Muffin Tin Monday - The Food Pyramid

This week's Muffin Tin Monday theme was the Food Pyramid. I couldn't think of much to do, creatively, and I was busy all week getting ready for my House Party. Then Saturday my fridge stopped working, and I wanted to open and close it as little as possible. Plus I was making last-minute food and cleaning still. Sunday Z and I went to Disney on Ice (while Daddy got the fridge repairman to come fix everything) and then I fell unconscious until my friend came to pick me up for an evening of shopping! So no time for a Muffin Tin Meal!

I went online and searched for the Food Pyramid, since I only vaguely recall it from my youthful school days. I found out more about what falls into each of the 5 (6)  food groups (cream cheese, cream and butter don't count as dairy!) which are FRUITS, VEGETABLES, DAIRY, GRAINS, MEAT & BEANS (fish, eggs,nuts, etc,) and OILS. Plus a neat customized food guide where you enter your age and weight to find the ideal amount you should eat of various food groups daily, and more specifics on veggie colors weekly!

OILS: Olives;
MEAT: Ham; MILK: Cheese assortment;
VEGGIES: Carrots, Broccoli, Tomato, Corn, Hummus; GRAINS: Ritz crackers; FRUIT: Strawberries

Little Z's daily diet should include (click links for more specifics on what types of food are in each category):
GRAINS: 3 oz, 1.5 of which should be whole grains.
VEGGIES: 1 cup (8 oz)
FRUIT: 1 cup (8 oz)
MILK: 2 c (16 oz)
MEAT/BEANS: 2 oz
OILS: 3 tsp [includes oils, olives, avocados and some nuts]
Plus most people have 100 to 300 discretionary calories each day. It didn't specify how many for her though.

And of the 7 cups of vegetables she should be eating weekly, they had recommended amounts by color/type (see VEGGIES link above for more thorough lists by color.)
DARK GREEN (broccoli, spinach, a variety of lettuces): 1 c weekly
ORANGE (carrots, squash, sweet potatoes): 1/2 c weekly
DRY BEANS/PEAS (tofu, most other beans and peas): 1/2 c weekly [Also counts in the Meat/Beans category]
STARCHY VEGGIES (corn, potatoes, green peas, green lima beans): 1.5 c weekly
OTHER VEGGIES (celery, beets, onions, tomatoes, etc): 4 c weekly

I'm not sure why the veggies add up to 7.5 cups, but the daily would only add up to 7 cups total for the week. But I'm fairly certain we aren't meeting these quotas, even with Unka Seesee cooking us healthy meals!

Mostly what I learned from this is that it's impossible to keep track! For example, hummus has chickpeas (which are in both the met and veggies dry beans categories) plus it has olive oil. I can't possibly know how much of it should count towards her oil allotment. I could assign it to veggies or meat, depending on what else she's eaten that day, but jeez. I can't even get my act together to remind her to use the potty regularly, much less keep track of the specifics of what she eats! And anything eaten out is a mystery, since I don't know what all they add to it. But I'm motivated to feed her more of a rainbow now, or at least to try and be aware of what falls into which category. I know I've been doing it wrong, as I've been assuming that rice is a whole grain. Bzzzt! Only brown rice counts. And I've been counting olives as a veggie, corn in the yellow/orange veggie group, and cream cheese as dairy.

Little Z wasn't too impressed with her "beautiful lunch" this time, but eventually started picking at it while watching Spongebob something educational.

I did just a few olives, since 1/3rd of her daily OILS allotment is only 1 tsp! And only 2/3 oz for meats! I piled on the veggies, mostly to get a representation of all the types: Carrots for ORANGE, Broccoli for DARK GREEN, Tomatoes for OTHER, Corn for STARCHY, and Hummus for BEANS. And just for fun, I used a tiny heart cutter to make little hearts out of some strawberry coins.