I made a new food pyramid. I think the standard gov't ones are misleading, because they're not particularly easy to read and don't explain in an obvious way how much you're actually supposed to eat of anything.

My pyramid is based on staple foods that you eat more of on the bottom & foods that you need but should eat less of closer to the top.

The basic idea, as far as I'm concerned, is that you want each meal to be like a salad - the main part should be leafy greens and other vegetables, there should be a couple of servings of grains (1 cup rice is three servings), and there should be a little protein involved, and some seasonings. Also, you do actually need fat, but you need it in the form of omega - 3, 6, 9 fatty acids, found primarily in flax and in fish.

Each meal should also have a fruit component - I've read that fruit is better digested by itself, and it also makes a good dessert. My theory is that you need a dessert component of every meal - the main part should be berries or other fruit, and then if you need some chocolate or other dessert type of thing, you can add it to the fruit in small quantities.

Try to avoid sugars, except for the sugars that occur naturally in fat free milk and in fruit. Try to avoid oils and fats, except for omega fatty acids. Use spray oils. Oils are actually good for you, but you don't need more than the oil spray will give you.

Exercise is good for you. Even half an hour a day can make a big difference. Theoretically, you can probably exercise off all the fat and sugar instead of eating a balanced diet, but unless you want to be in the gym or outside exercising several hours a day, it's better to eat well and exercise. I used to exercise four hours or more a day, between my cardio, walking, weight lifting and stretching, but it's hard to have time for other things when you exercise that much!