To help Hong Kong children to grow up healthily, it is important for children to form health promoting eating habits from an early age. This includes getting the best start from breastfeeding. After the first six months of life, however, the concept of forming health promoting eating habits by making the best food choices to obtain a balanced diet is essential to everyone and important throughout life. Having formed the habit of eating healthily, children and youth will be more likely to eat healthy, balanced meals for breakfasts, lunches, suppers, snacks and when eating out. The best guide to eating healthily throughout life is the Healthy Diet Pyramid. Knowing how to eat healthily and modeling this themselves, parents and teachers can guide children and youth to form health promoting eating habits.

The Healthy Diet Pyramid is a Food Guide adopted by various health authorities (Department of Health, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong Nutrition Association Ltd., Hong Kong Dietitians' Association Ltd.) to help illustrate for the public the proportions of foods that make up a balanced diet. In the Healthy Diet Pyramid, different food types are categorized into groups according to their general nutrient content. Then these food groups are placed into the shape of the Healthy Diet Pyramid to remind people that certain foods at the bottom (grains, fruits, vegetables-the plant foods) should make up the main part of each meal and snack and each day's intake.

Protein foods such as fish, meat, poultry, eggs, nuts, soy products, dairy products, some of which are from animals, make up the next part of the pyramid, and we are reminded to eat some of these foods daily, but that we do not need large amounts of these. At the top of the pyramid, at the small tip of the pyramid, we see oil, sugar, and salt-items of which we should only eat a very small amount. Foods that are deep-fried and contain a high proportion of fat, or foods that contain mostly sugar (such as most candies and carbonated drinks) belong at the top of the Healthy Diet Pyramid, too, because they contain mostly fat, sugar, and/or salt and little or no other nutrients. In other words, we can say that these foods have a high energy density, but only a low nutrient density, and are of little benefit to our health. Too much of these foods contribute to an unhealthy, imbalanced diet.