Early Food Guides

• Before the food guide pyramid was introduced, the USDA published its recommendations on healthy eating in a pamphlet. These early recommendations arrived in 1894, and were followed in 1916 by the Food for Young Children guide in which foods were first divided into groups. The original groupings of foods were similar to those used today. There were five early food groups; vegetables and fruits, fats, milk and meat, cereals, and sugars.
  
  

Recommended Dietary Allowances

• A National Nutrition Conference in 1941 prompted the USDA to create a Recommended Dietary Allowance chart. The Recommended Dietary Allowance included specifications for the consumption of calories and nutrients. Shortly after, the USDA introduced the "Basic Seven" to assist with obtaining the specified nutritional values that were hard to obtain during the war's food shortage.
  
  

Modifications

• Because the "Basic Seven" was complex and hard for many people to understand, it was downgraded to the "Basic Four" shortly after being introduced, and would continue to be the "Basic Four" for more than 20 more years. The "Basic Four" was milk, fruit and vegetables, grains, and meat. During the late 1970s the "Basic Four" were extended to the "Basic Five" to include a group for fats, sweets, and alcoholic beverages. This group was added to address the issues of unhealthy foods that should be consumed in moderation.
  
  

Food Pyramid

• In 1988 it was decided that a graphic representation of the food guide, needed to be created. The pyramid shape was chosen in order to convey to consumers the proper varieties, moderations and portions to eat of each food. The original food pyramid was designed so that foods that should not be eaten were on the tip of the pyramid, and healthy foods that should be eaten often were on the bottom. The horizontal layout of the original food pyramid specified the amount of servings of each food to consume.
  
  

New Food Pyramid: My Pyramid

• The new model of the food guide pyramid is also referred to as the "My Pyramid." The new food pyramid was designed to describe servings by ounces and cups to allow less room for error. Another change from the older food pyramid is that the new food pyramid was designed with age and activity factors to cater healthy eating to active or inactive persons, and old or young people as necessary.