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BUILDING A HEALTHY DIET WITH THE 5 FOOD GROUPS
34
One serving of meat is only about the size of a computer mouse, and a serving of carbohydrates is half a
bagel or two slices of white bread. Most Americans eat a lot more than one serving at meals, though!
RESEARCH PROJECT
Compare MyPlate to the other diet recommendations charts in this chapter. Now, go
online and see if you can find food pyramids or charts from any other countries. How
are these charts similar to the United States’ MyPlate? How are they different? Why do
you think other countries have different foods that they recommend? Why do you think some coun-
tries include physical activity on their food diagrams, but others don’t?
A food that has 10 calories doesn’t give you a lot of energy. Ten calories won’t keep you
going for very long. A food that has 250 calories has a lot more energy. That food will keep
you going longer.
You don’t want to eat too many calories. Then you’ll start to gain weight. You also don’t
want to eat too few calories, unless you need to lose weight for health reasons. Without
enough calories, you won’t have enough energy for your day.
The MyPlate website has a Daily Food Plan page. You can look up how much of each
food group you need, based on how many calories you should be eating every day.