Food pyramid

Serves:

Ingredients

Method

The food pyramid helps kids to receive all the nutrients growing children need each day from the five food groups.

These are:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Protein – this includes lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes
• Grains – this includes bread, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles
• Dairy – this includes milk, yoghurt, and cheese

You’ll need to eat a number of serves from each group depending on your age and how active you are. Growing children need the following number of serves from each group:

Sample serves from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.

How big is one serve?

Fruit:

• 1 medium piece – such as an apple, banana or pear
• 2 small pieces – such as a kiwi fruit, passionfruit, plum
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sultanas, raisins or currants
• 4 pieces of dried fruit – such as apricots, pears or figs
• 1 cup of tinned fruit

Vegetables:

• 1 potato
• 1/2 cup (75g) of cooked vegetables
• 1 cup of salad vegetables
• 1/2 cup (75g) of cooked legumes – dried beans, peas or lentils

Protein:

• 65-100g cooked meat or chicken
• 80-100g of fish fillets
• 2 small eggs
• 1/2 cup of cooked dried or tinned beans – such as lentils or red kidney beans
• 1/3 cup of nuts – such as almonds, cashews or peanuts
• 1/4 cup of seeds – such as sunflower or sesame

Grains:

• 2 slices of bread
• 1 medium bread roll
• 1 cup of cooked pasta, noodles or rice
• 1 1/3 cup breakfast cereal
• 1/2 cup muesli

Dairy:

• 1 cup of milk
• 200g of yoghurt
• 40g of cheese
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk

While there are plenty of foods that don’t fall clearly into one of these categories – chips, chocolate – it’s best to keep these ‘extras’ to minimum as they are usually high in empty calories, salt, sugars and fats.

Find more:

• Breakfast basics

Common Sense Advice. Share your experiences, tips and advice on the Kidspot Message Board.

This article was written by Ella Walsh for Kidspot. Sources include Nestle and Better Health Channel.

Serving Suggestions

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