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Confused about all the different nutrition advice out there? It’s easy to be. It seems that every week there are new nutrition headlines—what to eat for healthy bones, what to avoid when it comes to heart disease and how to manage diabetes. However, the reality is that the bulk of advice about how to eat to stay healthy and care for common diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, are words to the same song.
Recently, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society published joint guidelines to help all Americans and their health care providers take action to prevent diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
The guidelines focus on 3 areas of personal health habits:
- reducing tobacco use;
- increasing physical activity;
- eating healthy.
The overall theme of these guidelines is “you can protect yourself today through smart everyday choices.” And when it comes to nutrition, there are no mixed messages. All three groups know the words to the song: You can “fortify your health with a nutritious diet.”
These same simple messages are included in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines are reviewed and revised every five years. A group of experts is appointed to look at the latest nutrition research and put together key messages to Americans about how to eat in order to stay healthy. Though these guidelines are meant for the general public, the report notes that the dietary guidelines can be used by the many people with weight problems, high blood pressure, abnormal blood fats and diabetes.
3 Key Points in the Healthy Eating Guidelines:
- Balance the number of calories you eat and the number of calories you burn to maintain a healthy weight for your height.
- Make your calories count by choosing foods that are packed with nutrition, rather than foods that contain lots of calories from added fats and sugars and have minimal nutrition.
- Eat a wide variety of foods from the basic food groups within your calorie needs to get all the nutrients your body needs.
Specific Guidelines Based on These 3 Key Points
- Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.
- Fruits: bananas, apples (from green to yellow and red), citrus (oranges and grapefruits), peaches, pears, mango, kiwi and more.
- Vegetables: dark green (salad greens, broccoli), yellow (summer squash, peppers), orange (carrots, winter squash) and red (peppers, tomatoes). Eat at least 1/2 cup to 1 cup of vegetables as part of each meal and one medium-sized piece of fruit or 1/2 cup of fruit salad. Eat a total of at least 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables a day.
- Eat whole grains—such as cereals and breads (get at least 3 grams of fiber per serving). Enjoy popcorn, brown rice and healthy grains.
- Eat more beans (legumes)—such as lentils, pinto and kidney beans. They are packed with nutrients, fiber and contain no fat unless you add it in when you cook.
- Eat more fat-free and low-fat dairy foods. Milk and yogurt are packed with nutrition and are your best source of much-needed calcium.
- Keep saturated fat and trans fat low.
- Use unsaturated fats for cooking and eating.
- Use liquid oils in cooking: olive, canola, soybean, sesame and peanut oil. Limit the foods with partially hydrogenated fat
- (trans fat).
- Choose fish, poultry and lean meats.
- Eat small portions and prepare them in a healthy way (6 ounces or less per day).
- Eat more nuts.
- These contain a lot of nutrition and healthy fats.
More Tips on How to Prepare and Serve Foods
- The food you eat should be tasty because it’s important that the food you eat satisfies you.
- Use cooking methods that use minimal fat, such as baking, broiling, braising, poaching, sauteing, stir frying and microwaving.
- Try herbs and spices to enhance the flavor of your foods.
- Use small amounts of salt when you prepare foods and at the table.
- Satisfy your “sweet tooth” in healthy ways: with fruit, sorbet, low-fat yogurt, low-fat ice cream or angel food cake.
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