Bread, cereal, rice & pasta question

[klerisa]

If you look on a food pyramid it suggests 6 to 11 servings a day of these.

These are a high-point food item usually. So how do you get 6 (minimum) of those in a day and stay on plan?


I've been just curious about it - I do know that you should try brown rice instead of white, etc.

But what I'm asking is - how do you get the recommended amounts in and not blow your points every day?

FOOD PYRAMID (http://www.stillwater.k12.mn.us/834/pages/lunch/images/foodpyramid/food-pyramid-color.jpg)

[kygirl71]

The food pyramind, in my honest opinion, is a crock of well..you know. I honestly think veggies should be on the bottom. I don't get 6 to 11 servings of grains a day..if I did I would never be able to lose weight. However, if you choose high fiber choices, it will be easier to reach that "goal," AND help your body. Whole wheat pastas, high fiber cereals like Kashi, any flour other than white bleached...think Oat flour, flax, etc.

[KrisD]

Hi,

remember--the USDA pyramid is NOT intended for weight loss but healthy weight maintenance. The 6-11 servings is a range for people eating 1600--2800 kcals a day. 6 serving of breads is for the 1600 kcal range and 11 servings is for 2800 kcals/day

If your target is 29 points a day, that roughly corresponds to 1600 kcals/day--you can eat at the LOW end of the pyramid reccomendations. If your target is 24 points--that corresponds to 1350 kcals a day. Therefore, you should not be expecting to eat all the servings as suggested by the pyramid.

Here's the USDA .pdf link--and you may want to look at pages 8-11. They discuss what a "serving" is. A serving of rice is 1/2 cup. a PORTION of rice (what we'd all eat) is 1 cup--or 2 servings.
USDA Pyramid guide (http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/pyrabklt.pdf)
The pyramid is based on pretty sound research, but the message ended up being very unclear. Naturally, EVERYONE thought they should be eating 11 servings of bread -- calories are still calories.

Hope this helps graemlins/wave.gif
-Kris

[calgal]

Kris, you beat me to the punch! smile.gif

It's fairly easy to get in 6 servings of grains without blowing your points. Example:

Breakfast: 1 oz cold cereal or 1/c c. cooked cereal (like oatmeal) - 1 serving.

Lunch: sandwich (any type) - 2 servings
Soup with crackers (around 4 crackers - 1 serving)

Dinner: 1 c. bulgar (2 servings), or 1 c. pasta (go for wheat if you don't want white), also 2 servings.

Nothing says you have to eat the same thing every day, but just remember that a "serving" is not always as big as you think it would be. smile.gif

[patinoh]

Saw a diet talk show & the dietician said,she believes the pyramid should be turned upside down.Staying away from processed "starch" food works best for me.

[crystallyn]

There has been a lot of talk about how the current food pyramid isn't really the healthiest one.

Over at the Super Healthy Eaters forum (veggie lovers until they make us a new home), a few different pyramids were posted.

This one from Harvard seems like the best alternative: Harvard School of Public Health Healthy Food Pyramid (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html)

But here are some other alternatives too: Food Pyramids (http://www.e-guana.net/organizations.php3?orgid=61&typeID=193&action=printContentItem&itemID=1521&User_Session=61776bdac9a5519b39e9188795cc4a05)

In looking at the alternative pyramids, my DH and I have inadvertantly been following the Latin one...it's interesting how the various cultures break things out differently.

[elainefromboston]

I was having a hard time losing and had my leader look at my journal for last week. The first thing she picked up on was the amount of starches I was eating. So this week I'm trying to cut down on those things.

Thanks for hte link to the Harvard pyramid. I like the way they think!

[Chief]

Back when I was in HS health class in 11th grade, we did a section on nutrition. My teacher showed us a variety of food pyramids, and the one I like the best is the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyrimid, which I searched for, and found here: http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/health/mayoclinicpyramid.html it seems to jive a lot w/WW. Also, in my searching I came up with another good site that may clear up some questions buddies have. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pyramid.html

Cheryl

[klerisa]

OOOooh Thank you Cheryl, I LOVE that pyramid (Mayo Clinic)! That seems to be what I would enjoy best.