The Food Plate and the Food Guide Pyramid

Nutritional Guidelines for Healthy Eating

Propelling: How do get proper nutrition?

Complete the following information.

Food is broken down to the following five accepted groups

1. Bread, cereals, and ________________
2. _________________and vegetables
3. Milk and _________________ products
4. Meat and ________________ alternatives
5. _______________ and sugary foods

The amount of calories that we require will change from one person to another but the proportions of food from different groups should remain unchanged.



The Food Plate suggests
1. to help you get the right balance diet of the five main food groups
2. to maintain healthy diet just follow the portion of each food group to be guided in eating using this method

The Food Guide Pyramid was the model for healthy eating in the United States. Maybe you had to memorize its rainbow stripes in school.

But the USDA, the agency in charge of nutrition, has switched to a new symbol: a colorful plate —called MyPlate — with some of the same messages:

• Eat a variety of foods.
• Eat less of some foods and more of others.

You know what fruits and vegetables are, but here's a reminder about what's included in the three other food groups: protein, grains, and dairy:

• Protein: Beef; poultry; fish; eggs; nuts and seeds; and beans and peas like black beans, split peas, lentils, and even tofu and veggie burgers. Protein builds up, maintains, and replaces the tissues in your body.
• Grains: Bread, cereal, rice, tortillas, and pasta. Whole-grain products such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, and brown rice are recommended because they have more fiber and help you feel full.
• Dairy: Milk, yogurt, cheese, and fortified soy milk. With MyPlate, the dairy circle could be a cup of milk, but you also can get your dairy servings from yogurt or cheese. Choose low-fat or nonfat dairy most of the time.

First Lady Likes the Plate

First Lady Michelle Obama introduced the plate and said she will use it with her family, which includes the Obamas' two daughters, Sasha and Malia. Mrs. Obama, who started the Let's Move campaign to help kids get healthier, said the pyramid just wasn't easy enough for parents and kids to follow. The plate is simple and useful.

"I can't help but look at my own plate a little differently," she said. "We're implementing this in our household."

The plate can be used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That may make you wonder: Do I really have to eat vegetables with breakfast? The answer is no, but aim to eat a variety of food groups at each meal. And if your breakfast doesn't include a veggie, consider a vegetable at snack time. (Yes, healthy, portion-controlled snacks are still OK.)

The plate also shows how to balance your food groups. There's a reason the protein section is smaller: You don't need as much from that group. Eating more fruits and vegetables will help you eat fewer calories overall, which helps you keep a healthy weight. Eating fruits and veggies also gives you lots of vitamins andminerals.

The pyramid had six vertical stripes to represent the five food groups plus oils. The plate features four sections (vegetables, fruits, grains, and protein) plus a side order of dairy in blue.

The big message is that fruits and vegetables take up half the plate, with the vegetable portion being a little bigger than the fruit section.

And just like the pyramid where stripes were different widths, the plate has been divided so that the grain section is bigger than the protein section. Why? Because nutrition experts recommend you eat more vegetables than fruit and more grains than protein foods.

source: http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/pyramid.html#a_First_Lady_Likes_the_Plate

We all need to eat a balanced diet every day. This includes servings of

foods from different food groups in the Food Guide Pyramid. This guide suggests

that we consume--

 food from the fats, oil and sweet group sparingly.

 at least 1 glass a day of food from the milk and milk products group.

 2 and ½ servings daily of food from the meat, poultry, dry beans,

eggs, and nuts group.

 1 egg a day (for teenagers).

 3 servings of food from the vegetable group daily (for teenagers).

 3 servings of fruits daily.

 the greatest number of servings, which is 6-8 servings, of bread,

cereal, rice, root crops and noodles

Food Guide PYramid

As a teen do you want to grow taller? Do you want to have more energy for your daily activities. Do you want to feel good? Do you want to develop fully to the highest potential your body can achieve?

Do want to maintain a proper weight? Do you want help to reduce weight? Do you want to reduce the risk of having chronic non communicable disease like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic disease?

Eating a balance diet and always exercising is the key to having a healthy good nutrition and maintaining a healthy body and away to chronic diseases. For you to achieve good health take this small steps to ensure us of good health.

Healthy eating occurs when you have the correct knowledge of the amount of food to be taken daily. For example like how many serving of bread, how much of rice can we eat to gain or maintain weight, do we still need to eat fruits to complete our meal, do we need to drink milk even as adults. There are so may question to be answered but there is one way to answer all of this queries.

Let us go understand why a pyramid is used to represent our guide in healthy eating

1. the bottom means we have to take more of this

2. topmost represents the food we have to take least of it

10 Nutritional Guidelines For Filipinos

1. Eat a variety of foods everyday.

• The human body needs more than 40 different nutrients for good health. No single food can provide all the nutrients in the amounts needed. Eat a variety of foods, to provide all the nutrients required in the proper amount and balance.

2. Breast-feed infants exclusively from birth to 4-6 months and then, give appropriate foods while continuing breast-feeding.

• Infants and children up to 2 years of age are most vulnerable to malnutrition. Breast-feeding is one of the most effective strategies to improve child survival. Nutritional requirements of an infant can be obtained solely from breast milk for the first 6 months of life. After that time, breast milk must be complemented with appropriate foods, but breast-feeding should be continued for up to 2 years of age or longer. 
• The decision to breast-feed is made by the mother. Nonetheless, the husband and other family members, health workers, neighbors, community organizations, officemates and employers must encourage her to breast-feed her infant.

3. Maintain children's normal growth through proper diet and monitor their growth regularly.
4. Consume fish, lean meat, poultry or dried beans.

• To improve the Filipino diet, not only should the total quantity of food be increased but the quality of the diet should also be improved by including animal products of substitutes.
• Including fish, lean meat, poultry, or dried beans in the daily meals will not only enhance the protein quality if the diet but also supply highly absorbable iron, preformed vitamin A and zinc.
• Fish, lean meat, poultry without skin, and dried beans, in contrast to fatty meats, are low in saturated fats, which are linked to heart disease.

5. Eat more vegetables, fruits and root crops.

• In general, most people do not eat enough vegetables, fruits and root crops. Results of food consumption surveys conducted by the FNRI show that the average consumption of green leafy vegetables, vitamin C-rich fruits and root crops are low in the Filipino diet.
• The consumption of more vegetables, fruits and root crops is encouraged to help correct the micronutrient deficiencies consistently noted in national nutrition surveys. Eating root crops will add dietary energy to the meal.

6. Eat foods cooked in edible/cooking oil daily.

• In general, Filipinos use very little oil in their cooking. Boiling is the most common method of food preparation. Hence, the total fat and oil consumption in a Filipino diet is low.
• Fats and oils are concentrated sources of energy. A low fat and oil consumption results in a diet low in energy value, contributing to chronic energy deficiency. Fats and oils are also essential for absorption and utilization of fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A. A low fat intake may be one of the causes of vitamin A deficiency among Filipinos.
• To ensure adequate fat intake, Filipinos should be encouraged to stir-fry foods in vegetable oil or to add fats and oils whenever possible in food preparation. This will guard against chronic energy deficiency and help to lower the risk of vitamin A deficiency.
• The excessive use of saturated fats and oils, however, may increase the risk of heart disease. The proper choice of fats and oils therefore is essential.

7. Consume milk, milk products and other calcium-rich foods such as small fish and dark green leafy vegetables everyday.

• Nutrition surveys indicate a consistent failure of Filipinos to meet dietary recommendations for calcium. An adequate amount of calcium in the diet starting from childhood all through adulthood will help prevent osteoporosis in later life.
• Milk and milk products provide highly absorbable calcium besides being good sources of protein, vitamin A and other nutrients.
• Milk and other calcium-rich foods are valuable additions to our rice/plant-based diets, which are not only poor sources of calcium but also contain calcium-inhibiting substances.

8. Use iodized salt, but avoid excessive intake of salty foods.

• Goiter and Iodine Deficiency Disorders are rampant in many areas of the Philippines, causing physical and mental retardation in children. The regular use of iodized salt in the table and in cooking in addition to taking iodine-rich foods, will greatly help in eradicating this preventable disease.
• On the other hand, excessive intake of salt and salty foods particularly in susceptible individuals increases the risk of hypertension and hence of heart disease. Avoiding too much table salt and overly salty foods may help in the prevention and control of these conditions.

9. Eat clean and safe food.

• Food and water are essential to life but they may also carry disease-causing organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, or harmful chemical substances.
• It is important to buy foods that are safe. Purchase food only from reliable sources. In addition, care must be taken when preparing and serving meals to prevent food-borne diseases.
• Sharing in the efforts to improve environmental hygiene and sanitation in the community will greatly contribute to food safety in the home.

10. For a healthy lifestyle and good nutrition, exercise regularly, do not smoke and avoid drinking alcoholic beverages.

• With the changing lifestyle of Filipinos, chronic degenerative diseases are becoming significant public health problems. Healthy diets, regular exercise, abstinence from smoking and moderate alcohol intake are key components of a healthy lifestyle.

reference: http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/nutrition/ngf.htm

• An adequate diet for an active child is one that promotes good health and normal growth.
• A well-nourished child is healthy, strong, and alert, has good disposition, and grows at a normal rate.
• A poorly nourished child exhibits sluggish if not permanently delayed physical and mental development. In addition, he is lethargic and frequently ill because of low resistance to infection.
• Over nutrition on the other hand, may lead to obesity that may cause physical and emotional problems in childhood and later in life.