How to Make Your Own Food Guide Pyramid

If you remember the food pyramid from your elementary-school cafeteria, you know that the pyramid contains the five major food groups: grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy and protein. The standard food pyramid is based on recommendations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA. You can make your own using these general recommendations or you can tailor it to your own doctor-recommended diet.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler
• Scissors
• Tape
• Glue
• Magazines
• Newspapers

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Instructions

• 1

  Draw a triangle with a pencil. Make each side 10 inches long. Trace over your pencil lines with a pen or marker to make the lines permanent and darker.

• 2

  Draw the five sections. Moving your ruler up the sides of the pyramid in 2-inch intervals, draw straight lines across to divide the pyramid into five sections.

• 3

  Fill in the bottom section of the pyramid with information about grains. You can draw your own pictures of various grains, cut out pictures and paste them or simply list the names of grains using words instead of pictures. Use the USDA recommendations for the full list of grains. Some common grains are wheat, rice, oats, barley or other cereal grains. Bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereals, tortillas and grits are examples of grain products. You can further designate your grains as whole grains and enriched grains, based on the USDA recommendations.

• 4

  Fill in the second section from the bottom of the pyramid with information about vegetables. The USDA breaks down vegetables in to five groups and also separates them between raw vegetables and cooked vegetables. The five subgroups of vegetables are dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, dry beans and peas, starchy vegetables and other vegetables. Vegetable juice is also considered a vegetable as long as it is 100 percent vegetable juice, without any additives. Vegetables can by cooked, steamed, fresh, frozen, canned or dried/dehydrated, and they may be whole, cut up or mashed.

• 5

  Fill in the third section from the bottom with information about fruits. Any fruit, or 100 percent fruit juice, counts as part of the fruit group. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen or dried, and they may be whole, cut up or pureed. Some common fruits are apples, bananas, berries, melons, grapes and raisins.

• 6

  Fill in the fourth section with information about dairy. Milk and many foods made from milk are part of this food group. Foods made from milk that retain their calcium content are part of the group while foods made from milk that have little to no calcium, such as cream cheese, cream and butter, are not. Most dairy-group choices should be fat-free or low-fat, which means that many dairy products are excluded since they are processed and add other foods, such as fats and starches.

• 7

  Fill the top section with information about proteins. Any food made from meat, poultry, fish, dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts and seeds are part of the protein group. Dry beans and peas are part of this group as well as the vegetable group. Processed meats, such as lunch meat, bologna, sausages and canned meat, contain additives and high rates of sodium. Any meat you include in your pyramid should be low in fat content or a lean cut of meat.

• 8

  Put photos of good foods inside your pyramid, and put photos outside the pyramid of foods that you are trying to cut from your diet as a way to remember what is important what is not.