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The Food pyramid has been reproduced with kind permission from the Department of Health and Children’s website www.healthysteps.ie and illustrates how our daily intake of food should be apportioned.This website was set up to educate us on the epidemic that is Obesity and to try and improve our eating habits now so that our children will ‘not die before us’, as some scientists believe will happen if we continue with the habits that we as a nation have seemed to have adopted, namely: eating high fat/sugar processed foods and doing little activity.

The Food Pyramid consists of several shelves. We can see that it consists of several shelves with food items from main food groups, Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates and Fruit and Vegetables.

click thumb to enlarge

The bottom shelf represents the carbohydrate group with food, such as bread, cereal, pasta, rice, grains, potatoes etc. It is the largest group recommending 6+ servings per day, as these are the foods that supply us with energy, in the form of glucose. Where possible go for the wholegrain variety as you will get more fibre and will feel fuller for longer.
Fruits and Vegetable make up the second largest group. It is recommended that we eat 5+ servings every day.
The next group is the dairy, 2-3 servings for calcium and Vitamin D to help strengthen bones and teeth.
The meat group is next, again 2-3 servings for protein and iron. Fish, chicken and eggs are also part of this group as well as beans and pulses for those who don’t eat meat. Avoid fatty meats, this is saturated fat, which can clog up arteries. Go for lean meats and remove all visible fat and skin. Oily fish are a great source of unsaturated fat, omega 3, which is beneficial to our blood. Girls and women of childbearing age should have only one serving of oily fish per week, men can have 2.
top group represents saturated fats, oils, sweets and junk food. It is still there so you are allowed to have it but in proportion to the other groups, i.e. a small amount!

Emma Buckley B.Sc