Staying healthy may seem difficult. You may be thinking that you have to always keep a diet and constantly watch what you eat. Well that is not true. The key to staying healthy is keeping balance between the five major food groups.
As you can see in the pictures above it shows the traditional food pyramid, and the newest diagram MyPlate. The food pyramid divides the different types of foods into five separate categories: fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and dairy. Making sure an individual eats all of these different categories shows that a person indeed lives a healthy lifestyle. But people don't always know how much of these five groups should be eaten daily to maintain this balance. So the government came up with MyPlate. MyPlate takes a traditional plate and divides it up into four of the five nutritional groups recommend to be eaten daily. The dairy group is shown on the side in a cup. These are the recommended amounts of each group a person should eat daily. Now it doesn't have to be exactly as shown in the diagram. But making sure that you at least attempt to eat each of the food groups would make for a healthy individual. The third picture gives an example of a meal consisting of all the food groups.
Now many of the foods we eat today are incorporated with a lot of the food groups. For example lasagna has the pasta shell which falls in the grain category, cheese on top which falls into dairy, ground beef which is meat/protein, and some may choose to add vegetables such as peppers or onions. Some even take the extra step and add spinach to their lasagna. But you can't always divide your plate into four little sections and eat food based on that. Experimenting with different foods that include many of the food groups can also be a way of staying healthy. Who said you have to eat the groups at one time? You can eat your meats, grains, and vegetables for one meal and then eat a fruit such as an apple or a plum later on as a snack. And instead of eating a heavy meal for dinner, a bowl of cereal with cold, refreshing milk can help suffice your dairy needs.
One doesn't need to strictly follow the diagram shown above. MyPlate just give the user a rough idea of what foods should be eaten daily and about how much of each food group should be in ones diet. Keeping balance is necessary for staying healthy. As you can see, one important group that I know everyone loves to eat is sugary foods such as cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, etc. The list could go on forever as chefs come up with new desserts to please society. Keeping balance between the five groups is important, and you can have something sweet once in a while. Consider combining chocolate with strawberries or apples and caramel. There are so many different foods in the world and many recipes that have a combination of different foods. Keeping balance is the right way to go to stay healthy. But don't forget to have a little fun creating these recipes along the way.
One doesn't need to strictly follow the diagram shown above. MyPlate just give the user a rough idea of what foods should be eaten daily and about how much of each food group should be in ones diet. Keeping balance is necessary for staying healthy. As you can see, one important group that I know everyone loves to eat is sugary foods such as cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, etc. The list could go on forever as chefs come up with new desserts to please society. Keeping balance between the five groups is important, and you can have something sweet once in a while. Consider combining chocolate with strawberries or apples and caramel. There are so many different foods in the world and many recipes that have a combination of different foods. Keeping balance is the right way to go to stay healthy. But don't forget to have a little fun creating these recipes along the way.