The 6 main food groups: whole grains and starchy vegetables. Fish, poultry, meat, eggs and alternatives. At least half of your children's cereal intake should be whole grain, Dudash says. Fruits can be fresh, frozen, canned, dried, or freeze-dried.
Experts recommend choosing frozen fruit without added sugar and fruit canned in their own juice instead of syrup. Vegetables can be fresh, canned, or frozen, Dudash suggests. Children with lactose intolerance can replace them with calcium-fortified, dairy-free products. The main goal of this group is to provide a rich source of calcium, Dudash explains.
Ideally, protein sources should be lean or have “good” fats, Dudash notes. Dudash recommends using oils that come from vegetables, nuts and seeds, as well as soft spreads made without hydrogenated oils. Understanding the different food groups and how much of each should make up your diet can help you establish a healthy eating pattern over time. It's better to focus on how delicious a food is rather than going into details about how healthy it is.
The food pyramid shows a person's suggested daily serving size for each of the six different food groups that make up a healthy diet. Each food group includes a variety of foods with a similar nutritional composition, and each group plays an important role in an overall healthy eating pattern.
