A picture tells a thousand words, so the saying goes. Over the years dietitians and nutritionists have designed a number of graphics to help explain the healthy eating message. Perhaps the most well known is the Healthy Food Pyramid.  Most versions have the ‘Eat Most’ food at the base, the “Eat Sometimes’ food in the middle and the ‘Eat Least’ food at the top.  But which foods should be in each section – that is the question.

We all agree that fruit and vegetables go in the ‘Eat Most’ area but what about bread? Because it’s in the ‘Eat Most’ section does it mean we can eat as many hot cross buns as we like this Easter? Sometimes the pyramid needs words to explain just how to interpret the pictures. Or, in the case of the USA, a complete re-design of the graphic.

Follow this link to read about the ten most pervasive food pyramid myths.

This is a great visual to show how much exercise you need to do to burn off certain foods. Once you get your head around it, you’ll realise it’s a bit scary – just one cookie and a glass of wine means you have to walk for over an hour! On the positive side,  cutting out that cookie and glass of wine saves you from spending hours pounding the pavement. Some people exercise so they can eat more but this picture shows you have to do a heap of exercise to eat just a little more food!

This sensational graphic by Petra Axlund @ www.5Wgraphics.com, via Dataviz. {may need IE7+ or Firefox 3+ to view}

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How to enlarge: click small right lower rectangle above for full screen

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