I'm going on a "diet"

I am so so so sick of all these "diet" books that make you take out all carbs or all sugar or eat nothing but protein. Blegh. After a long conversation with some of my co-workers, I decided that I am going to follow the food pyramid, which was changed this year. It's set up completely different, with all of the sections showing vertically instead of horizontally and exercise is included on the pyramid. I think that if you look on the website, the section for exercise is the biggest part of the pyramid, and this is the part that most people are missing, including me. You can diet as much as you want, and unless you balance it out with exercise, you aren't going to do yourself much good. If you cut out too many calories, your body will go into starvation mode and conserve all the calories you do take in. I think the FDA is basically trying to tell us that everything is about BALANCE!!! Therefor, I am going to follow the guidelines for the food pyramid and DDR every night for 30 minutes. Hopefully, I'll be healthy in no time. Really though, all I want is to be able to keep up with my kid(s). I don't want them to be embarrassed of me. Maybe someday I'll even be a MILF. If you don't know what that means, I'm not going to tell you because its not nice to say.

Anyway, beginning yesterday, according to MyPyramid.gov - United States Department of Agriculture, I should follow this (plus around 30 - 60 minutes of exercise each day).

Your results are based on a 2000 calorie pattern*.

6 ounces 2.5 cups 2 cups 3 cups 5.5 ounces 1 Make Half Your Grains Whole Aim for at least 3 whole grains a day 2 Vary Your Veggies Aim for this much every week: Dark Green Vegetables = 3 cups weekly Orange Vegetables = 2 cups weekly Dry Beans & Peas = 3 cups weekly Starchy Vegetables = 3 cups weekly Other Vegetables = 6 1/2 cups weekly Oils & Discretionary Calories Aim for 6 teaspoons of oils a day Limit your extras (extra fats & sugars) to 265 Calories

I always appreciate encouragement, because while I think that this shouldn't be TOO had to follow, I still think I'm going to need to watch myself to make sure I don't go too crazy.