The Vegetarian Food Pyramid

Many people who become vegetarians start with little or no knowledge of the food they should eat in order to maintain a healthy diet. Very often the reason for the change in diet is not for health but more a wish, for whatever reason, not to eat meat anymore. The food pyramid that was started by the US Department of Agriculture as a way of enabling people to have an easy reference point to make sure that their diet was adequate, has since been modified, as the vegetarian food pyramid.

The vegetarian food pyramid is a quick easy guide to how to maintain a good diet and eat the right groups of foods in the right amounts, so that you can have a healthy, balanced diet. All of the major food groups are included so there is no need to do without your favorite treats. It is really a question of balance.

The vegetarian food pyramid makes choosing the right foods easy by giving you a visual representation of the correct way to eat, without placing unnecessary restrictions on what you eat and advising you to do without your favorite foods.

At the top of the vegetarian food pyramid are the foods that we should eat the least of, though not avoid altogether. This includes mostly high calorie or high fat foods such as oils, fats, sweets fried foods and salty foods.

A little lower down are the dairy, nut seed and bean products. Because these are lower on the vegetarian food pyramid you can eat a little more of these, but you should still not consume them in excessive amounts. The lower down the foods are, the more you can eat of them.

Below these are the foods that you should eat larger amounts of, such as fresh fruit and vegetables. The last and largest part of the vegetarian food pyramid are the foods that you are encouraged to eat more liberally, such as whole grains, pasta, bread and rice.

Although there are a great deal of recipe guides for the new vegetarian, advice on how to eat the right foods to keep a proper balance, is harder to come by. Even when you do find publications or websites that address this, the advice is often contrary, with different people giving different opinions. The vegetarian food pyramid makes this information easy and accessible and is a great resource for anyone looking for an easy way to improve his or her diet.