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Activity 3

Pyramid Menu Planning

Note: This activity has two alternatives (A and B) that cover the same material. You may choose the alternative that is most appropriate for your audience. For both alternatives, be sure to include pictures of cultural foods and explain how combination foods like pizza, stir fry, etc. fit into MyPyramid.

Before the Session

Download the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPyramid Mini Poster (online: http://www.mypyramid.gov/global_nav/order.html) and make copies for participants, or obtain preprinted copies from the USDA.

Enlarge the “MyPyramid Poster” on a copy machine to fit 11-by-17 inch paper by setting the copier to increase the poster to 129% of its original size. Laminate the enlarged poster, if desired.

Begin the Session

(1) Catch up from last lesson: briefly review the material covered in the previous lesson. Ask participants: What have you tried from last week’s session, or what have you done differently from the last time we met? Congratulate participants on their successes and encourage them to try new skills or behaviors. (2) Today’s lesson: briefly explain its purpose and some of the activities.

Alternative A

1. Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pencil. Ask them to list a day's worth of meals their family might eat tomorrow.
2. Give each participant the MyPyramid Mini Poster handout. Using the “Background on MyPyramid” from Activity 2, discuss the important features of MyPyramid with participants. Note the kinds of foods in each food group, the number of portions to be eaten from each group, and the size of portions. Show participants the “MyPyramid Poster” handout to demonstrate how the food groups are situated in relation to each other and the recommended amounts to eat from each group.
3. Give each participant a set of the Simply Good Eating Food Stickers. Ask participants to find stickers that represent the foods on their lists.
4. Give each participant the “MyPyramid Poster” handout. Ask participants to organize all the food stickers they selected by food group, using the MyPyramid Mini Poster handout as a guide. Ask participants to place the stickers on MyPyramid in the appropriate food group band.
5. Ask participants to count each of the food stickers in each food group and compare how well their day’s meals compares to the total number of recommended daily servings (or portions) for each MyPyramid group.
6. Help participants revise menus to meet the recommended minimum number of servings (or portions) for each food group.

Note: Use the Simply Good Eating Food Sticker Glossary or the Cultural Food Photos and Guide to Common Cultural Foods to help you answer participants’ questions about foods about which you are uncertain. The Cultural Food Photos and Guide to Common Cultural Foods are no longer available for purchase, but if you already have these, or other resources on foods from various cultures, they are useful for this activity.

Alternative B

1. Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pencil. Ask them to list a day’s worth of meals their family might eat tomorrow.
2. Give each participant the MyPyramid Mini Poster handout. Using the “Background on MyPyramid” from Activity 2, discuss the important features of MyPyramid with participants. Note the kinds of foods in each food group, the amount to be eaten from each group, and examples of portion sizes. Show participants a “MyPyramid Poster” handout to demonstrate how the food groups are situated in relation to each other.
3. Spread the Dairy Council Food Models out on the table, picture side up.
4. Give each participant a paper plate. Ask participants to choose foods from the Dairy Council Food Models to represent the foods from the meals they had listed and to place the foods from each “meal” onto a their paper plate, organizing the foods by food group.
5. Ask participants to count each of the food models in each food group and compare how well their day’s meals compares to the total number of recommended daily servings (or portions) for each MyPyramid group.
6. Help participants revise menus to meet the recommended minimum number of servings (or portions) for each food group.
7. Tell participants:
   • The typical American diet currently is somewhat out of balance, because it includes more foods that provide “discretionary calories” (foods higher in fats and sugars, or “empty” calories) than most people need.
   • No one food group is more important than any other. Each food group provides important nutrients unique to that group, and therefore, they work together toward good nutrition.
   • Ask participants to repeat as a group the recommended amounts to eat from each group to meet 2000 calories per day. Remind participants that they may need to adjust these amounts to meet their own calorie needs.

Conclusions

Tell participants: MyPyramid is a useful tool to help us plan meals and snacks to meet our daily nutritional needs. No one food group is more important than any other. Healthy meal planning requires a balance of foods from each group. Each food group provides important nutrients unique to that group, and therefore they work together toward good nutrition.

Check for Understanding and Behavior Change

Ask participants to state one idea that they learned and plan to use during the next week. Ask others if they also plan to try that idea during the week. List the ideas on the flipchart or writing board.

Also ask participants:

1. What foods did you need to add to your “meals” in order to meet the recommended number of MyPyramid portions?
2. What foods will you try harder to include in your daily meals to ensure that you have a wellbalanced diet?

Thank each participant for coming. Ask for final questions and discussion. Provide some information or teaser about the next session, to encourage attendance.

References and Resources

(1) Simply Good Eating Food Stickers; (2) Dairy Council Food Models; (3) MyPyramid.gov website; (4) MyPyramid: For Professionals at MyPyramid.gov website; MyPyramid: Tips and Resources and MyPyramid.gov website; (5) MyPyramid Mini Poster; (6) Cultural Food Photos (optional); (7) Guide to Common Cultural Foods (optional).