Nutrition

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Count Your Calories

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Hows Your Diet

*This web page was developed using the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The updated guidelines can be found at http://www.mypyramid.gov/. We are currently working to update this page to reflect the new guidelines. How does your diet stack up? The 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans describe how you can choose foods that will promote good health. Most of your calories should come from grain products, vegetables, fruits, lowfat milk products, lean meats, fish, poultry, and dry beans. Fats and sweets should be used sparingly.

On a Typical Day... How many servings of bread, cereal, rice or pasta do you eat? serving size is: 1 slice of bread 1 oz. of cold cereal 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice or pasta 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 How many servings of vegetables do you eat? serving size is: 1 cup leafy vegetables 1/2 cup other vegetables 3/4 cup vegetable juice 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 How many servings of fruit do you eat? serving size is: 1 apple, banana, orange 1/2 cup canned fruit 3/4 cup fruit juice 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 How many servings of milk, yogurt or cheese do you eat? serving size is: 1 cup milk, yogurt 1.5 oz. natural cheese 2 oz. processed cheese 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 How many servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts do you eat? serving size is: 2-3 oz. cooked meat,poultry, fish 1/2 cup beans/1 egg 1/3 cup nuts 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 How many servings of fats, oils and sweets do you eat? serving size is: use very sparingly 0 1 2 3 4

Now, we'll walk you through the Seven Dietary Guidelines so you can see how well you're doing. I. Eat a variety of foods The Food Pyramid above provides guidelines for servings of food you should eat each day. Remember, select a wide variety of foods within each of the food groups. This way, you will get a wide range of vitamins, minerals and other substances (like fiber) important to your health. II. Balance the food you eat with physical activity--maintain or improve your weight. See our Fit Or Not Test to find out whether you are within a reasonable range of weight for your height and how diet and activity can be used together to reach a reasonable weight if you are not already there. If you are within your desirable weight range, remember that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that everyone do at least 30 minutes of moderate level physical activity (like brisk walking) on most days. III. Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables, and fruits. Congratulations if you are among the minority of Americans who eat enough of these foods! Be sure to include lots of high-fiber foods like whole-grain products, dry beans, and fiber-rich vegetables and fruits like carrots, corn, peas, pears, and berries. Prepare these foods with little or no fats or sugars. IV. Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. You've probably heard a lot about how important it is to lower the amount of dietary fat in your diet. Dietary fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and alcohol all provide calories. Gram for gram, dietary fat provides more than twice the number of calories than carbohydrates or protein. Certain types of fat, like saturated fat, are associated with increased risk for heart disease. Your diet should contain no more than 30% of calories from dietary fat. And, less than 10% of your calories should come from saturated fat. You should eat no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day. By the way, don't be surprised when a bottle of vegetable oil or tub of margarine claims "No Cholesterol!" Vegetable products are always free of any cholesterol. Cholesterol is found only in animal products, like real butter and the fat on meats. V. Choose a diet moderate in sugars. The main reason to limit sugars is to avoid excessive weight gain and to maintain healthy teeth and gums. You might be interested to know that scientific evidence shows that sugar does not cause hyperactivity. We're not talking about sugars found in fresh fruit, milk, and other foods. We're really talking about foods that have a lot of sugar and very little nutritional value besides "empty" calories. These include candy, regular soda, and sweetened mineral water, and sweet desserts. Lots of these foods also have a lot of dietary fat (just another reason to avoid them). VI. Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium. Especially if you are prone to high blood pressure, keeping your salt intake to a minimum (otherwise known as sodium chloride) may help keep your blood pressure at a good level. Remember that lots of popular condiments are high in sodium, like soy sauce and mustard. So are many canned foods like canned soups, and snack items like potato chips. Lots of factors can impact blood pressure. With our current scientific evidence, we cannot tell whether your blood pressure level is sensitive to the salt in your diet. Still, there is no harm in avoiding high amounts of salt--better safe than sorry. VII. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation. What do we mean by "moderation"? For women, this means an average of 1 drink per day; for men (who weigh more on average), this means an average of 2 drinks per day.