Looking at this pyramid, you can see that there are different colored parts of the pyramid, but each one gets smaller as it goes toward the top. The part toward the top is for the less healthy foods in the category, and the part at the bottom is for the healthier foods. For example, you might put whole milk at the top of the Milk group, and non-fat milk at the bottom; or you could put whole grains at the bottom of the Grains group and refined grains at the top. The parts of the pyramid also show how important they are by the width of the band. The small yellow one that has no name on the bottom contains fats and oils. The unsaturated oils, like peanut, canola, or olive, would be at the bottom. Butter would be at the top. The person climbing the steps on the left side of the pyramid symbolizes the importance of exercise.
You can go to mypyramid.com to get current information about the USDA pyramid, or you can click on the link to My Pyramid Plan to put in your personal information and get a customized food guide.
Faculty members at the Harvard School of Public Health made an alternate pyramid, which they called the Healthy Eating Pyramid. It includes more information based on all the research on nutrition that has taken place in the last fifteen years. The pyramid looks like this: