The Food Pyramid Approach to Weight Management

Many popular and fad diets offer quick fix solutions that sound too good to be true. Sorry folks, they usually are! The key to maintaining a healthy weight long term is sensible, sustainable eating. Yo-Yo dieting plays havoc with your metabolism and has been proven again and again to be ineffective at achieving long term weight loss. Sensible weight loss may not sound as appealing as a quick fix but just remember that it won't involve depriving you of your favourite foods. It also won't involve any of the nasty side effects those fad diets are famous for - bad breath, constipation, irritability, mood swings and fatigue. Yuk! It's no wonder those diets are doomed to failure. Remember there are no bad or good foods. Unless you have a specific food allergy or intolerance, it is safe to say that a little of what you fancy does you good. A healthy weight is simply about getting the balance right. If you haven't already read my golden rules for weight loss in my Mind Your Waistline column, click here.

Here, I'm going to take you through the practical steps to get you started on the road to achieving a healthy weight. The food pyramid is the foundational tool for a sensible and sustainable approach to weight management. It is a wonderful way to promote mindful eating because it is the basis for correct food choices and food types.

Getting Started

Keep a food diary for a week and faithfully record everything that you consume, taking care to include everything - all beverages (alcoholic or otherwise), all snacks, bites and second helpings. Don't worry if this sounds like an arduous task - keep a notebook handy and after a day or two, it will become second nature to note down all your food. The most important thing is to give an honest account.

The simple fact of documenting your food may immediately flag up areas that need improvement but that you weren't aware of previously. It's very informative to have the information in black and white.

Understanding the Food Pyramid

The next step is to apply the principles of the food pyramid to what you're eating. The food pyramid provides the recommended daily intake of a range of foods. It is shaped like a pyramid because there are certain foods we need more of while we require less of others. Those foods situated at the bottom of the pyramid should represent the main basis of our diet while those at the top are foods that we should eat only occasionally. (Yes, chocolate IS at the top!)

Click here to download a larger copy of the food pyramid provided by Health Promotion Unit.

Joining the dots ... compare your food diary to the food pyramid

Reviewing your food diary, relate the foods you have eaten to the recommended serving size on the food pyramid. Sort each serving  of the food you have eaten into the appropriate shelf on the pyramid and calcuate the number of servings eaten on each shelf. Compare the quantity of portions eaten to the recommended number of portions to see if your diet matches recommendations. Straight away, it should be clear where you are overdoing it and, equally importantly, where you are missing out on important foods. Learn from the exercise what shelves of the pyramid that you choose well and what shelves you need to improve on.

Click here to download an easy-to-use daily food diary chart.

Portion Control

Remember to keep an eye on your portions. For example, a serving of pasta shouldn't cover most of your plate - it should amount to about three dessert spoons. In any event, eating slowly is a great way to naturally reduce your portion size as your body has a chance to feel full without being overstuffed.

Going Forward

As you go forward, continue to keep your food diary but relate each meal to the food pyramid. In this way, you can see very quickly what you have eaten and what you may eat. As an example, if you're feeling peckish at 4pm, a quick glance at your diary and at the food pyramid will reveal whether you should opt for a slice of toast using one of your six portions of wholegrains or whether you might choose a yogurt from the dairy shelf, using up one of your three daily portions. Once you have had a portion from a particular shelf, place a tick in the box.

The beauty of this system is that it not only helps you to identify foods you need to cut back on, it will also clearly show those foods that you need to increase in your diet to ensure that you are getting the nutrients you need. For example, most of us do not get enough dairy in our diet. By ensuring we get the three portions each day, as recommended in the Food Pyramid, we can help to prevent serious conditions like osteoporosis occuring in later life.

Continue to measure your intake of food against the food pyramid. In time, you will find that it's not necessary to always record every morsel - you will come to know the recommended intakes and naturally adjust your diet. There will always be days when you struggle to strike the right balance and of course there will even be days when the pyramid becomes completely inverted! Don't be discouraged. Everyone is entitled to a day off. The important thing is to embrace the food pyramid principles and follow them most of the time!

You can read more of Siobhan Julian's nutrition advice columns here. Or join the forum and post your questions for Siobhan.