What is the verdict on the new food pyramid?

The New Healthy Eating Pyramid

Nutrition Australia have this week released their new Healthy Eating Pyramid. It has been updated to reflect the latest Australian Dietary Guidelines and to help us understand the portions of each type of food we should include in our diets.

As with the previous pyramid vegetables, fruits and grainy foods should make up about two thirds (70%) of what we eat. The grainy foods now include some wholegrain options that are fairly new in the Australian diets, such as quinoa and couscous. It also includes foods we already know such as grainy breads, wholegrain cereals and brown rice and pasta.

I think the enjoy herbs and spices section is an important addition. Adding lots of herbs and spices gives you flavour and a range of antioxidants without adding any unnecessary salt.

The dairy section of the pyramid (a smaller section towards the top) now includes alternatives for those who don’t eat dairy. Such as fortified soy milk and yoghurt and could also include oat milk and almond milk. If you prefer these to milk make sure you choose a product with added calcium.

In the proteins section you will notice the inclusion of vegetarian alternatives like tofu, eggs, lentils and beans. Try to include vegetarian meals at least a couple of times a week to help you keep your meat intake within the recommended guidelines.

And the best to last, unhealthy fats, sugars and salt for the first time sit outside the pyramid entirely.

At the top of the pyramid it says to include a small amount of healthy fats like oils (eg olive, canola or ricebran) avocado, seeds and nuts and cut back on unhealthy fats in fried foods, biscuits, cakes, butter and fatty meats.

Having added sugar outside the pyramid demonstrates how unnecessary it is. 1 teaspoon of sugar weighs about 4 grams. Practice reading labels and you will soon see how many teaspoons of sugar are in processed foods and sugary drinks.

How could you use the pyramid to help your diet? Have a go at writing down what you eat for a day and compare it to the pyramid. Spend the next few days concentrating on the areas where your diet didn’t stack up.

The verdict is in, this is a great update to a useful tool. Well done Nutrition Australia.