I started doing Herbalife and Tae-Bo to lose some weight and rebuild the muscle I lost when I started homeschooling, and I thought - why not start a healthy lifestyle while I’m at it? I’m posting my research findings here for anyone who’s too lazy to do the hard work themselves ;)
So I did some research on how much of what I’m supposed to eat each day, and it turns out there are a qute a few different food pyramids (check out the WebMD site). Everyone’s got a different opinion it seems, so for now I’ll just go with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) pyramid, since it’s more specific with the amounts. (I hate it when things are vague, like a few times a week/month, a few drops of this, etc. How am I supposed to know how much is a few? Can’t they commit themselves to specific amounts? grr) But even the USDA pyramid isn’t clear because they use servings instead of specific amounts. So I did a search to find out what servings are, and it turns out they’re different for each type of food. There were differing opinions once again, but I’ll use the USDA’s amount since it’s their pyramid I’m using. Here’s a table with the daily amounts I combined from the pyramid and a food guide to make it clear to myself. Warning - because of differing information, weight conversions, and general confusion on my part, this table might not be exact ;)
| Food Groups and Subgroups | Amount* | Equivalent Amounts | Servings |
| Fruits | 2 cups | 1/2 cup equivalent is: •1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned fruit •1 medium fruit •1/4 cup dried fruit •1/2 cup fruit juice | 2-4 |
| Vegetable Group •Dark green •Orange •Legumes •Starchy •Other | 2.5 cups •3 cups/week •2 cups/week •3 cups/week •3 cups/week •6.5 cups/week | 1/2 cup equivalent is: •1/2 cup of cut-up raw or cooked vegetable •1 cup raw leafy vegetable •1/2 cup vegetable juice | 3-5 |
| Grains •Whole grains •Other grains | 6 ounce-equivalents •3 ounce-equivalents •3 ounce-equivalents | 1 ounce-equivalent is: •1 slice bread •1 cup dry cereal •1/2 cup cooked rice, pasta, cereal | 6-11 |
| Meat, Poultry, Fish, Beans, Eggs, Nuts | 5.5 ounce-equivalents | 1 ounce-equivalent is: •28g of cooked lean meats, poultry, fish •1 egg •1/4 cup cooked dry beans or tofu, 1 Tbsp peanut butter 1/2 ounce nuts or seeds | 2-3 |
| Milk, Yogurt, Cheese | 3 cups | 1 cup equivalent is: •1 cup low-fat/fat-free milk, yogurt •42g of low-fat or fat-free natural cheese •56g of low-fat or fat-free processed cheese | 2-3 |
| Oils** | 4 grams (6 tsp) | 1 tsp equivalent is: •1 tsp soft margarine •1 Tbsp lowfat mayo •2 Tbsp light salad dressing •1 tsp vegetable oil | - |
| Solid Fats, Sweets | 5 Tbsp per week | 1 Tbsp added sugar equivalent is: •1 Tbsp jelly or jam •14g jelly beans •227g lemonade | 267 calories |
*I think the “Amount” column is relative to the lowest number in the serving column, but I’m not 100% sure.
**I added a separate “Oils” row even though it’s not in the pyramid, because of the following paragraph in the food guide: The oils listed in this table are not considered to be part of discretionary calories because they are a major source of the vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acids, including the essential fatty acids, in the food pattern. In contrast, solid fats (i.e., saturated and trans fats) are listed separately as a source of discretionary calories.
Here are the links to the sites I got the info from. Go check them out for more info, tips, and cool stuff like recipes and a menu planner.
