Okay so a few weeks ago we discussed the Asian Food Pyramid and this week we are going to be discussing the American Food Pyramid which differs greatly from the Asian Food Pyramid. The American Food Pyramid starts out with water at the bottom and suggests 8 servings a day. The Asian Food Pyramid started out with a daily physical activity. Next we have our pasta servings this part of the pyramid is similar to the Asian one, however the Asian pyramid focused more on whole grains. The American Food Pyramid says you should only have 6 servings of pasta, rice, bread, etc.Moving on to the fruits and veggies. The American Food Pyramid says you should stick to 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit. The Asian Food Pyramid says you should have 5+ servings of vegetables a day and 4+ servings of fruit. Overall you should have more vegetables than fruit because fruits are more acidic and wear down enamel on your teeth over time and also contain more natural sugar than vegetables.
The next segment of the American Food Pyramid has milk, yogurt, and cheese products for 3 servings a day. The Asian Food Pyramid only has dairy products as an optional daily meaning if you want you can have it but don't over do it. I would suggest having at least one glass of low fat milk a day because it's loaded with calcium that's good for your bones. If you're not big on milk then cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, and ice cream are all dairy products. (If you go for ice cream make sure it's in moderation). In this segment there is also meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, and nuts according to the food pyramid you should only have 2 serving of these a day. The Asian Food Pyramid says you should only have red meats on a monthly basis and nuts everyday.
The last and final segment of the American food pyramid is fats, oils, and sweets. According to the American food pyramid you should only have these sparingly. In the Asian Food Pyramid you can have sweets weekly and oils should be used daily in moderation. There is one other thing that the Asian Food Pyramid includes that the American Food Pyramid does not and that is green tea. Green tea is a great way to help balance things out. It helps with weight loss and tea is good for your health in other ways too.
So as you can see there are many differences in these two pyramids however we should be respectful to both and see what works best for us. Sticking to an eating plan or even a food pyramid is a great way to see what you really take into your body throughout the day.
Hope y'all enjoyed and don't be afraid to try new things!
