The Food Pyramid was originally created by the USDA in 1992 (I thought it was earlier, didn't you?)...
Since then, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon... Now there's a pyramid for everyone (click on image to enlarge):
If you prefer a plate, here's one of those:
As entertaining as those may be, none of them really suit my needs. However, at The Mayo Clinic's website, I found this :
Enter your weight, height, and age, to get a pyramid based on your needs. There's a Mayo Clinic Diet, too (a real one, actually created by The Mayo Clinic, not the grapefruit-and-steak scam diet, and from what I've read about it, it sounds very do-able. From mayoclinic.com:
The Mayo Clinic Diet:
The Mayo Clinic Diet is a habit-based approach. With The Mayo Clinic Diet, you work to reshape your lifestyle by breaking unhealthy old habits that sabotage your weight and adopting healthy new habits that will lead you down a path toward better health.
The Mayo Clinic Diet has two phases:
- Lose It! This two-week phase is designed to help you begin seeing results right away, with weight loss of 6 to 10 pounds (2.7 to 4.5 kg). Unlike fad diets that promise rapid weight loss, The Mayo Clinic Diet approach is safe and healthy while building momentum and enthusiasm. It's based on changing habits for a lifetime so that the weight you lose doesn't come back, as it probably has in the past on fad diets.
- Live It! This second phase builds on Lose It! and is designed to help you continue to lose weight at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kg) a week until you reach your weight goal. This phase also helps you maintain your weight goal permanently by continuing and tweaking lifelong healthy habits.
Within each phase, the diet helps you uncover your inner motivation — what really matters to you — that will help keep you on track in your effort to lose weight.
The Mayo Clinic Diet: Using the food pyramid
At the core of both phases of The Mayo Clinic Diet is the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid. The shape of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid guides you toward a general direction of smart eating. The base of the pyramid focuses on generous amounts of healthy foods that contain a small number of calories in a large volume of food, particularly fruits and vegetables. You choose increasingly lesser amounts as the categories of the pyramid get narrower, including whole grains, lean protein and dairy, healthy fats, and even sweets.
The Mayo Clinic Diet: Increasing physical activity
The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid isn't just about food. Physical activity is at the center of the pyramid, which emphasizes the important role physical activity plays in weight loss and health promotion. If you try to lose weight by only cutting calories, you may lose muscle mass as well as body fat, plus you'll miss out on the other health benefits of physical activity.
At the most basic level, physical activity means moving — every motion of your body burns calories and is therefore beneficial. Cleaning the house, making the bed, shopping, mowing and gardening are all forms of physical activity as you go about your daily routine. Exercise, on the other hand, is a structured and repetitive form of physical activity that you do on a regular basis, such as walking, biking or swimming.
Both are important. The longer and harder your activity or exercise, the more calories you burn — and the effects last even after you've stopped. The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid recommends that you get 30 to 60 minutes of moderately vigorous physical activity or exercise on most days of the week. This level should increase your heart and breathing rates and possibly lead to a light sweat. Brisk walking and yardwork that entails near constant motion are examples of moderately intense activity.
Putting it all together with The Mayo Clinic Diet
You know that losing weight isn't easy. It takes dedication and planning. But with the right tools and motivation, you can make changes that will lead to a healthier, happier life. The Mayo Clinic Diet is designed to help you get there.
The reviews are promising:
There's a book that spells it all out, available here, which I'll probably buy.
This sounds like the kind of diet I can make work for me, and stick with long-term.
What do you chickadees think?
xox, Susan
"One of the delights of life is eating with friends,
second to that is talking about eating.
And, for an unsurpassed double whammy,
there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends."
- Laurie Colwin 'Home Cooking'
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