Tonight's workout consisted of exercising the mind. I picked up my "Runner's World" magazine and begun thumbing through the pages. The full page photo of fruit on page 66 caught my eye. I began reading the article "The New Rules of Food" by Liz Applegate, PH.D. I had skimmed the article before, but took the time to read it in its entirety. I typed some notes including the "Top 10" lists to be transferred to my PDA.

The article is about the new Dietary Guidelines issued by the United States Department of Agriculture. The USDA is still using the old pyramid we all learned growing up in school, but with a few changes. They pyramid is "personalized...based on your age, gender, and activity level." Instead of measuring in servings, we are now measuring in cups. According to the article, this provides larger amounts of foods. It goes on about fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, oils, fats, sweets, and exercise.

You can get your personalized pyramid at http://www.mypyramid.gov

I fell into the 2400 calorie per day pyramid. My daily recommendations are as follows:

grains - 8 ounces
vegetables - 3 cups
fruits - 2 cups
milk - 3 cups
meat & beans - 6 1/2 ounces
physical activity - 30 minutes

My allowances are:

7 teaspoons of oils
360 calories of solid fats and sugars

The My Pyramid Tracker explains in great detail the specifics of each category.

I also took the time to enter what I ate today. The drop down list is detailed, but did not have exactly some of the foods I ate. For example, orange chicken from Panda Express. After entering everything, the site then has resources to compare what you are doing to what is recommended.

My Dietary Guidelines Recommendations for October 10, 2005 were compared to what I actually ate. I was okay in the grain, dairy, & meat categories, but failed in the fruit & vegetable categories. Good in the fat & saturated fat categories, but bad in the cholesterol & sodium categories.

The site includes a nutrient intake breakdown and a bar graph illustrating intake vs. recommendations. It also will track results over time.