What Are Food Groups?

The different kinds of food that we eat everyday for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks are all part of the 5 Basic Food Groups. These 5 Food Groups are easy to understand when you look at them in the Food Group Pyramid.

The Food Guide Pyramid was designed as an easy way to show the groups of foods that make up a good diet. It also shows how much of these different groups you need to eat to stay healthy. It is in a pyramid shape (rather than a circle or square) to explain the different proportions of foods to one another. The foods that make up the base (the widest part) should provide the bulk (the biggest part) of your diet, and as you go up the pyramid, the requirements get smaller as the pyramid gets skinnier.

Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta Group
Grain products like bread, cereal, rice, and pasta are good for you. They are important sources of vitamins and minerals. Breads, cereals, rice, and pasta are also good sources of carbohydrates like starch and fiber. Many people think that starchy foods like breads, rice and pasta are fattening. They are not. But when you add fats like margarine, oil, mayonnaise, cheese sauce or gravy to them, you add many extra calories.

Whole-grain foods have more fiber than white grain foods. There are many kinds of whole-grain foods, such as oatmeal, brown rice, grits, corn tortillas and whole wheat bread. You may want to try a whole grain bread instead of white bread. Use brown rice instead of white rice or mix them together the next time you have rice.

This group is at the bottom of the pyramid. This means that the foods in this group should make up the biggest part of what you eat all day.

Vegetable Group
Fresh vegetables are naturally low in fat, calories and sodium. Extra fat and calories can come from cooking or other types of processing. If you add fat, oil, margarine or lard when you cook vegetables, you also add fat and calories. If you buy frozen vegetables with special sauces, you may also be adding fat and calories. You can buy frozen vegetables without special sauces and get the same nutrients as fresh vegetables. Some canned vegetables have added salt. While the salt adds flavor, it also adds extra sodium to your diet. When you shop for canned vegetables, look for vegetables with no salt added.
The vegetable group is toward the bottom of the pyramid. This means that lots of daily servings of vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. Veggies are great because they have tons of vitamins and minerals to help keep are bodies strong.

Fruit Group
Fruits are important sources of vitamins and carbohydrates like fiber and sugar. They are low in calories and naturally sweet. Fruits and their juices are good sources of water, too.

Whole fruits like apples and grapes contain more fiber than fruit juices and sauces, like applesauce and grape juice. Dried fruits like figs, prunes and raisins are good sources of fiber, too. Canned fruits packed in syrup have a lot of added sugar. They are higher in calories than fresh fruits. When you shop for canned fruits, look for fruit that is packed in juice instead of syrup.

The fruit group is down near the bottom of the pyramid. This means that many daily servings of fruit are an important part of a healthy diet. Fruits are fabulous because they provide important vitamins that keep you feeling fine and looking good.

Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese Group
The foods in this group are important because all of the nutrients work together to keep our bones strong and healthy. It may be difficult to get enough calcium unless we include these foods in our diets. We can make sure we get the milk and calcium we need by making puddings and soups with milk.

Some people who have problems digesting milk products because of lactose (sugar) in milk. Today there are many lactose-free products to try. Some milk products like ice cream, cheese, whole milk and foods made from whole milk are high in fat. We can choose low-fat or skim milk products, like low-fat yogurt, skim milk and low-fat cheeses to keep the fat in our diets down.

This food group is high up on the pyramid. This means that even though these foods are important for good health, you don't need to eat as many of them in one day as you do of foods lower down on the pyramid.

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Beans, Eggs, and Nuts Group
Some meats and meat products are high in fat. There are many ways to reduce the fat you get from these meats. You can choose leaner cuts like chuck, bottom round or top round of beef, pork loin or lamb shank. You can trim fat from meat before cooking and eating. You can take the skin off chicken. Many processed meats like hot dogs, sausage, pepperoni, bacon, ham and luncheon meats are high in fat and sodium. If you enjoy eating these meats, try having them less often and when you do, try eating them in smaller amounts.

Because eggs are a good source of iron and protein, they are counted as a meat serving. Most of the fat in eggs is found in the yolk. When you use the egg whites, you can cut the fat and keep the protein and vitamins you need.

Plant foods like lentils, black-eyed peas, chickpeas and other dried beans and peas are inexpensive sources of protein. Unlike meats, beans are low in fat and high in fiber. Nuts and nut butters like peanuts and peanut butter are good sources of protein and iron; but they are higher in fat than other plant foods.

This food group is high up on the pyramid. This means that even though these foods are important for good health, you don't need to eat as many of them in one day as you do of foods lower down on the pyramid. This group of foods supplies you with the super-important nutrient protein. So this is the perfect part of the pyramid for protein!

Fats, Oils, and Sweets
Fats, oils and sweets give us calories. Fats and oils like salad dressings, mayonnaise, butter, margarine and lard tend to be high in calories because of the fat they contain. Sweets like candy, soft drinks, syrups, jams, and jellies are made mostly of sugars. Most of these foods do not contain many vitamins or minerals. So they are called "empty calorie" foods.

Fats, oils and sweets are not bad foods. When we eat them along with foods like grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and meat products they are part of a healthy diet. Eating too many fats, oils or sweets can be a problem when we eat them instead of foods and nutrients we get in the other food groups.

Fats, oils and sweets add flavor and variety to our diets. We don't have to give them up. We can use less of them to help us stay fit and healthy. We can spread a smaller amount of butter, margarine or jelly on toast or muffins. We can use less fat and oil in cooking. When we cook we can cut down of some of the fats and sugars by reducing the amounts of these ingredients in the recipes we make.

Fats, oils, and sweets are a little different from the other parts of the pyramid, because they don't make up a "group" in the same way the other foods do. They sit at the very top of the pyramid. This means that even though your body needs them, it only needs a tiny amount.