Use the Food Pyramid to Make Healthy Choices for Your Child

Child Nutrition Basics

You're probably very familiar with the idea of the food pyramid, but many are still confused by how to use the guidelines to balance their child's diet.

The food pyramid has changed in recent years. Basically, instead of checking a one-size-fits-all poster to see much you should eat from each food group (like you did with the old food pyramid), you can use the new food pyramid, to create a customized food pyramid plan for your child:

1. Go to My Pyramid Plan
2. Enter your child's age, gender (sex), and physical activity level
3. Submit your answers to get a customized Food Pyramid Plan

My Pyramid Plan

Your customized food pyramid plan includes the familiar five food groups, including grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and meats and beans. What will seem very unfamiliar will be that instead of simple servings, the new food pyramid makes recommendations on how many cups or ounces of each food group you should eat.

For example, a 3 year old male who is fairly active should eat 5 ounces of grains, 1.5 cups of vegetables, 1.5 cups of fruits, 2 cups of milk, and 4 ounces of meat and beans each day.

That sounds easy enough, but do you know what counts as an ounce of grains? Probably not, but far too many people overestimate what counts as a regular serving too, so it is important to give an absoluate measurement when making recommendations for how much you should be eating.

So what counts as an ounce of grains? According to the United States Department of Agriculture, an ounce of grains is equal to:

• 1 slice of bread
• 1 cup of ready-to-eat cereal
• 1/2 cup of cooked rice, cooked pasta, or cooked cereal
• 1 mini bagel
• 1/2 English muffin
• 2 small 3 inch pancakes

For the other food groups, the USDA also provides a ready explanation if you click on 'tips' and then look in the links to the right for the one that says 'What counts as an ounce?,' or view these links:

• Grains - What counts as an ounce...
• Vegetables - What counts as a cup...
• Fruits - What counts as a cup...
• Milk - What counts as a cup...
• Meat & Beans - What counts as an ounce...

Using the New Food Pyramid

In addition to printing out your child's results, to help you truly understand his food pyramid, you should review the 'tips' for each food group:

• Grain Tips
• Vegetable Tips
• Fruit Tips
• Milk Tips
• Meat & Bean Tips

You can also print out a Meal Tracking Worksheet to see how closely your child is following his food pyramid plan.

And don't forget to limit the amount of oil and discretionary calories that your child gets each day and encourage regular physical activity, which is represented by the figure climbing the steps in the new food pyramid symbol.