The Obama administration is ditching the food pyramid. That one was a long time coming, especially considering the latest version, adopted in 2005 had those weird vertical sections that made it more confusing than it was before.
When I took a nutrition class in college I started to see why the food pyramid is just kind of pointless. Potatoes might be vegetables but that does not make them healthy when they are deep fried or loaded with sour cream, bacon and cheese. There is not a lot of nutrition in white bread, especially compared to whole grain varieties. You are much better off eating brown rice rather than white and some vegetables are superior to others.
The new "food pyramid" will be a plate, which makes logical sense. It also will supposedly reflect that vegetables and fruit should take up 50% of your plate, which is a huge improvement. However, I also hope that this new "pyramid" conveys the message that not all grains are equal, some vegetables are closer to a grain, and that yes--too much dairy and meat is not good for you. Unfortunately this "pyramid" is the closest to nutrition education that some kids get, and I really hope it is actually a tool that can be used to guide kids towards healthier choices.
We tried to teach a bunch of elementary schoolers about eating healthy using the food pyramid -- they totally didn't get it. We used the plate thing with them too, and that worked a lot better!
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