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Following the boring old Gov-endorsed healthy diet pyramid and loving it!
qubetha
Posts: 83 Member
hi all, just wanted to share. A while ago I decided to base my diet on the healthy diet pyramid (in my case, the Australian version) and I have found that the goals and boundaries it sets really inspired me to innovate in my cooking and food choices each day. I didn't want to choose a diet that excluded some foods (like most of the mainstream "diets" out there such as paleo or low carb) so I turned to the one "diet" I had dismissed as boring. The healthy diet pyramid.
The Australian healthy diet pyramid in my case (differs depending on sex and age) mandates the following:
-375g vegetables each day (excluding potatoes)
-300g fruit each day,
-625ml milk (or equivalent in cheese or yoghurt -250ml milk = 40g cheese or 200g yoghurt)
-250g meat or eggs (or equivalent in beans and legumes 100g meat = 140g beans)
-200g cereals (incl bread and equivalent potatoes 100g potato = 40g cereal)
-Any calories left are to go to fats and oils (I get 15-20g here easily)
The healthy diet pyramid may seem incredibly boring after having heard teachers drone on about it for so many years....but I found it incredibly challenging to stick to! It is MUCH harder than you think it is to meet all those targets with your allotted daily calories. I really loved challenge (my competitive nature literally ate it up -pardon the pun!) and it totally revived my enthusiasm for healthy eating.
I would love for others to try the same and see if they end up feeling like I do.....or maybe I am a freak.....I NEED TO KNOW lol
The Australian healthy diet pyramid in my case (differs depending on sex and age) mandates the following:
-375g vegetables each day (excluding potatoes)
-300g fruit each day,
-625ml milk (or equivalent in cheese or yoghurt -250ml milk = 40g cheese or 200g yoghurt)
-250g meat or eggs (or equivalent in beans and legumes 100g meat = 140g beans)
-200g cereals (incl bread and equivalent potatoes 100g potato = 40g cereal)
-Any calories left are to go to fats and oils (I get 15-20g here easily)
The healthy diet pyramid may seem incredibly boring after having heard teachers drone on about it for so many years....but I found it incredibly challenging to stick to! It is MUCH harder than you think it is to meet all those targets with your allotted daily calories. I really loved challenge (my competitive nature literally ate it up -pardon the pun!) and it totally revived my enthusiasm for healthy eating.
I would love for others to try the same and see if they end up feeling like I do.....or maybe I am a freak.....I NEED TO KNOW lol
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I don't think I'm that far off most days... but I don't eat that much fruit for sure.0
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Interesting ! Nice
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I eat more vegetables than that and often not that much fruit (although I had 300 g of melon this morning), but otherwise that's more like what I do than most other ways of eating. It doesn't seem as insanely starch heavy as the old US pyramid was.0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »I eat more vegetables than that and often not that much fruit (although I had 300 g of melon this morning), but otherwise that's more like what I do than most other ways of eating. It doesn't seem as insanely starch heavy as the old US pyramid was.
Yes, even with the Australian version, the cereals section is the first one I will ditch if I have reached my daily calorie goal. Strangely enough this generally tends to match another Australian official "diet" called the CSIRO total wellbeing diet (which claims to be the only diet in the world scientifically proven to genuinely result in permanent weight loss. If you are not familiar with the CSIRO they are Australia's government science research organization). The CSIRO diet is almost identical except they traded 80g of cereals for more meats and oils instead.
It's a shame these diets don't get more recognition because I think they can be just as interesting and inspiring. Plus the fact that they are based on scientific research really appeals to the scientist in me!
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I did the same (Aussie). Is that the 2015 one? For the first time they have put added sugar alongside salt outside of the pyramid. Changes to the layering too. I like it more than the old one (which I used).
Mine was based on the older one and since they changed it I actually started doing a combination of 2015 plus the CSIRO diet (which is actually almost exactly like the 2015 but with a little more meat and fats).
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Do you use the CSIRO site? A friend said she didn't like it. But their book looks ok.
ETA...she did the program and said logging food there was a PIA. 0 -
Do you use the CSIRO site? A friend said she didn't like it. But their book looks ok.
I bought the first book myself and received the second as a gift. To be honest I really only use the eating guide (with serving recommendations) at the front and develop my own recipes and exercises instead. The site was not very good last time I looked. I suspect they are trying make people buy the books sadly. Such a shame because I think the diet would be more popular if the information was more readily available. The money goes to science at least...
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Do you use the CSIRO site? A friend said she didn't like it. But their book looks ok.
I bought the first book myself and received the second as a gift. To be honest I really only use the eating guide (with serving recommendations) at the front and develop my own recipes and exercises instead. The site was not very good last time I looked. I suspect they are trying make people buy the books sadly. Such a shame because I think the diet would be more popular if the information was more readily available. The money goes to science at least...
Yeh I was surprised they charged for the program but I didn't know that it raised money for research. Good to know.
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The CSIRO diet is almost identical except they traded 80g of cereals for more meats and oils instead.
I've made that trade off, although personally I think their carb allocation (mostly due to the cereal component) is still on the high side. Many cereals aren't very nutrient dense. I seem to do fine on 118g total carbs a day average (makes me lower, not low, carb) and I'm a distance runner... and yes, I feel great too!
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I've made that trade off, although personally I think their carb allocation (mostly due to the cereal component) is still on the high side. Many cereals aren't very nutrient dense. I seem to do fine on 118g total carbs a day average (makes me lower, not low, carb) and I'm a distance runner... and yes, I feel great too!
Interestingly they let you count beans and legumes as cereals as well as meats......I find it convenient to use them as a "better" alternative to cereal. Sometimes when I am close to the calorie limit on a given day I will count beans as both meat and cereal (double dipping I know). It's probably not legit.......but still a darn sight healthier than turning to junk food (which I LOVE by the way. Not easy to avoid)
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200 g seems high for cereal to me too (mostly because I just don't eat a lot of grains most days and a serving to me is more like 50 g or a bit less, at least based on dry oats or pasta), but translating it into potatoes or legumes also makes it seem more reasonable. (I realized I'm not sure what the numbers are if you do that as I was assuming 1 to 1 and now it looks like doing that increases the number.)
But anyway that's just based on my own diet.0 -
I've made that trade off, although personally I think their carb allocation (mostly due to the cereal component) is still on the high side. Many cereals aren't very nutrient dense. I seem to do fine on 118g total carbs a day average (makes me lower, not low, carb) and I'm a distance runner... and yes, I feel great too!
Interestingly they let you count beans and legumes as cereals as well as meats......I find it convenient to use them as a "better" alternative to cereal. Sometimes when I am close to the calorie limit on a given day I will count beans as both meat and cereal (double dipping I know). It's probably not legit.......but still a darn sight healthier than turning to junk food (which I LOVE by the way. Not easy to avoid)
Do you remember that "swap it" campaign? Used to be gov advertised years ago. That was a good approach too, and focusing on decreasing your waistline. Which was one of my goals before considering BMI. It's a shame they don't have that again.0 -
Do you remember that "swap it" campaign? Used to be gov advertised years ago. That was a good approach too, and focusing on decreasing your waistline. Which was one of my goals before considering BMI. It's a shame they don't have that again.
No I don't remember that campaign but I was a bit late to the party with health initiatives. it sounds like they should bring it back! There are not enough health public service announcements and initiative in Australia these days (it's kind of left up to people to self-start).0 -
I liked using our American Diabetic diet especially the exchanges because it emphasized portion control0
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I did the same (Aussie). Is that the 2015 one? For the first time they have put added sugar alongside salt outside of the pyramid. Changes to the layering too. I like it more than the old one (which I used).
I like that the Australia one has fruits/vegs as the foundation. I never could get into the American because we used grains as our foundation.
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ldrosophila wrote: »I liked using our American Diabetic diet especially the exchanges because it emphasized portion control
I'm obsessed with portion control. If I buy a box of cereal I portion out 50gram quantities into little bags and shove them all back into the box. That way I will always have the right portion no matter how lazy I am on the day. I do it with all foods that have a large number of portions per pack. Even meat gets frozen in 100g portions (carefully weighed out) so that if I grab a couple on a lazy day I don't need to re-weigh. It's all too easy to give up on portions on a "bad" day......this is my way of combatting that by doing all my portioning when i am full of the motivation to do it!
It gives me something to do in front of the TV!0 -
ldrosophila wrote: »I did the same (Aussie). Is that the 2015 one? For the first time they have put added sugar alongside salt outside of the pyramid. Changes to the layering too. I like it more than the old one (which I used).
I like that the Australia one has fruits/vegs as the foundation. I never could get into the American because we used grains as our foundation.
Agree. Our older version had grains as foundation. I didn't like that either.0 -
ldrosophila wrote: »I did the same (Aussie). Is that the 2015 one? For the first time they have put added sugar alongside salt outside of the pyramid. Changes to the layering too. I like it more than the old one (which I used).
I like that the Australia one has fruits/vegs as the foundation. I never could get into the American because we used grains as our foundation.
Agree. Our older version had grains as foundation. I didn't like that either.
Oh, you mean the "feed lot pyramid"? It was created in the 60s, I believe, as a response to lobbying from the grain producers of America. Incidentally, it bears a striking similarity to the food ratios that farmers use to fatten hogs and cattle for slaughter.0 -
I went to a Registered Dietitian years ago and she wrote a food plan for me that closely resembled the US food pyramid (with grains as the base but also lots of fruits and veggies). It changed my life. I ate more, lost weight, felt great, and had tons of energy. I still follow the program to this day, and I haven't experienced the weight gain that many other women in their 40's do. I know all the criticisms of bread and grains, but for me it just works. I'm very active and perform better with the carbs than without them. It is really interesting seeing the differences in the Australia version. Thanks for sharing it!0
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I went to a Registered Dietitian years ago and she wrote a food plan for me that closely resembled the US food pyramid (with grains as the base but also lots of fruits and veggies). It changed my life. I ate more, lost weight, felt great, and had tons of energy. I still follow the program to this day, and I haven't experienced the weight gain that many other women in their 40's do. I know all the criticisms of bread and grains, but for me it just works. I'm very active and perform better with the carbs than without them. It is really interesting seeing the differences in the Australia version. Thanks for sharing it!
Yes I think theopolisabroiselll's comment that it is the "feed lot pyramid" is a bit extreme and unwarranted. You can still construct an amazingly wholesome and effective weight loss regime based on even the U.S. Diet pyramid! The key is the portion control and CICO.....any diet that encourages diversity (in whatever proportions) is still going to be healthy :-)
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I think one of the reasons for the US pyramid is cost and different needs when the population was more active.
I suspect my grandfather (who was a farmer) ate a lot more grains and starches than I do, but he was also far more active in daily life and needed a good source for the calories that he needed.
Since getting enough calories isn't an issue for me at all, it makes more sense to focus on vegetables and (to a lesser degree) fruit as a base, and then proteins as well as starches.0 -
Eminently sensible! Canada uses a rainbow and UK the divided plate. I always found it easier to visualize a plate. Funny enough, the U.S. has switched to the plate.0
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The plate probably makes more sense. I grew up with the pyramid concept so it makes sense to me, though. Well, except no one really knows what a serving is--visualizing food on a plate makes that part easier for kids, I imagine.0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »The plate probably makes more sense. I grew up with the pyramid concept so it makes sense to me, though. Well, except no one really knows what a serving is--visualizing food on a plate makes that part easier for kids, I imagine.
I know! I had to really dig to find definitions for all the portion sizes....you would think that would be far more prominent information!
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lemurcat12 wrote: »...visualizing food on a plate makes that part easier for kids, I imagine.
Children and grandmas!
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They should make a colored portioned plate for kids to help them learn :-) I would have loved that as a kid. I was a bit obsessed with sorting things into groups lol.0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »I think one of the reasons for the US pyramid is cost and different needs when the population was more active.
I suspect my grandfather (who was a farmer) ate a lot more grains and starches than I do, but he was also far more active in daily life and needed a good source for the calories that he needed.
Since getting enough calories isn't an issue for me at all, it makes more sense to focus on vegetables and (to a lesser degree) fruit as a base, and then proteins as well as starches.
That is a really good point.
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They should make a colored portioned plate for kids to help them learn :-) I would have loved that as a kid. I was a bit obsessed with sorting things into groups lol.
http://www.nestle.com.au/nhw/nestle-portion-plates
Ask and you shall receive...
They used to send them for free but I don't know if they do anymore (in Aus only).
Portions is the issue I had with old pyramid.0
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