The New Food Pyramid

Around 2003, faculty members at the Harvard School of Public Health built what they called the "Healthy Eating Pyramid". It was offered as an alternative to the original "Food Guide Pyramid" that the USDA had come up with over a decade earlier, The Harvard researchers considered the government's pyramid to be flawed, and their new pyramid resembled the USDA's in shape only. The Healthy Eating Pyramid takes into consideration, and puts into perspective, the wealth of research conducted during the last ten years that has reshaped the definition of healthy eating.

All servings are servings per day. Discretionary fat includes fat gained by choosing rich foods
such as fried chicken over a more healthy choice like broiled, skinned chicken.

Above graphic ©2003 Newsweek Magazine
Sources: USDA, "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy" by Walter C. Willett, MD.
Research by Josh Ulick
Photographs by David Berkwitz for Newsweek.
Graphic by Bonnie Scranton.


Now there is "MyPyramid"

In early 2005, the USDA retired the old Food Guide Pyramid and with much fanfare, replaced it with MyPyramid, a new interactive website for food guidance. The site is easy to use and helpful in making more informed decisions about nutrition, but the Harvard School of Public Health still stands behind their Healthy Eating Pyramid and finds much of the government's recommendations over-simplified or misleading. Learn more at their site.