Course Sample for Our Health 101 Homeschool Health and Fitness Curriculum

Food Pyramid

The MY Pyramid, released in 2005 by the USDA, gives us a guide for nutrition. According to the USDA, this guideline will help maintain body weight within a healthy range. It is important to balance the calories we eat with calories we burn off through exercise. If you maintain this balance, you will help yourself maintain a healthy weight.

Take a look at the food pyramid and read more about how it is designed to work.

Food is divided into different food groups.

1. Bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, and cereals—These are carbohydrates and give you energy.
2. Fruits and vegetables—You should eat at least 5 portions every day. They can be frozen, fresh, or canned. These are very important for vitamins, minerals, fiber, and disease prevention.
3. Meat, fish, eggs, nuts, beans, and lentils—These provide protein to help you grow and protect your body.
4. Milk, cheese, and yogurt—You get calcium from this group. Take in a moderate amount of this food group to help develop strong bones and teeth.
5. Fat and sugar—limit these; it is very important to not take in too much sweets as it will affect your teeth, nutrition, and weight.

It is important to eat to grow. As a teen-ager, you are growing and developing quickly. You will be hungrier than adults, but need to make the right decisions when choosing what to eat. Your body is growing and changing rapidly. The choices you make now will impact how your body grows.

Looking at this food pyramid, how do you compare? What can you do to improve your diet intake? Study the eating pattern suggested by the American Heart Association.

As your body grows and changes, gaining and losing some weight is part of developing into a healthy young adult. But gaining or losing too much weight at any point in your life can be hazardous to your health. Keeping your body weight in a healthy range goes a long way toward keeping your heart healthy.

Take a look at these facts about obesity and its effects, learn how to know if you are at a healthy weight, and find out how to keep your weight healthy with “Hey Kids, Keep a Healthy Weight” by the American Heart Association.

Learn more about what you can eat to keep a healthy heart by reading “Hey Kids, Eat a HeartHealthy Diet” by the American Heart Association.