Looking for the
Latest Food Pyramid?
There are a lot of food pyramids floating around these days. It’s helpful to have a graphic for a quick check to see if you’re at least in the ballpark nutritionally, and it looks like the pyramid is a popular model. I’ll present a few examples and then another idea that might work just as well.
The Old Food Pyramid
This is the old American Dietetic Association (ADA) version from 1992. Even though it still appears on some food labels, it doesn’t reflect the latest research on nutrition. Certain dietary choices, such as 3 servings of milk, have been linked to illness such as heart disease.
The ADA Vegetarian Food Pyramid
Here is a vegetarian version of the ADA Pyramid. It’s just about the same as the old one, but with beans, nuts, seeds, eggs, and meat substitutes replacing the meat category.
MyPyramid.gov
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a website with an updated pyramid:
The website is interactive and has tools for entering in the foods you eat and tracking your calories and intake daily, based on your own personal statistics, like age, gender, and activity level. They also offer a links to some excellent vegetarian resources.
PCRM Vegan Food Pyramid
The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) offers this beautiful pyramid at their website:
http://www.pcrm.org
(a new window will open).
The New Four Food Groups
Because regularly eating animal products, even in lower quantities, poses health risks, PCRM developed the New Four Food Groups in 1991. It’s a no-cholesterol, low-fat plan that supplies substantial amounts of healthy fiber and all of the daily nutritional requirements needed by adults.People who consume primarily plant-based diets have a dramatically lower incidence of the diseases that are the major killers of Americans—heart disease, cancer, and stroke. It’s also easy to keep weight problems—a causative factor in many health problems--under control by following these recommendations. Try the New Four Food Groups: - Fruit – 3 or more servings a day. Serving size: 1 medium piece of fruit; 1/2 cup cooked fruit; 4 ounces juice.
- Legumes – 2 or more servings a day. Serving size: cup cooked beans; 4 ounces tofu or tempeh; 8 ounces soymilk.
- Whole Grains – 5 or more servings a day. Serving size: 1/2 cup rice or other grain; 1 ounce dry cereal; 1 slice bread.
- Vegetables – 4 or more servings a day. Serving size: 1 cup raw vegetables; 1/2 cup cooked vegetables.
The Vegan Food Pyramid
Visit
www.veganfoodpyramid.com
(a new window will open) to see this beautiful illustration and order a poster for yourself.
 
The Sunfood Triangle
David Wolfe in The Sunfood Diet Success System presents a version of the pyramid for
raw food
vegans
. He calls it the Sunfood Triangle, and it consists of equal amounts of:- chlorophyll (green leafy vegetables)
- sugars (sweet fruits)
- fat (fatty fruits, nuts, coconuts, seeds)
Adjustments to the amounts of each are made dependent upon one’s health and age. For example, he says that someone who has a problem with candida would eat 50% fats, 50% chlorophyll, whereas to lose weight one would eat 0% fats, 50% chlorophyll and 50% sugars.
Return to the
Naturally-Healthy-Eating.com home page
from this
Food Pyramid
page.
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