The Food Guide Pyramid on the sides of cereal boxes that students grew up with is undergoing surgery.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released their Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 , recommending Americans limit their calorie intake while maintaining a sufficient amount of exercise. The guidelines are released every five years. A new food pyramid will be released later this spring to reflect the changes.

Per capita the United States is the fattest country in the world, said Donald Misch, director of Health Services. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and more than half of all Americans do not receive the recommended amount of exercise. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 encourage people to lower their calorie intake while increasing their physical activity.

“There’s not an American gene that makes us bigger than people from other countries,” Misch said. “It has to do with what we eat, how we eat, and how much we exercise. It’s kind of like fighting gravity: In order to lose weight, you simply have to burn more calories than you consume.”

Jay Terry, Evanston’s director of health and human services, said the old guidelines described a balanced diet, but even if people maintained that diet, they still might take in too many calories. The new guidelines encourage Americans to balance their diets in relation to how many calories they burn.

“It’s the sheer amounts of foods that Americans are eating that has everyone concerned,” he said.

The guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity most days of the week to prevent future chronic illness and an hour of moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity to maintain body weight and prevent gradual weight gain. For those interested in losing weight, 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity activity are recommended. Jama Bernard, a Weinberg sophomore said the new guidelines might be unrealisic for some people.

“I think people are going to see it as a stretch,” Bernard said.

Music junior Lauren Sprigg suggested middle schools and high schools create mandatory nutrition classes for students taught in addition to sexual education. She said that by college it may be too late to change people’s misconceptions about eating habits, some of which could be cleared up by a nutrition class.

Terry said his department has had many conversations with the Evanston school districts regarding the best ways to teach nutrition.

Misch supported the need to educate children about nutrition and said maintaining good eating and exercise habits will increase the likelihood of being healthy.

“All the data points to the fact that the earlier you become obese, the harder it is to lose the weight,” Misch said.

Reach Marc Zarefsky at [email protected].