food groups

The food groups are part of a method of classification for the various foods that humans consume in their everyday lives, based on the nutritional properties of these types of foods and their location in a hierarchy of nutrition. Eating certain amounts and proportions of foods from the different categories is recommended by most guides to healthy eating as one of the most important ways to achieve a healthy lifestyle through diet. Different food guides vary in the number of categories used to divide types of food, but the majority of them include the following classifications:USDA Food Pyramid (1992) Food Groups Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta Group Grain products include foods derived from cereal crops. Cereals, breads, pastas, crackers, and rice all fall under this categorization. Grains supply food energy in the form of starch, and are also a source of protein. Whole grains contain dietary fiber, essential fatty acids, and other important nutrients. Milled grains, though more palatable, have many nutrients removed in the milling process and thus are not as highly recommended as whole grains. Whole grains can be found especially in oatmeal, brown rice, grits, corn tortillas and whole wheat bread. 6-11 servings of grain products are recommended per day.
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The improved American food guide pyramid, informally known as the food pyramid, was a nutrition guide created by the USDA. Released in 1992, the food pyramid suggested how much of each food category one should eat each day. The food guide pyramid replaced the food groups classification. On April 19, 2005, the USDA released the food guide pyramid's successor, MyPyramid.
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