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Finding Your Way to a Healthier You:
Based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Feel better today. Stay healthy for tomorrow.
Here's how: The food and physical activity choices you make
every day affect your health—how you feel today, tomorrow,
and in the future. The science-based advice of the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans, 2005 in this booklet highlights
how to:
- Make smart choices from every food group.
- Find your balance between food and physical activity.
- Get the most nutrition out of your calories.
You may be eating plenty of food, but not eating the right
foods that give your body the nutrients you need to be healthy.
You may not be getting enough physical activity to stay fit
and burn those extra calories. This booklet is a starting
point for finding your way to a healthier you.
Eating right and being physically active aren't just a "diet" or
a "program"—they are keys to a healthy lifestyle.
With healthful habits, you may reduce your risk of many chronic
diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and
certain cancers, and increase your chances for a longer life.
The sooner you start, the better for you, your family,
and your future. Find more specific information at www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines.
Make smart choices from every food group.
The best way to give your body the balanced nutrition it
needs is by eating a variety of nutrient-packed foods every
day. Just be sure to stay within your daily calorie needs.
A healthy eating plan is one that:
- Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free
or low-fat milk and milk products.
- Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and
nuts.
- Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol,
salt (sodium), and added sugars.
DON'T GIVE IN WHEN YOU EAT OUT AND ARE ON THE GO
It's important to make smart food choices and watch portion
sizes wherever you are—at the grocery store, at work,
in your favorite restaurant, or running errands. Try these
tips:
- At the store, plan ahead by buying a variety of nutrient-rich
foods for meals and snacks throughout the week.
- When grabbing lunch, have a sandwich on whole- grain
bread and choose low-fat/fat-free milk, water, or other
drinks without added sugars.
- In a restaurant, opt for steamed, grilled, or broiled
dishes instead of those that are fried or sautéed.
- On a long commute or shopping trip, pack some fresh fruit,
cut-up vegetables, string cheese sticks, or a handful of
unsalted nuts—to help you avoid impulsive, less healthful
snack choices.
Mix up your choices within each food group.
-
Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of fruits—whether
fresh, frozen, canned, or dried—rather than fruit
juice for most of your fruit choices. For a 2,000-calorie
diet, you will need 2 cups of fruit each day (for example,
1 small banana, 1 large orange, and 1/4 cup of dried
apricots or peaches).
-
Vary your veggies. Eat more dark green
veggies, such as broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy
greens; orange veggies, such as carrots, sweetpotatoes,
pumpkin, and winter squash; and beans and peas, such
as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans,
split peas, and lentils.
-
Get your calcium-rich foods. Get 3
cups of low-fat or fat-free milk—or an equivalent
amount of low-fat yogurt and/or low-fat cheese (1½ ounces
of cheese equals 1 cup of milk)—every day. For
kids aged 2 to 8, it's 2 cups of milk. If you don't or
can't consume milk, choose lactose-free milk products
and/or calcium-fortified foods and beverages.
-
Make half your grains whole. Eat at
least 3 ounces of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers,
rice, or pasta every day. One ounce is about 1 slice
of bread, 1 cup of breakfast cereal, or ½ cup
of cooked rice or pasta. Look to see that grains such
as wheat, rice, oats, or corn are referred to as "whole" in
the list of ingredients.
-
Go lean with protein. Choose lean meats
and poultry. Bake it, broil it, or grill it. And vary
your protein choices—with more fish, beans, peas,
nuts, and seeds.
Know the limits on fats, salt, and sugars. Read
the Nutrition Facts label on foods. Look for foods low in
saturated fats and trans fats. Choose and prepare
foods and beverages with little salt (sodium) and/or added
sugars (caloric sweeteners).
Find your balance between food and physical activity
Becoming a healthier you isn't just about eating healthy—it's
also about physical activity. Regular physical activity is
important for your overall health and fitness. It also helps
you control body weight by balancing the calories you take
in as food with the calories you expend each day.
- Be physically active for at least 30 minutes most days
of the week.
- Increasing the intensity or the amount of time that you
are physically active can have even greater health benefits
and may be needed to control body weight. About 60 minutes
a day may be needed to prevent weight gain.
- Children and teenagers should be physically active for
60 minutes every day, or most every day.
CONSIDER THIS:
If you eat 100 more food calories a day than you burn, you'll
gain about 1 pound in a month. That's about 10 pounds in
a year. The bottom line is that to lose weight, it's important
to reduce calories and increase physical activity.
Get the most nutrition out of your calories.
There is a right number of calories for you to eat each
day. This number depends on your age, activity level, and
whether you're trying to gain, maintain, or lose weight.
You could use up the entire amount on a few high-calorie
items, but chances are you won't get the full range of vitamins
and nutrients your body needs to be healthy.
Choose the most nutritionally rich foods you can from each
food group each day—those packed with vitamins, minerals,
fiber, and other nutrients but lower in calories. Pick foods
like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat
milk and milk products more often.
NUTRITION: To know the facts…
Most packaged foods have a Nutrition Facts label. For a
healthier you, use this tool to make smart food choices quickly
and easily. Try these tips:
- Keep these low: saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol,
and sodium.
- Get enough of these: potassium, fiber, vitamins A and
C, calcium, and iron.
- Use the % Daily Value (DV) column when possible: 5% DV
or less is low, 20% DV or more is high.
Check servings and calories. Look at the
serving size and how many servings you are actually consuming.
If you double the servings you eat, you double the calories
and nutrients, including the % DVs.
Make your calories count. Look at the calories
on the label and compare them with what nutrients you are
also getting to decide whether the food is worth eating.
When one serving of a single food item has over 400 calories
per serving, it is high in calories.
Don't sugarcoat it. Since sugars contribute
calories with few, if any, nutrients, look for foods and
beverages low in added sugars. Read the ingredient list and
make sure that added sugars are not one of the first few
ingredients. Some names for added sugars (caloric sweeteners)
include sucrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, corn
syrup, maple syrup, and fructose.
Know your fats. Look for foods low in saturated
fats, trans fats, and cholesterol to help reduce the risk
of heart disease (5% DV or less is low, 20% DV or more is
high). Most of the fats you eat should be polyunsaturated
and monounsaturated fats. Keep total fat intake between 20%
to 35% of calories.
Reduce sodium (salt), increase potassium.
Research shows that eating less than 2,300 milligrams of
sodium (about 1 tsp of salt) per day may reduce the risk
of high blood pressure. Most of the sodium people eat comes
from processed foods, not from the saltshaker. Also look
for foods high in potassium, which counteracts some of sodium's
effects on blood pressure.
To read the rest of this great article from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, please click here: http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/brochure.htm
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