Eating the Pyramid

Did you all take Audrey's advice and download the Food Pyramid Worksheet? I did, and I want to urge you to do it, too. You will get instructions based on your calorie intake, on what to eat everyday. For me it's 1 1/2 cups each of fruits and vegetables, 2 cups dairy, 4 oz meat and 5 oz grains. It also suggests that I limit my extras- solid fats and sugars- to 170 calories a day. (Yes! There is still room in my life for cheese and peanut butter!) It is so helpful to me to have numbers to work with. At the end of the day I can look at what I've eaten and say, "I have 200 calories left, what is missing from my diet?" It's almost ALWAYS dairy. I just can't seem to work it in. I mean, 2 cups is a lot! I didn't realize my body needed so much dairy. Or grains for that matter.

While you're there, check out this tool. It's another suggestion from Audrey. It's a search field where you can type in a food, and it will tell you what food group it belongs in, and it's calorie content. I don't know about you, but I was unsure about a few of the foods I eat on a regular basis. Like tomatoes (vegetable,) avocado (fruit,) and cucumbers (vegetable.)

I also like the section called Inside the Pyramid. There you can explore the pyramid by group. It has some great charts that tell you what counts as an ounce or cup, and a fun food gallery that shows you what a serving looks like.

Kudos to whoever created mypyramid.gov. It's a goldmine of information that has proven to be really helpful to me.