What Constitutes a Balanced Diet?

The USDA began providing dietary guidelines in 1894. In 1992, it issued its first Food Guide Pyramid to draw attention to the importance of nutrition and to show Americans how many servings they should eat from each food group. In 1994, the federal government required labels on various food products to show their nutritional content. "Nutrition Facts" labels provide consumers with consistent and easy-to-read information. Thanks to the labels, American consumers have no excuse for not knowing how many calories and how much fat and carbohydrates are in their food. They still need to recognize that the serving size shown on the Nutrition Facts label may be different than the one recommended on the Food Guide Pyramid.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies supports the Food Guide Pyramid. It defines a well-balanced diet as one that provides 45 to 65 percent of calories from carbohydrates, 20 to 35 percent from fat and 10 to 35 percent from protein. Added sugars from candy, soft drinks, sweetened drinks and baked goods should account for no more than 25 percent of the total.

The real key to a balanced diet is to eat a wide variety of foods. The more variety you eat, the more likely you are to get all of the important nutrients.

The Food Guide Pyramid recommends eating six to 11 servings of bread, cereal, rice or pasta; three to five servings of vegetables; two to four servings of fruit; two to three servings of milk, yogurt or cheese; and two to three servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts. Teenage boys, who should be eating about 2,800 calories a day, should aim for the high end of these ranges, and adolescent girls, who should be eating about 2,200 calories a day, should aim for the middle of each range. Fats, oils, and sweets should be eaten sparingly.

Q & A

Question: What's In a serving?

Answer: According to the Food Guide Pyramid, a serving is one ounce of cereal, half a cup of pasta or rice, one slice of bread, and a half of a hamburger bun. So is one cup of lettuce, a half of a cup of cooked vegetables, three-fourths of a cup of fruit juice, a medium-sized apple or a half a grapefruit. Eight ounces of yogurt, one cup of milk, two ounces of processed cheese are all considered a single serving. The Food Guide Pyramid also recommends that people consume no more than five to seven ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry without the skin, or fish each day. You can substitute two tablespoons of peanut butter, a half of a cup of beans, or one egg for an ounce of meat.