I was interested to see last weeks bulletin from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) announcing the publication of its new Food Pyramid designed to tackle obesity and help citizens develop better eating habits. Called www.choosemyplate.gov this new website is a major step forward in nutrition education for families struggling to keep themselves and their children healthy under the barrage of mass marketed convenience foods, snacks and sugary drinks. A great resource for parents,teachers, doctors and nutrition educators.

I particularly like their 10 tips section and the mypyramid tracker allows you to enter your food intake and track and score your healthy eating history over a day or for as long as a year (if you are really diligent !! ) using the my pyramid recommendations as a yardstick. While I am not a subscriber to the notion of the obsessive recording of food intake, for some, just doing even one weeks tally of all food and drink can be quite revealing as many of us can get into the habit of eating quite unconsciously.

A few shortcomings; Dairy in my view is not necessary in any diet (except that of a calf!) and its inclusion is no doubt an industry driven compromise.

No distinction is made between raw and cooked foods and the essential contribution of raw foods to health is not recognised.

The vital importance of proper hydration is not emphasised and guidelines need to be clear as well as the importance of water purity to health.

Sections devoted to eating as we age , eating for vegetarians and vegans as well as eating for food allergies and coeliacs needs to be added.

However it is a great step forward and no doubt will be welcomed by many.