October 5, 2020

Healthy Eating Pyramid? (Advantages and Disadvantages)

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Contents

What is the Healthy Eating Pyramid?

But before we talk about what are the advantages and disadvantages, let us talk about what is healthy eating pyramid all about and why is it important.

The Healthy eating pyramid shows the different types of food groups that are beneficial for our body but most of the time people are not aware of all food groups and what nutrients they can offer.

So today will talk about what is the healthy food pyramid to increase awareness and will talk about the possible advantages and disadvantages.

Copyright © 2008. For more information about The Healthy Eating Pyramid, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, by Walter C. Willett, M.D., and Patrick J. Skerrett (2005), Free Press/Simon & Schuster Inc.”

Let’s Look at All the Parts of the Pyramid

Sometimes this diagram can be too complex for the people and because of that they fail to understand its true purpose, the information it provides and it’s the true meaning.

I’ll try to simply explain this diagram-

You should look at this diagram from bottom to top, In simple words, you should give more importance to the block which has more area. So according to how much importance you give from maximum to minimum, It should be like this:-

Daily Excercise and Weight Control (Max Importance)
↓
Vegetable and Fruits
↓
Healthy Fats/Oils
↓
Whole Grains
↓
Nuts, Seeds, Beans, and Tofu
↓
Fish, Poultry, and Eggs
↓
Dairy
↓
Red Meat and Refined Grains (Low Importance)

This will provide you a good sense of how to look at the healthy eating pyramid but you have to think of it as a whole list of groceries that are necessary to buy to maintain your health goals.

All of there foods combined will complete a nutritious healthy plate but if you want to lose weight the first thing you should do is portion control, which means how much quantity you eat at a time and another one is regular exercise and maintaining that exercise every day. I have provided a tool to calculate how many calories you have burned by this calorie burned and activity calculator.

All of the food items are necessary on a daily basis and do not worry if you only eat certain types of food, I will post relevant information for you in the future so stay tuned!

Explaining the Parts of the Pyramid

1. Daily Excercise and Weight Control

healthy eating pyramid Weight loss

There are many benefits to daily exercise. It helps in maintaining and increasing bone density, Increases immunity, helps in weight management, Increases your energy, Makes your skin and your whole body healthy, provides relief for physical pains, etc.

Daily Exercise is Essential and will always benefit You.

So make sure to exercise for the betterment of your body.

2. Vegetables & Fruits, Healthy Fats/ Oils, Whole Grains
healthy eating pyramid green vegetables
Vegetables and Fruits are a rich source of protein and have large quantities of multi nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants, fiber, and essential acids.

Healthy Fats / Oils are very much essential for your body as they provide calories and their main function is to absorb Fat Soluble vitamins from food which helps in maintaining your body healthy.

Wholegrain is another essential item for your body as it provides fiber, nutrients, increases metabolism, helps to maintain blood sugar levels, and preventing various deadly diseases.

3. Nuts, Seeds, Beans, Tofu and Fish, Poultry and Eggs
healthy eating pyramid tofu Nuts and fish
Nuts, Seeds, and beans provide essential plant oils, proteins, fibers, and many more which are very good for your body. They help in efficiently reducing diabetes and heart problems. Tofu is a rich source of complete protein, has antioxidant properties, and is filled with essential amino acids.

Fish is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids which helps in decreasing depression, diabetes, dementia, and many more. Poultry is a rich source of protein, nutrients, and essential fatty acids. Eggs provide various vitamins and minerals and a rich source of fat-soluble vitamins.
This is the best product to consume Omega-3 and can fulfill your daily requirements for fish. As omega 3 is not produced in the body you have to take it externally and often you can not consume fish daily and this is budget-friendly as well will provide essential omega 3.
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4. Dairy or Vitamin/ Calcium Supplements
healthy eating pyramid -Dairy
Dairy helps in increasing your calcium intake which results in strengthening your bones, also provides essential vitamins and minerals.

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5. Red Meat, Butter, Refined Grains, Sugary Drinks/ Sweets and Salt
healthy eating pyramid Meat
Red Meat is enriched in proteins, vitamins, and minerals and helps in making red blood cells healthy.

If the butter is eaten in a controlled manner, It can provide a positive result to the body like decreasing the risk of obesity, heart problems.

There are a lot of refined grains some are good some are bad, to be healthy you should eat well-refined grains like oats, wheat.

You should strictly limit drink sugary drinks intake and for desserts as well because these items provide more harm than good.

All of the items including Red meat, Butter, Refined grains, Sugary drinks/ Sweets and Salt should be eaten in a restricted/ Controlled manner, otherwise, it can provide a negative impact on the body if eaten in exceeded quantities.

Recommended Daily Intake

According to Wikipedia, the Healthy Eating Pyramid also recommends for daily intake which is as follows:-

At most meals, whole grain foods including oatmeal, whole-wheat bread, and brown rice; 1 piece or 4 ounces (110 g).
Plant oils, including olive oil, canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, and sunflower seed oil; 2 ounces (60 g) per day.
Vegetables, in abundance 3 or more each day; each serving = 6 ounces (170 g).
2–3 servings of fruits; each serving = 1 piece of fruit or 4 ounces (110 g).
1–3 servings of nuts, or legumes; each serving = 2 ounces (60 g).
1–2 servings of dairy or calcium supplement; each serving = 8 ounces (230 g) non-fat or 4 ounces (110 g) of the whole.
1–2 servings of poultry, fish, or eggs; each serving = 4 ounces (110 g) or 1 egg.
Sparing use of white rice, white bread, potatoes, pasta, and sweets.
Sparing use of red meat and butter.

Healthy Eating Pyramid Advantages

There are Various healthy eating pyramid advantages which are as follows:-

In the long run, it will help to maintain your body healthy.
Any person can follow this healthy eating pyramid.
Helps in reducing the risk of various diseases.
The healthy eating pyramid helps to improve your healthy habits to make you healthy.
It can provide a lot of food to choose from as per your preference.

Healthy Eating Pyramid Disadvantages

There are Various healthy eating pyramid disadvantages which are as follows:-

Someone cannot follow this completely if they only eat specific food types.
Following this pyramid can become expensive and not affordable for some people.
Sometimes people do not have an appetite to eat the recommended daily intake.
It does not update very often so it can sometimes fail to provide much healthier versions of food.
It does not take people from various geographical areas completely.