www.mypyramidtracker.gov is an official website of My Pyramid Tracker which is one type of an online dietary and physical activity evaluation tool that provides information on your diet quality, physical activity status, related nutrition messages, and links to nutrient and physical activity information. The feature of My Pyramid Tracker is the Food Calories/Energy Balance which evaluates energy balance of your body by subtracting the energy you spend from physical activity and food you eating. You can balance your energy status and enhances the link between good nutrition and regular physical activity with the help of this tool.

My Pyramid Tracker stores your energy balance history and views it up to one year. The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services develop the principles of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other nutrition standards which were translated by MyPyramid Tracker.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0535 (expiration date: June 30, 2009). The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 31.5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

If you want to use My Pyramid Tracker, for that you have to login in your account by entering user ID and password. If you don’t have account, then click on “New User Registration” to create your new account. Information of your diet quality, related nutrition messages, and links to nutrient information are provided by online dietary assessment while your physical activity status and their related energy expenditure information and educational messages are provided by physical activity assessment. You will receive an overall score, after physical activity information and dietary information. This score you can store up to one year for you calculations.

How to use My Pyramid tracker?

First of all, you have to login in your account. Now, you will receive profile page in which you have to enter your details like Age, Gender, date of birth, height and weight, then click on ‘Proceed to food intake’ option. Now, select the food items which you want to include in your diet plan and press ‘select quantity’ option. After pressing ‘Select Quantity’ button, you will see the chart in which you have to enter serving size and number of servings, then click on ‘save and analyze’ or ‘enter foods’ or ‘return to login’ or ‘reset value’ option, whichever you want. If you select ‘Proceed to physical activity’ option, you will receive two options in it i.e. Standard option and condensed option, select any one of them. Then, enter activity type and write activity description, then click on ‘add activity’ or ‘add to FPA’ option.

My Pyramid Tracker also provides supplementary diet. A supplement dietary is a product used to supplement the diet. Supplement dietary contains amino acids, fiber, herbal products, and many other substances including vitamins and minerals. Dietary supplement is available in the form of a pill, capsule, and tablet or liquid. On the front panel of its container, a dietary supplement is labeled as being a dietary supplement. Since 1994 Dietary supplements and dietary ingredients placed on the market, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration as to label claims, and product safety and effectiveness. Dietary supplementary label contains general information, a supplement facts panel, and a list of other ingredients.

General information comprises the name of the product with language identifying the product as a “supplement,” the net contents, name and location of manufacturer, and packer or distributor, and directions for use, while the serving size, list of dietary ingredients, amount per serving size (by weight), percent of Daily Value are included in the Supplements Facts panel. Non dietary ingredients like fillers, artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors, or binders, listed in descending order by weight are included in other elements.

Dietary Supplements are essential for People who have nutrient deficiency, such as iron-deficient anemia, or osteoporosis, People with low food energy intakes (i.e. less than 1200 kilocalories per day), Vegans, Pregnant or breastfeeding women, People with limited milk intake and sun exposure, People with decreased absorption or increased excretion of nutrients due to disease, infection or injury, People taking medications that interfere with nutrient absorption or metabolism by the body, etc. For very young children, pediatricians commonly recommend vitamins until they are eating solid foods. Dietary supplements are seldom necessary, when a child reaches the age of two, according to recommendation of pediatricians.

A multivitamin-mineral supplement is appropriate for Children during periods of growth, such as infancy and adolescence, Children with poor eating habits or those using weight-reduction diets, Children not drinking fluoridated water (include a fluoride supplement), Children on strict vegetarian diets, etc. you will get selected lists of dietary supplements from the market, which is based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000. For dietary supplements information, you have to select your “Age Category,” “Supplement Category” (such as Vitamins or Minerals), and “Name” of the supplement from the list, then click on the ‘Get info’ option. It will display all the information about dietary supplements.

For more information, visit www.mypyramidtracker.gov