healthy eating food guide basd on your needs and tastes. A healthy lifestyle requires a personal plan for healthy eating. Without it, we often fall prey to convenience, cravings, and commercialism.

A healthy eating plan works best if you research and construct your own personal food pyramid: healthy eating food guide based on your needs and tastes.

With a bit of research on the fundamentals of nutrition and wellness, you can take ownership of your daily diet, by creating YOUR optimum plan and making better choices.

But with all the conflicting health and diet information out there, it’s easy to get information overload and conflicting advice. So Naturalpath Editors cut through the clutter to give you our recommended steps for creating your food pyramid: healthy eating food guide as well as links to the best articles, independent studies, web resources, books, video and blogs on naturalpath and the web.

Here's our 10 recommended steps for creating your food pyramid: healthy eating food guide:

Step 1 - Set your health or weight goals. (Here's a useful article and chart.)
Step 2 - Understand basic dietary principles and healthy eating guidelines. (Review this article on Understanding the Foundation of a Healthy Diet).
Step 3 - Calculate your personal caloric requirements.
Step 4 - Factor in your goals, concerns or current health issues. (For example review the article on Special Dietary Tips below)
Step 5 - Learn about serving sizes. (Here's a useful overview from the Mayo Clinic on portion control.)
Step 6 - Calculate your daily servings for each food group. (See Food Pyramid).
Step 7 - Read food labels in the store, adapting each label to your caloric requirement. (See Food Labels.)
Step 8 - Track what your eating and how it makes you feel. (Print out and use this Food Diary for one week. This is the most useful step for success.)
Step 9 - Try new, healthful foods you’ve never eaten before. (Browse our Recipe Library for new ideas.)
Step 10 - Practice mindful eating. (Here's a useful introduction to mindful eating techniques that will make a difference in how you experience food and manage weight).

Core Resources for Creating Your Plan

Not enough? Below are links to additional articles and web resources on healthy eating we thought were most helpful as well as recommended videos, blogs, books, and other helpful resources on diet and nutrition. Educate yourself – only you can determine what's healthy eating for you. Make small, steady change your priority.