Last Sunday I attended “Fueling for Exercise.” I remembered growing up with the standard food pyramid, placing grains in the largest category at its foundation, sweets in the smallest category on top, and other food groups in between. According to our speaker/discussion leader, this pyramid is antiquated and has been superseded by the more personalized “My Plate.” In the handout we were given, the plates had been divided into the three macromolecular groups: carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. After discussing each of these groups and what our body uses them for, we passed around food labels from popular snacks. Another distinct feature about My Plate is that it is tuned to the physical activity of the individual. Those performing strenuous activity for more than an hour should have a higher proportion of carbohydrates, whereas those who are more sedentary should concentrate a greater portion of their diet with fruits and vegetables.

It seems more like common sense than anything that diet should be geared toward an individual’s physique goals and lifestyle, but I supposed the old pyramid is a quick and dirty generalization of what a diet should remotely look like. Another interesting part of the talk is that our speaker did not address different dietary options based on dietary restrictions. This didn’t seem like a huge deal, since, for most diets, compensating for the loss of a food group like dairy usually just means eating more things from another food group. Overall the event was pretty informative, and it’s interesting to see how people’s perspectives on diets have changed since I was a kid.