Research

• The food pyramid is the most well researched tool you can use for nutrition. The USDA did a lot of technical research to formulate it. A number of health professionals, including nutritionists, educators and scientists were consulted. Consumer research was also carried out to see how well it is understood.
  
  

Variety

• The food pyramid encourages you to have a variety of foods.Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of thebittenword.com
  
  There are six different colorful stripes on the pyramid. Each color represents a different food group. The orange stripe represents grains; green, vegetables; red, fruits; yellow, oils; and blue, dairy products. The purple stripe represents meats and beans. The food pyramid encourages you to have a variety of foods for a well-balanced diet.
  
  

Balanced and Personalized

• The food pyramid suggests serving amounts for each age groupImage by Flickr.com, courtesy of James Emery
  
  The wider stripes indicate you need to include more of that food in your diet. It also gives the daily reference intake for each age group. Clicking on each of the colors on the pyramid on USDAs' website, gives you a list of items in that food group, and its preferred items.
  
  

Physical Activity

• Exercise is an important part of the food pyramid.Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Luis Markovic
  
  The pyramid tells you to exercise at least 30 minutes on most days and for children to exercise and play games for at least 60 minutes.
  
  

Interactive website

• The USDA mypyramid website is very interactive.Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Niels Heidenreich
  
  The USDA food pyramid website also has interactive tools such as meal planning and diets for pregnant and nursing mothers.
  
  Overall, the food pyramid is a one-stop guide for your daily nutritional requirements.