange veggies along with the dried beans and peas over the starchy vegetables like the potato) will assure a multitude of nutrients that your whole family needs.
Fruit: Fresh or frozen, canned or dried, even pureed fruit is still recommended to be part of a well balanced diet. Four servings a day squeezed into a typical diet can often even pass as a dessert for the end of a meal.
Oils: Unsaturated fats like canola and olive oil should be favored whenever the flavor of the dish will allow. Coconut oil and the solid fats (like butter) are high in saturated fats. Additionally, the beneficial health effects on inflammatory disorders and cardiovascular disease of the polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids have led us to try to incorporate fish oils into our diet on a weekly basis.
Milk: Yogurt, cheese, and milk can provide calcium for our bones. Alternate calcium rich sources should be substituted in the lactose intolerant. Remember, without this food group, there is no Milk Chocolate, Ice Cream, or even pudding.
Meat & Beans: Choose lean meats. Bake, broil, or send your husband out into the wilderness of the porch with flesh and fire to return only after he has grilled your meat selection. Nuts and seeds can also be thrown in a salad and provide essential fatty acids as well as a crunch.
Healthy well-balanced meals Works-For-Me and my family. I hope this helps you when selecting foods for your family meals.
-Robin
Grains: When refined flours or rice are “enriched,” they return some of the B vitamins that were removed with processing. If you eat the recommended whole grains, you not only get the originally present vitamins but the fiber too.
Vegetables: Don’t be afraid! Try them all. Variety (favoring the dark green and orange veggies along with the dried beans and peas over the starchy vegetables like the potato) will assure a multitude of nutrients that your whole family needs.
Fruit: Fresh or frozen, canned or dried, even pureed fruit is still recommended to be part of a well balanced diet. Four servings a day squeezed into a typical diet can often even pass as a dessert for the end of a meal.
Oils: Unsaturated fats like canola and olive oil should be favored whenever the flavor of the dish will allow. Coconut oil and the solid fats (like butter) are high in saturated fats. Additionally, the beneficial health effects on inflammatory disorders and cardiovascular disease of the polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids have led us to try to incorporate fish oils into our diet on a weekly basis.
Milk: Yogurt, cheese, and milk can provide calcium for our bones. Alternate calcium rich sources should be substituted in the lactose intolerant. Remember, without this food group, there is no Milk Chocolate, Ice Cream, or even pudding.
Meat & Beans: Choose lean meats. Bake, broil, or send your husband out into the wilderness of the porch with flesh and fire to return only after he has grilled your meat selection. Nuts and seeds can also be thrown in a salad and provide essential fatty acids as well as a crunch.
Healthy well-balanced meals Works-For-Me and my family. I hope this helps you when selecting foods for your family meals.
-Robin
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Thank you for your wise advice! I appreciate the help. <3
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