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The New Printable Food Pyramid is Called MyPyramid.Can there be anything more confusing than a food pyramid? How about a food pyramid designed by the government? In reality, the new recommendations, called MyPyramid, are much easier to understand than the old food pyramid. 
The first noticable change is that the old pyramid talked about serving sizes and MyPyramid uses cups and ounces. A big change. 
Lets take a look at the difference in each food group, starting with grains. In the old system, you were told to eat 6 to 11 servings. Say what? In MyPyramid, the recommendation is 6 ounces for a 2,000 calorie diet. A much easier amount to understand. Each of the links below will take you to the right place to research each food group. For details on grains, such as finding out that 3 cups of popcorn is equivalent to 1 ounce of whole grain, go to Whole Grains. Vegetables were 3-5 servings and are now 2 1/2 cups. If you like corn-on-the-cob, a large ear (8-9 inches)counts as one cup. 2-4 servings of fruit are now 2 cups. So if you eat 32 seedless grapes, you're halfway there. Milk was 2-3 servings, so you had to find out what a serving was. With MyPyramid, you only need to know that you need 3 cups, if your over 8 years old. (2 if you're younger) 3 scoops of ice cream are equal to one cup of milk. Meats and beans and other proteins were 2-3 servings which has become 5 1/2 ounces. 7 walnut halves make up one ounce, and then you can add a tablespoon of peanut butter for another ounce. Probably one of the most over-looked aspects of a healthy lifestyle is understanding the physical activity part of your daily routine. If you put your recommended 30 minutes a day into jogging, say 2 1/2 miles, you'll only burn an extra 295 calories. So if you eat an extra 3 musketeers candy bar with 270 calories, you're not going to gain very much. The best friend that you have for living a long and healthy life is the grey matter between your ears. Spending a little time every day learning a little helps in every way. If you would like to know when I update this site or add some more content, email me and I'll add you to my notification list. One of my recommendations for maintaining a frugal household is that you subscribe to my free, weekly newsletter, which always contains a dozen or so of my various tips. (I do put in one ad at the bottom for you to ignore.) There are several volumes of Return from Free Printable Food Pyramid to The Frugal Non-Consumer
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