The 'Healing Foods' pyramid

New healthful-foods guide includes chocolate, alcohol, tea

By Anne Harding
Special to MSN

University of Michigan researchers have created a food pyramid with much more than your stomach in mind.

The colorful, 10-tier triangle, introduced in March, is based on two years of research into the power of foods to ward off and fight illnesses such as autoimmune conditions, chronic pain, cancer and heart disease, says Dr. Monica Myklebust, director of University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Clinical Services in Ann Arbor. Myklebust created the pyramid with Jenna Wunder, a nutritionist at the center.

"It seems to boil down to a certain number of essential points on how to eat to prevent and treat these conditions," explains Myklebust, a family physician who spent a two-year fellowship with University of Arizona integrative-medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil. In a nutshell: Eat less meat and more plant products, enjoy a variety of foods and emphasize healthy fats.

Building blocks
The Healing Foods Pyramid is accessible on the Web at
http://www.med.umich.edu/umim/clinical/pyramid . A click on each of the 12 building blocks that form the pyramid's 10 tiers brings up detailed information on the food group's benefits as well as recommended servings and portion sizes.

Water forms the base of the pyramid, followed by five tiers representing foods to be eaten daily: fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, seasonings and healthy fats like olive oil, and eggs and dairy products. The next two tiers are fish and seafood and lean meats, to be eaten weekly. Next are chocolate, alcohol and tea, grouped as "accompaniments," all of which can benefit health when consumed in moderation. Finally, at the very tip, there's an empty triangle, reserved for a "special treat that is healing for you," to be indulged in occasionally.

Myklebust and Wunder emphasize buying organic foods whenever possible, purchasing meat and eggs from free-range animals, and avoiding meat and dairy products containing hormones. The section on fish also provides details on which seafoods should be avoided due to the risk of PCB or mercury contamination. Choosing the proper foods is likely to be healthier for humans as well as for the environment, they say.

Mastering the basics
"For people who really want to be healthy and take their nutrition as far as they can go, I think it's excellent, based on everything we know that's good for us," says Katherine Tallmadge, a Washington-based spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

But the healing pyramid's complexity could be daunting for some, Tallmadge adds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest version of the food pyramid is much simpler. Five vertical stripes represent grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and meat and beans, while a figure runs up a set of stairs on the left side to emphasize the importance of physical activity. A few simple guidelines accompany each food group - for example, "make half your grains whole" and "bake it, broil it or grill it" for meats - and tell you how much to eat every day.

The USDA includes additional information on its Web site, mypyramid.gov, and also offers a personal, in-depth diet and physical activity assessment in My Pyramid Tracker.

"For someone that is just starting out as far as they want to improve their diet, they want to eat better, they don't know a lot about nutrition, I would definitely have them start with mypyramid.gov," says Michelle Johnson, an ADA spokesperson based in Phoenix. She said she considers the Healing Foods Pyramid to be a more advanced version that people could move up to once they've got the basics.

Mind what you eat
Johnson says she likes the Healing Foods Pyramid's emphasis on "mindful eating," or taking the time to enjoy and savor your food. "There's been some good research showing that mindful eating is a pretty good tool for maintaining a healthy weight, in addition to choosing healthy foods," she says.

Mindful eating can also prevent digestive problems and help people who have such problems to cope with them, Myklebust notes. "Mindless eating," like bolting a burger behind the wheel, is something many of us do far too often, she adds, and our stomachs don't thank us for it.

Along with eating on the run, Myklebust says, people with gastroesophageal reflux and heartburn should consider avoiding tomatoes, citrus, high-fat foods, peppermint, coffee, chocolate and alcohol, all of which can weaken the sphincter separating the stomach from the esophagus, allowing acid backup.

Johnson suggests using the two pyramids together for tip-top nutritional benefit. "These are two good resources in the sea of bad information that you can find on the Internet when it comes to healthy nutrition," she says. "I really don't see anything conflicting about the two of them. I think they work very well together."

Anne Harding is a science and health writer based in Maplewood, N.J.

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For interactive site where you can see detailed information on the food group's benefits as well as recommended servings and portion sizes please visit http://www.med.umich.edu/umim/clinical/pyramid

For Larger view of Healthy Food Pyramid in pdf format click here
If you do not have the program needed to open the pdf file you can download it here for free ~ Acrobat Adobe Reader:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html