There does seem to be a lot of confusion about diet and such. I’m skeptical of magic bullets, and the pyramid might be good for vitamins and minerals but it is not so great for keeping weight reasonable.
But being on the pudgy side myself and having gone back to a particular dieting organization which worked for me before but then I left it for twenty years, they’ve found that a surprisingly reasonable list of foods will do for self-regulated (eat all you need) diets. Extra-lean meats, ANY fruit, cooked cereal, reduced-calorie breads, any vegetable except those that are extremely fatty like olives or avocado, eggs, any nonfat dairy product, whole-grain pastas... molto assai, as they would put it in musical terms. (Juices and sugar don’t get included in that list unfortunately.) AND, reasonable amounts of non fatty condiments like ketchup, mustard, spices etc., AND about 300 calories a day worth of any miscellany you want that’s not on the list (or in the difference between a fatty/sugary product and its nonfat nonsugar counterpart). Not bad huh.
I think a lot of modern foods are richer than they need to be in quantities they are commonly consumed in. Satisfy your pangs with fruit and watch the rest, and you’ll be eating more healthily.
How do the whole grain pastas taste (like for spaghetti)? Can you tell much difference?
I more of the mind of eating animal fats, vegetables, something from insects (honey), nuts (not peanuts), good bacteria (yogurt - never low or non fat), and fruits. Careful on the fruits because they can be high in fructose. When one eats like this you realize the calorie in vs calorie out is a totally fallacy.