hange can be good, but it's almost never easy. This same tenet holds true for MyPyramid, the new Food Guide Pyramid, which debuted in late April. It's different and not that easy to comprehend at first glance, or second glance for that matter. But don't give up just yet! I'm here to help you eat healthier and that means helping to interpret the new pyramid in the healthiest manner possible.

This is what MyPyramid looks like:

There are numerous problems with MyPyramid. There are no pictures of food and no text to go along with the pyramid, and I can't explain why the colored stripes start out at the same width and get fatter at different rates as they move towards the bottom. Also, the tip of the pyramid is not filled in and there is no explanation as to what that implies. Eating a more vegetarian-oriented diet does not seem to be compatible with the new pyramid, either.

What is clear is that you should exercise more. The USDA explains that this will allow you to eat more. My rationale for more exercise, however, would be that since obesity is rapidly becoming an epidemic, exercise should be used to burn off extra calories that have already been stored as fat. Physical activity above and beyond your normal daily activities of living needs to be incorporated at least 30 minutes a day. That means your heart rate needs to be elevated for at least 30 minutes to reap health benefits, but doing 60 or even 90 minutes can provide even bigger cardiovascular gains. Exercise burns calories and is essential for weight control throughout life. I think eating less should also be included in the MyPyramid recommendations for people who are carrying extra weight, since the reality is that eating less goes a long way towards losing weight.

Enough criticism; let's get down to the helpful stuff. First, get out your calculator so you can calculate how many calories you should eat each day to maintain your current weight.

Step 1

Calculate your weight in kilograms by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.2.

Next, determine your height in centimeters by multiplying your height in inches by 2.54.

Remember:
• 5 feet=60 inches	• 1 kilogram=2.2 pounds
• 6 feet=72 inches	• 1 inch=2.54 centimeters

Step 2

Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the number of calories your body needs just to stay in bed all day and do nothing but run itself.

For women, use this equation:
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilograms) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years)

For men, use this equation:
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kilograms) + (5 x height in centimeters) - (6.8 x age in years)

Step 3

Select the activity factor from the Physical Activity Chart that most closely represents your weekly activity level (be honest!).

Physical Activity Chart

Activity Level	Description	Activity Factor
Sedentary	Mainly sitting, reading, typing, driving, lying down, sleeping, standing	1.2
Lightly Active	(no more than 2 hours/day) light housework, grocery shopping, leisure activities, light exercise 1 - 3 days a week	1.375
Moderately Active	Heavy housework, gardening, dancing, brisk walking, moderate exercise 3 - 5 days/week	1.55
Very Active	Labor-intensive job, such as construction work, hard exercise 6 - 7 days/week	1.75

Multiply your BMR from step 2 by your activity factor.

BMR x Activity Factor = Total Calorie Needs

The number you come up with should be a very good estimate of the number of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. If you need to lose weight, you can subtract 500 calories from your total calorie needs for a weight loss of 1 pound per week. To lose 2 pounds per week, subtract 1,000 calories per day. As you lose weight, try to re-calculate your calorie needs every 15 or 20 pounds since the less you weigh, the fewer calories your body needs.

Now, use the Food Intake Distribution Chart to look up the number of calories you should eat in order to meet your goals. Each calorie level has different corresponding servings for most of the food groups. Find what you need and then we'll talk about how to put your needs into practice.

Food Intake Distribution Chart

Whole Grains

First, let's talk about the whole grains group, designated by the color orange in the MyPyramid graphic. The government just calls the group "grains," but since what you eat affects your health, I want to be more specific about what you need for good health. Whole grains are what some people call "good carbs" meaning they provide long-lasting energy, help fill you up, and control your blood sugar. When your blood sugar is under control, it's easier to control your weight and reduce your risk of diabetes. Those are all good things. Whole grains are less processed than refined grains and tend to contain fewer added unhealthy ingredients. Refined grains, which most Americans tend to favor, behave like sugar in your system, increasing your blood sugar, appetite, and carbohydrate cravings, thereby raising the risks of heart disease and diabetes.

Excellent sources of whole grains include:

Kashi Go Lean cereals, Nature's Path Optimum cereals, McCann's and Silver Palate oatmeal, Milton's healthy whole-grain and whole-wheat breads, Vogel and Food for Life breads, De Cecco whole-wheat pastas, Springfield pearl barley, Melissa's quinoa and tabbouleh, and Ak-Mak crackers.

A one-ounce (28 gram) serving is approximately one slice of bread, 2 cup of cooked brown rice, pasta, oatmeal, or barley, and one ounce of dry cereal, which can range from 3 cup to 12 cups depending on how dense it is. Always check the "serving size" section on the Nutrition Facts panel to help you figure out how much a serving is. For more whole-grain information, products, and tips for fitting them in, read my May 2005 Nutrition Notes at www.gelsons.com.

Vegetables and Fruit

Vegetables are designated green and fruit is designated red in the MyPyramid graphic. These recommendations have been nearly doubled from five servings a day to nine servings a day. That's fantastic advice, since a diet that contains a lot of produce can help reduce the risk of certain cancers, strokes, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, intestinal ailments, and macular degeneration. It's the combination of powerful phytonutrients and fiber that offers us these health benefits. Produce is naturally flavorful, filling, and low in calories, so it's the ultimate weight-control food. If you're still hungry after meeting your serving recommendations for your calorie needs, have more fresh produce-that's your safest bet for adding more food to your plate with the fewest calories possible. Vegetables are particularly low in calories (about 20 calories per serving) and using them to satisfy your hunger should help you control your calorie intake and achieve your weight goals. Chances are, you'll need to get adventurous and try a few new produce items to meet the recommendations for variety: eat dark green and orange-red vegetables daily and work in vegetables of other colors several times a week.

Cups of fruits and vegetables are now recommended instead of "servings." Cup-equivalents of fruit are: 1 large orange, apple, peach, or pear; 2 large plums or apricots; 8 large strawberries; 32 seedless grapes; an 8-inch banana; 4 of a medium cantaloupe or honeydew melon; 1-inch thick wedge of watermelon; and 2 cup of dried fruit, like raisins.

Cup-equivalents of vegetables are: 2 cups of raw leafy greens like lettuce and baby spinach eaten in a salad; 1 cup cooked green leafy vegetables; 1 cup cut up or cooked vegetables; 2 medium carrots or celery stalks; 12 baby carrots; 1 medium sweet potato or white potato; 1 large bell pepper; and an 8-inch ear of corn. For more information about fruits and vegetables and fitting more into your diet, check out my April 2005 Nutrition Notes at www.gelsons.com.

Oils and Fats

The golden group indicates that eating fat is essential to good health. Not all fats are created equal, however most of your fat should come from olive oil (preferably organic). Butter and margarine are to be used seldomly, if at all, and switching from these solid fats to olive oil can help improve cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation. Other healthy fats to include in your diet are fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, nuts, flax seeds, and avocado. Trans fats and saturated fats are fats that harm health by causing inflammation, raising bad cholesterol and, in the case of trans fat, lowering good cholesterol. They are mostly found in processed foods that list partially hydrogenated oils in their ingredient lists, margarine, butter, and animal fats like milk that contains fat, red meats, poultry skin, and shortening.

Fat and oil servings are measured in teaspoons (1 tablespoon contains 3 teaspoons and 1 teaspoon of oil is 42 grams of fat). When you eat packaged foods, keep in mind that each 42 grams of fat is a teaspoon of your fat needs. Obviously, a teaspoon of oil, butter or margarine is a serving but other fatty foods are trickier: one teaspoon of regular mayonnaise is about w of a serving of fat, 1 tablespoon of ranch dressing is about 2 teaspoons of fat, 1 tablespoon of Italian and balsamic vinaigrettes can have 1-2 teaspoons of fat, 4 avocado (considered a fruit, too) has 12 teaspoons of fat, 8 large olives have 1 teaspoon of fat, and one ounce of most nuts (part of the protein group) is 3 teaspoons of fat.

Nonfat Dairy

Consuming more foods from the blue group is a bit of a controversial recommendation. Three servings of milk-based foods a day is a lot and there is not very strong evidence that consuming this much calcium-rich dairy will prevent osteoporosis. Furthermore, millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, suffering from intestinal upset after just a fraction of a serving (though there are lactose-free milks available, and most people can tolerate up to 4 ounces of yogurt at a time, especially if it contains live and active cultures). Many products are now calcium fortified, like juice, soy milk, and breakfast cereals. I think the most realistic approach to this recommendation is to aim for two servings of nonfat organic dairy a day, and one serving of another calcium-rich food. To meet your calcium goals, you can have milk on your whole-grain cereal at breakfast, a yogurt for a mid-morning snack and 3 ounces of canned salmon with your salad for lunch, for example.

Alternative sources of calcium-rich foods are:

Dark leafy green vegetables, like kale, broccoli, turnip greens, and collard greens Canned salmon and sardines (both with bones) White beans Dried figs Almonds Calcium-fortified juices, soy/rice milks and breakfast cereal, including oatmeal

Additionally, whole soy products, like tofu, miso, and edamame seem to contain compounds that protect against bone loss.

A serving from the dairy group is one cup of milk or yogurt, 12 ounces of hard natural cheese (Swiss and Cheddar are especially high in calcium), 3 cup of shredded cheese or 2 cups of cottage cheese. Fatty dairy products, like cheese and ice cream, contain calcium but also count toward your "treat" calories, so be aware that these extra calories should be counted in that category as well.

Lean Protein

Purple signifies protein in this pyramid. Most Americans have no trouble meeting their protein requirements (in fact, most of us exceed them). What we do have difficulty with is choosing healthier sources of protein, like those from beans, soy, eggs, fish, and poultry. There are certain fatty proteins that are healthy and should be included frequently in your diet; they include salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, sardines and nuts like walnuts, almonds, and pecans. Eating fish, nuts, and beans can reduce the risk of heart disease. Skinless chicken and turkey are great replacements for red meat since they are lower in total fat and saturated fat. Also, eggs are not unhealthy. Although they contain cholesterol, they are low in saturated fat, which affects blood cholesterol much more than dietary cholesterol.

You should try to spread out your protein servings throughout the day to help ward off hunger and maintain your energy levels. Animal proteins are typically eaten in 3-ounce portions, approximately the size of a deck of cards. Two eggs, four tablespoons of nut butter, one cup of cooked beans, bean dip, bean soup, or tofu is equivalent to 2 ounces of lean protein.

Treat Calories

Treat calories are your discretionary calories that you have left over after meeting your nutrient needs for the day. People who are less active have fewer discretionary calories than those who are more active. This is where your piece of dark chocolate or glass of wine can fit in. Generally, foods that have added sugars or fats and alcoholic beverages fit into this category. You can use your treat calorie allowance to eat more of a food from one of the food groups, eat higher calorie forms of foods (like fruited yogurt instead of plain yogurt or beef instead of chicken), add fats or sugar to foods, like butter on your bread, or eat or drink empty-calorie foods such as soda, alcohol, candy and chips.

For examples of common treat foods that fall into this category and their corresponding discretionary calories, see the chart on this page. In the case of milk, the fattier milks are compared to nonfat milk, so discretionary calories are the calories above those in a glass of nonfat milk of the same serving size. Beverages use water (zero calories) as their reference point. Basically, the calories from fat and sugar are calculated as discretionary calories. You can estimate discretionary calories in a packaged food by multiplying fat grams by 9 and multiplying sugar grams by 4 (fat has 9 calories per gram and sugar has 4 calories per gram). Add them up to find the discretionary calories.

Treat Foods and their Discretionary Calories

Treat Foods	Serving Size	Discretionary Calories
2% milk	1 cup	40
Whole milk	1 cup	65
Cheddar cheese	1 ½ ounces	90
Ice cream	1 cup	205
Sausage	3 ounces	180
Chicken thigh with skin	3 ounces	70
Croissant	1 medium	95
Chocolate chip cookes	2 medium	70
Frech fries	Medium order	325
Regular soda	12-ounce can	155
Wine	5 ounces	115
Butter or margarine	1 teaspoon	35

Whew! Thanks for sticking with me through this. If you've made it this far in your reading, you've probably learned a few things about the number of calories and types of foods your body needs. Some of you may need to make many adjustments to your lifestyle, and some of you may only need to add one serving of fruit to your current eating plan. Whatever changes you need to make, I encourage you to set a timeline for gradually incorporating each new goal into your plan. Maybe make one change a week, starting with improving your breakfast (or even starting to eat breakfast) and adding on from there. Now that you understand what you need to do, change might not be as difficult as you once thought it would be.