There are so many diets out there that make choosing what you're going to eat for dinner so complicated. They have formulas for how many carbs, fats, and how much protein you are meant to eat. And while people are dealing with scales and math equations to prepare a meal they might forget that there is an easier system for building a healthy meal plan that has been around for much longer. Across this country, people have been using the four food groups to feed families and those in school cafeterias for decades.

The four food groups were created for the Canada Food Guide, which was first made in 1942 and has been updated according to new research and discoveries since then. It was meant as a way of rationing food during war times but its concentration on giving people the nutrition that they need without any extras got adopted fast post that time for those working nearby to those raising a family across the country. Now, most Canadians can at least tell you what the four food groups are according to this guide.

The four food groups are: vegetables and fruits, grain products, milk and alternatives, and meat and alternatives. A revision of the guide in the 1990s added a section for oils and fats and beverages as well. Before you start creating meals with this guide for catering companies or within your own home, you need to understand what the size of a portion is and how many you require in a day. This will depend on your age and how active your lifestyle is. If you're the type of person who is as active as people featured in motivational posters then you will be able to eat more than those that spend most of their day in front of a computer or on a couch.

One of the best things about using the Canada food guide is that once you understand what one portion is then it is easy to follow on a daily basis. You can even build your own food guide online to cater to your personal needs. This is something that you can put up on the fridge of your kitchen in your condo you bought and use when you're preparing your meals. You will find that most of the foods that you eat fit into the guide in some way. And then you can decide how often to eat the foods that are not included. You just need to remember that you also should be thinking about how the food is prepared. While potato chips technically are a vegetable, this is not the same as eating a salad.

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