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The Food Pyramid - Discussing the Options

This week a few emails prompted me to look into the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Pyramid used for the last decade by Americans. Has it worked for us to be a healthier nation? Are we not following the Pyramid as a guide? Or is the Food Pyramid all wrong?

Researchers will be debating this for years to come, but recent evidence and studies have urged the USDA to make changes to the Food Pyramid. A quick and easy solution to the Food Guide Pyramid would be to switch the place of Fruits and Vegetables with the Breads, Cereals, Rice and Pasta group. Many could argue about the number of servings each group should have, but leaving the serving sizes as they appear on the pyramid makes dietary sense. Also, there are too many servings of refined sugars, simple carbohydrates in the bread, rice, cereal group in my opinion.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, the altered Food Pyramid (below) is the guide to Healthy eating:

Personally, for me, as a very active person and fitness trainer/writer, I recommend adoption of the Food Guide Diamond, which takes the current Pyramid and nearly reverses it as shown below:

The Food Diamond separates the fatty animal meats from more leaner healthier meats and well as adds junk food/poor cooking choices as a group. The addition of one of the most important elements to our lives - Water and Daily Exercise should also be addressed. I usually recommend people to drink 3-4 quarts of water a day - especially if you are an active person. Personally, Harvard has the best pyramid since it is the only one that introduces daily exercise as part of the caloric process and separates fatty foods from leaner foods within the same food groups.

I am not a dietician, but you do not need to be one in order to know how to feed yourself and your family. In a nutshell, buy more produce in the form of fruits and vegetables, eat leaner meats, and limit (not eliminate) breads, rice, and cereal. If you need any information on the Food Guide that are many articles supporting both sides of the argument found by typing the Food Pyramid into a search engine. Good luck and eat right!

See new Food Pyramid as of 2005 - www.mypyramid.gov

Have any fitness questions? Send them to me at stew@stewsmith.com.

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Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.  He specializes in military and law enforcement fitness, particularly Special Operations units.  Please feel free to email him at Stew@stewsmith.com with any comments or questions.
 

BOOKS / eBOOKS / DVDs

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Published Books / DVDs
Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness (Book / DVD)
Maximum Fitness

The Special Operations Workout

The SWAT Workout - From Recruit to SWAT Team Member
The Combat Swimmer Stroke DVD

The Pre-Habit Workout DVD
Clinic DVD for Navy SEAL PST
The FBI Special Agent Test Clinic DVD

The Complete List of Stew Smith's eBooks:

Fitness for All Levels of Fitness

The 90 Day Beginner Guide to Fitness
The Advanced Maintenance and Recovery Program

Reclaim Your Life - The Erin O'Neill Program

Veteran's Fitness - Baby Boomer and a Flat Stomach

The Busy Executive Workout Routine
The Advanced Weights / PT Workout (Fall / Winter Weight Gain Cycle)
The Perfect Pushup Workout

The TRX Workout
NEW - Circuit Training 101 ebook

 

The Special Forces Physical Fitness Workouts
 Combat Conditioning Workout

Navy SEAL Workout Phase 1  Beginner Weeks 1-9
Navy SEAL Workout Phase 2 - 3 - Intermediate Weeks 1-12
Navy SEAL Workout Phase 4  Grinder PT -  Four weeks before Hell Week

Navy SWCC Workout

The Army Special Forces / Ranger Workout 

The Army Air Assault School Workout

The Army Airborne Workout

USMC RECON Workout
Air Force PJ / CCT Workout

The Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Workout

The OCS, ROTC, Service Academy, & Bootcamp Workouts

New - Army PRT and CRT
Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard OCS Workout

The USMC IST and PFT Workout
USMC OCS / TBS Workout
The Service Academy Workout (West Point, Navy, Air Force Academy)
The Navy, Air Force, Marine Corp Bootcamp Workout

The Army OCS and PFT Workout
The PFT Bible - Military / Police Standard PFT

 

The Law Enforcement Physical Fitness Test Workouts

The FBI Academy / PFT Prep Workout

The DEA Prep Workout

The FLETC Prep Workout - Ace the PEB

The State / Local Police Academy Workout

The Fire Fighter Workout
Check out the Inventions for Fitness


Seal Multi Men's Multi-Vitamin Multi-Mineral
       


Some Titles Above available in Print Softcover Format

to www.stewsmith.com