Initiative for a Healthy Weight

Nutrition

What should I be doing to eat healthier?

Trying to eat healthy can be difficult. But the Dietary Guidelines have outlined 12 key recommendations to guide Americans in improving their diets.

The key recommendations are:

1. Find your balance between food and physical activity.

2. Eat the recommended number of servings from each food group.

3. Make half your grains whole.

4. Vary your veggies.

5. Focus on fruit.

6. Get your calcium-rich food.

7. Go lean with protein.

8. Know your fats.

9. Don’t sugarcoat it.

10. Reduce sodium (salt). Increase potassium.

11. About alcohol…if you choose to drink, do so in moderation.

12. Play it safe with food.

1. Find your balance between food and physical activity.

In order to maintain a healthy weight, the calories you take in each day, through the food you eat and the beverages you drink, need to be balanced with the calories you burn through physical activity.

Take a look at MyPyramid Food Intake Tables to figure out how many calories you need a 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.

For more information, go to Tips for balancing food and physical activity.

2. Eat the recommended number of servings from each food group.

In April 2005, USDA replaced the old Food Guide Pyramid with a new Dietary Guidance website, MyPyramid.gov, that is chock full of nutrition information to help you follow a healthy eating plan. MyPyramid.gov also allows you to create a personal eating plan that is just right for you and to track your eating and physical activity habits online.

To create a personal plan and track your progress online, go to MyPyramid Plan and enter the personal information requested.

Take a look at MyPyramid Food Intake Tables to figure out how many servings you should be eating daily from each of the food groups.

3. Make half your grains whole.

• Eat at least three 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.

For more information, go to Tips for eating whole grains.

4. Vary your veggies.

• Eat the recommended amount of vegetables and eat a variety of different kinds of vegetables. Refer to MyPyramid Food Intake Tables for the amounts of different kinds of vegetables needed each day.
• Eat more dark green vegetables, such as broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy greens.
• Eat more orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash.
• Eat more dry beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas, and lentils.
• Limit the amounts of starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, corn, and peas, to the recommended amount needed each week.
• Choose a variety of other vegetables each week.

For more information, go to Tips for eating vegetables.

5. Focus on fruit.

• Eat the recommended amount of fruits each day.
• 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)
• Keep the amounts of fruit juice to less than half of total fruit intake.

For more information, go to Tips for eating fruits.

6. Get your calcium-rich food.

• 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 drink milk because you are lactose intolerant, choose lactose-free milk products and/or calcium-fortified foods and beverages.

For more information, go to Tips for making wise dairy choices.

7. Go Lean with Protein.

• Make choices that are low-fat or lean when selecting meats and poultry.
• Bake it, broil it, or grill it.
• Vary your protein choices—with more fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds.
• Consider dry beans and peas in place of meat or poultry sometimes.
• Keep the overall amounts of foods eaten from this group within the amount needed each day. Refer to MyPyramid Food Intake Tables for help.

For more information, go to Tips for making wise protein choices.

8. Know Your Fats.

• Choose most fats from sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils
• 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).
• Choose fat-free, low-fat, or lean meats, poultry, dry beans, milk, and milk products.
• Choose grain products and prepared foods that are low in saturated and trans fat.
• Limit the amount of solid fats consumed to the amount within the discretionary calorie allowance, after taking into account other discretionary calories that have been consumed. For more information on discretionary calories, go to MyPyramid Food Intake Tables.
• Keep total fat intake between 20% to 35% of calories.

For more information, go to Tips for making wise choices about fats and oils.

9. Don’t Sugarcoat It.

• Choose and prepare foods and beverages with little added sugars or caloric sweeteners.
• Keep the amount of sugars and sweets you eat within the discretionary calorie allowance after taking into account other discretionary calories that have been consumed. For more information on discretionary calories, go to MyPyramid Food Intake Tables.
• Read the ingredient list and make sure that added sugars are not one of the first few ingredients.

For more information, go to Tips for limiting your intake of sugar.

10. Reduce Sodium (salt). Increase Potassium.

• Choose and prepare foods with little salt.
• Keep sodium intake less than 2300 mg per day.
• At the same time, consume potassium-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables.

For more information, go to Tips for reducing salt and increasing potassium intake.

11. About alcohol…if you choose to drink, do so in moderation.

• Alcoholic beverages have calories but are low in nutritional value.
• Keep consumption of alcoholic beverages within daily discretionary calorie allowance. For more information on discretionary calories, go to MyPyramid Food Intake Tables.
• Generally, anything more than moderate drinking can be harmful to your health.
• If you have questions or concerns, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider.

For more information, go to Tips about alcohol.

12. Play it safe with food.

• Know how to prepare, handle, and store food safely to keep you and your family safe.
• Clean hands, contact surfaces, and fruits and vegetables.
• To prevent cross-contamination, meat and poultry should not be washed or rinsed.
• Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods while shopping, preparing, or storing foods.
• Cook foods to a safe temperature to kill microorganisms.
• Chill (refrigerate) perishable foods promptly and defrost foods properly.
• Avoid raw (unpasteurized) milk or any products made from unpasteurized milk, raw or partially cooked eggs, or foods containing raw eggs, raw or undercooked meat and poultry, unpasteurized juices, and raw sprouts.

For more information, go to Tips for food safety.