The food pyramid was developed by nutritionists to help people design a healthy eating plan. The food pyramid divides foods into six groups, and it shows how much food from each group humans should eat each day to maintain a balanced diet. You can use the recommendations in the food pyramid, combined with what you know about food, to design a healthy meal plan that includes the foods you like to eat.

Browsing through the six food groups in the Explore Food Pyramid, you'll notice that the bottom group contains some cereals, like bread, cereal, rice, and pasta. The bottom layer is the widest layer of the pyramid, which indicates that the foods in that layer are the main part of the dietary structure, commonly known as the staple foods.

The second tier of the food pyramid consists of two food groups, fruits and vegetables. Note that this tier is not as wide as the bottom tier, a difference that suggests that people need less of this food group than the bottom tier. The third tier of the food pyramid contains the milk, yogurt, and cheese groups, as well as the livestock, poultry, fish, soybeans, eggs, and dried fruit groups. In addition to the foods in the bottom and second tiers, people need to supplement the small amount of food in the third tier.

At the top of the food pyramid are foods that contain large amounts of fat, sugar, or both. Note that this group of foods is the smallest part of the pyramid, which means that people should eat these foods in moderation. This is very good advice, because all the other food groups contain fat and sugar, so you should limit the amount of extra sugar and fat you consume to help prevent heart disease and other illnesses.