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Explore the USDA Food Pyramid

By , About.com Guide

Updated February 12, 2012

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The USDA Food Pyramid - Introduction
USDA Food Pyramid U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The United States Department of Agriculture created their Food Pyramid as a guideline to help us make healthy decisions for our diet. Compared to previous food pyramids, the current USDA Food Pyramidhas been turned sideways and the food groups start from the left.

If you follow the guidelines of the USDA Food Pyramid, you should have a pretty healthy diet. However, there are two other food pyramids that I think are even better. These food pyramids are:

These food pyramids differ slightly from the USDA Food Pyramid, and for very sound reasons. As we explore each step of the USDA Food Pyramid, I will explain how these other food pyramids differ and why.

Before we explore the USDA USDA Food Pyramid, it is important to understand how big a serving of any food is. The USDA Food Pyramid suggests different numbers of servings for every body. Many of us suffer from "portion distortion" and we eat way too much, so let's start with serving sizes and proper portions on the next page.

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