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A Quick Guide to
Proper Nutrition
What is proper nutrition?
 The typical nutrition
guide has been the
food pyramid
 It tells us how much
of each type of food
to eat
 Has types of food in
a hierarchy
 Is this a good
diagram?
The New Food Pyramid
 The U.S. government
thought that the old
pyramid was not a
good model of proper
nutrition
 In 2000, they
introduced
MyPyramid
Understanding MyPyramid
 MyPyramid has
bands that run from
top to bottom
showing that all food
groups are equally
important
 The width of each
band shows how
much you should eat
from each food group
Understanding MyPyramid
 The most drastic
change to the symbol
was the addition of a
person walking up
stairs
 This emphasizes the
importance of
physical activity in
nutrition and overall
health
Choosing your pyramid
 Unlike the last food pyramid, that was
based on a general 2,000 calorie diet,
MyPyramid is customizable
 12 different pyramids have been made to
fit people depending on their age, height,
and amount of physical activity
 To find out more about your pyramid go
to: mypyramid.gov
Cracking the code
 The bands on MyPyramid are color
coded.
 Each group is assigned a color
Cracking the code
 The ORANGE band
represents GRAINS
 The GREEN band
represents
VEGETABLES
Cracking the code
 The RED band
represents FRUITS
 The slim YELLOW
band represents
OILS
Cracking the code
 The BLUE band
represents MILK
 The PURPLE band
represents MEAT
AND BEANS
Grain Group
 The grain group still takes up the biggest
part of the pyramid
 What’s in the grain group?
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Bread
Cereal
Crackers
Rice
Pasta
 Try and make the grains you eat
whole grains
Vegetable Group
 The vegetable group also takes up a
significant portion of the pyramid
 What should you eat in the vegetable
group?
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Dark green veggies (broccoli, spinach)
Orange veggies (carrots, squash)
Dry beans and peas (black beans,
pinto beans, etc.)
Fruit Group
 Fruits take up a smaller portion of the
pyramid but are still very important
 You should:
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Eat a variety of fruits
Choose fresh, frozen, canned,
or dried fruits
Go easy on fruit juices, as
they are often full of added
sugars
Oils Group
 Oils is the smallest group in the pyramid
 Where should you get your oils?
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Good sources: fish, nuts, vegetable oils
Not so good sources: solids like butter,
shortening, or lard
 Look for things low in
saturated fats and
trans-fats
Milk Group
 The milk group is another larger group
 What’s in the milk group?
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Milk
Cheese
Yogurt
 Make sure to choose low fat
or fat free milk products
 If you are lactose intolerant,
find other sources of calcium
Meat and Bean Group
 You should:
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Choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry
Bake, broil, or grill your meats. Frying adds
unnecessary extra fat and oil
Vary your choices – with
more fish, beans, peas,
nuts, and seeds
 If you do not eat meat, find
other sources of protein
such as tofu
Why do we need to eat
different foods?
 Would it be fun to eat pizza, cookies,
and soft drinks for every meal?
 We need to eat different foods because
they have different nutrients in them (i.e.
carbohydrates, proteins, calcium, iron,
vitamins)
 What foods have different nutrients?
Food Group’s Nutrients
 Grains Group
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A good source of carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are a source of energy for
the body
 Vegetable Group
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A good source of fiber, vitamins, and
minerals
A deficiency in vitamin A, found in carrots
and spinach, can lead to blindness
Food Group’s Nutrients
 Fruit Group
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A good source of fiber, vitamins, and
minerals
Vitamin C, abundant in citrus fruits, is not
made in the body and must be consumed
 Oils Group
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Source of necessary dietary fats
Fat is stored energy for the body.
However, excess amounts of fat can be
detrimental to health.
Food Group’s Nutrients
 Milk Group
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A good source of calcium
Calcium is necessary for proper bone growth.
It also is involved in muscle contraction and
nervous signal transmission
 Meat and Beans Group
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A good source of protein
Proteins are necessary for the formation of
skeletal muscle, hormones, antibodies, and
enzymes
Finding nutrients
 You can see that it is important to eat
foods from all groups as they provide
different nutrients
 However, how do we necessarily know
what nutrients or how much of each
nutrient is in a food?
 A good way to find out is to read the
Nutrition Facts labels
How to read Nutrition Facts
Labels
 Nutrition Facts labels
provide a lot of
information
 1. Serving Size – the
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amount you should
eat of the food.
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5
How to read Nutrition Facts
Labels
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 2. Calories – this is
how many calories
you are consuming in
each serving. This
helps you see if you
are meeting or
exceeding your
caloric goals based
on MyPyramid.
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4
5
How to read Nutrition Facts
Labels
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 3. Core Nutrients –
these are the many
nutrients that your
body needs. It
provides information
about the amount of
each nutrient and the
different types (i.e.
saturated fat, dietary
fiber, sugars)
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How to read Nutrition Facts
Labels
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 4. Micronutrients –
these are all
important but are just
required in small
amounts. These
include vitamins and
minerals
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4
5
How to read Nutrition Facts
Labels
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 5. Percent Daily
Values – this shows
that the percentages
shown are based on
a general 2,000
calorie diet. These
percentages are to
help you see if you
are meeting your
daily requirements of
each nutrient
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Why exercise?
 There are plenty of reasons that exercise
helps your health physically and
mentally, both now and in the future.
 See how many different reasons you can
think of to show why exercise is
important.
A list of reasons
 Improves self-esteem and feelings of well-being
 Increases fitness level
 Helps build and maintain bones, muscles, and
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joints
Builds endurance and muscle strength
Enhances flexibility and posture
Helps manage weight
Lowers risk of heart disease, colon cancer,
osteoperosis and type 2 diabetes
Helps control blood pressure
Relieves stress
Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety
Promotes better sleep
What types of exercises
should we do?
 There are three main categories of
exercise:
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Aerobic
Resistance, strength building, and weight
bearing
Balance and stretching
 It is important to do some activities from
all three of the categories
Aerobic exercises
 Speeds heart rate and breathing and
improves heart and lung fitness.
 Can be maintained continuously
 Usually has a type of rhythm to it
 Some aerobic activities:
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Brisk walking
Jogging
Swimming
 What other aerobic activities can you
think of?
Resistance, Strength Building,
and Weight Bearing Exercises
 Helps build and maintain bones and
muscles by working them against gravity
or some other force
 Some examples:
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Carrying a child
Lifting weights
Calisthenics, or body exercises without
equipment
 Can you think of other examples?
Balance and Stretching
Exercises
 Enhances physical stability and flexibility, which
reduces risk of injuries
 Some balance and stretching exercises:
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Gentle stretching
Dancing
Yoga
Martial arts
T’ai chi
 Can you think of other balance and stretching
activities?
How much physical activity do
we need?
 How often do you think we should
exercise? (e.g. every day, on the
weekend, once a month…)
 Different Institutions offer different
recommendations about exercise
 The USDA suggests 30 minutes of
moderate exercise at least 5 days a
week, but daily is best
How much physical activity do
we need?
 The Institute of Medicine recommends
an hour daily of vigorous activity to
promote cardiovascular health
 If you don’t have an hour a day, don’t be
discouraged. Even just 20 minutes of
daily exercise still has significant health
benefits.
 Exercising harder and longer increases
benefits
Different levels of exercise
 Light
 Gardening
 Walking slowly
 Dusting or vacuuming
 Moderate
 Mowing lawn
 Bicycling (5-9mph)
 Dancing
 Heavy
 Swimming laps
 Bicycling (>10mph)
 Jogging or running
 Playing basketball
 Playing soccer
Getting enough exercise
 Did you consider things like chores and
dancing exercise?
 You do not necessarily have to go
running for an hour straight. Break it up!
Run for 20 minutes three times.
 The key is to increase physical activity
by doing things you like. Maybe it could
be playing sports, riding a bike, or
swimming.