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Food pyramid: An option for better eating
The food pyramid came into existence in the 1960's after a startling rise in incidents of heart disease. The U.S Department of Agriculture devised a guide to healthy meals that would include the proper portions of meat, cereals, vegetables and fruits, dairy products, and fatty foods. There are officially 5 food groups.
A Pattern for Daily Food Choices, the USDA’s food guide, was being published annually since the 1980’s. However, people were still not aware that it existed. Beginning in 1988, the creation of a graphic to represent the food groups started. It needed to convey the three main ideas: variety, proportionality and moderation. The Food Guide Pyramid was finally released in 1992. Both the graphics and text conveyed variety and proportionality (by pictures of foods and the size of the food group).
On every food in the grocery store is a nutritional label. That was put into effect in 1994 by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act. Now, Americans can follow the Food Guide Pyramid easily.
But, Americans remain confused about healthy eating. A 1996 telephone done by the USDA found that over 40 percent of people agreed with the statement “There are so many recommendations about healthy ways to eat, it’s hard to know what to believe.”
Because of the emergence of so many diets and programs, it will be challenging to Americans to know just what to believe. It seems as if the information we hear is changing every day.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
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