Your Health

Healthy Eating

Dietary Guidelines for America

Dietary Guidelines for Americansare the federal government's evidence-based nutritional guidelines to encourage health, reduce the risk of disease, and reduce obesity through good nutrition and adequate physical activity. The guidelines are reviewed, updated if necessary, and published every 5 years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) work together to create the guidelines. Most recently, the 2010 version was released.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010:

  • Balance calories with physical activity to manage weight
  • Consume more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood
  • Consume less sodium (salt), saturated fats,transfats, cholesterol, added sugars, and refined grains

What does it all mean for you? Check out a guide to get you started. Or download and print the MyPlate brochure (PDF).

MyPlate
Choose My Plate

With obesity rates among adults and children skyrocketing, the US Department of Agriculture released a new food guide, known as MyPlate. MyPlate replaces the traditional food guide pyramid, and is a dinner plate logo divided into four sections:

  • Protein
  • Grains
  • Fruit
  • Vegetables

A fifth smaller section is located on the side, to represent the dairy group. The emphasis with the new MyPlate is on portion control, balance, and ensuring that half of every meal is fruit and/or vegetable.Additional suggestions with MyPlate:

  • Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk
  • Make at least half your grains whole grains
  • Choose lean sources of protein
  • Choose lower sodium foods, checking labels on convenience and pre-packaged foods
  • Quench your thirst with water instead of sugary drinks
  • Enjoy your food, but eat less

Find more information about specific food groups, including how much of each food group is necessary, why each food group is important, and tips for including each food group.

The MyPlate website has a variety of helpful tools, including a BMI calculator, and the best resource is the SuperTracker. SuperTracker is designed to help Americans implement the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

MyPlate Kids' Place includes fun games, activity sheets, video, how to move more, and recipes for kids of all ages.

SuperTracker is a hands-on resource to help you plan, analyze, and improve your diet and physical activity. Some of the helpful features:

  • Food-A-Pedia: look up nutrition info for over 8,000 foods and compare foods side-by-side
  • Weight Manager: enter your weight and track changes over time
  • Food Tracker: see how you are measuring up against your nutrition targets
  • My Top 5 Goals: set goals on what you wish to achieve, and sign up for tips and personal advice from a virtual coach
  • My Reports: see your progress over time and how you are measuring up to your goals

SuperTracker can revolutionize the way you eat and stay active, and put you on track to achieve your goals.

You can test your estimation on calories found in certain foods by taking this Portion Distortion quiz.

Since most popular foods don’t fit into just one food group, estimating food group amounts in mixed dishes can get tricky. Use this helpful guide to figure out how to do that.

Proper nutrition is important in every stage of life, and ChooseMyPlate offers specific nutrition advice for:

Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and Veggies More Matters

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help you maintain a healthy weight and prevent illness and chronic disease. Only about one quarter of Americans eat the recommended level of fruits and vegetables. Find your recommended intake of fruits and vegetables.

Common barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption include lack of knowledge about how to prepare them, lack of time to include them, and family member dislike—especially when it comes to young children. Below are listed suggested solutions to such barriers:

  • How do I know what is in season?
  • How to make fruits and vegetables affordable and a Smart Shopping tipsheet?
  • Do I have to buy organic fruits and vegetables.
  • How do I store my leftover fruits or vegetables so they don’t spoil before I can use them up?
  • How do I get my kids to eat more fruits and vegetables, through snacks, recipes and other dishes?
  • I don't have a lot of time for meal preparation. How can I still include fruits and vegetables?
  • I'm entertaining holiday guests. How can I impress them and still cook healthily with fruits and vegetables? Find Top 10 ways to spice up your parties with fruits and veggies.

Whole Grains

Health benefits of whole grains include reduced risks of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and obesity. Whole grains have antioxidants and many vitamins and minerals which are essential to good health. Find out more about the benefits, and what counts as a whole grain.

When it comes to a packaged item which claims to be whole grain, before you buy, do a bit of investigative work. That “whole grain cracker” might only contain a small amount of whole grain. If the first ingredient listed contains the word "whole" (such as "whole wheat flour" or "whole oats"), it is likely that the product is mainly whole grain. Learn guidelines on how to pick whole wheat products.

Look for the Whole Grain stamp on products.
Whole Grain stamp
Find easy tips for including whole grains, and for fun and delicious recipes for all courses.

Beverages

Learn how sugary drinks contribute to obesity and associated chronic diseases. Join the challenge to reduce sugary drink consumption. Learn how you and your family can have a sweeter life. Learn how your organization/community/institution can make life sweeter. Support a realistic goal to help reduce consumption of soda and other sugary drinks from 10 cans to a maximum of three cans per week by 2020, a healthy target proposed by the American Heart Association.

Portion Sizes

  • It can be tricky estimating one ounce of meat, or a tablespoon of dressing, but this guide will give you some practical estimating techniques.
  • Mayo Clinic has a slide show which can help visualize certain foods in their correct portions.
  • Feeling pretty confident at estimating portions? Try your hand at one of these eye-opening quizzes:
  • Portion control can be tricky when eating out. Try these tips for controlling portion sizes in a variety of settings.
  • Check out some of the research that shows that poor portion control can lead to overeating.