HEALTHY CHANGES:
4 Steps Towards Overall Health
Step 1:
Understanding Your "Total Health"
Step 2:
Make the Commitment
Step 3:
Assessment & Goals
Step 4:
ACTION TOOL RESOURCE CENTER
Mental/Emotional
Health
Social
Health
Spiritual
Health
Physical
Health
Step 4: RESOURCE TOOL CENTER
PHYSICAL HEALTH: Practical Tools to Improve Your Diet
A healthy eating plan is one that:
- Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and equivalent milk products. Specifically, many fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients but have few calories.
- Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans (legumes), eggs, and nuts.
- Is low in saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.
- Balances calorie intake with calorie needs.
What are the food groups?
The food groups we are referring to categorize foods into major groups:
- Grains
- Milk and milk products
- Fruits
- Meats, poultry, and fish
- Vegetables
- Nuts, seeds,and legumes
(Sometimes, meat, poultry, and fish, and nuts, seeds, and legumes, are referred to as the "protein group.")
MyPyramid Plan can help you make healthier food choices from every food group and find your balance between food and physical activity. MyPyramid replaces the Food Guide Pyramid. It is available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at www.mypyramid.gov
Mediterranean Diet
A
well-planned diet plays a major role in keeping the body fit and preventing
illness. In the United States, the food guide pyramid is the regular diet
recommended for healthy people over two years of age. Prior to the 1960s
in countries around the Mediterranean sea - parts of Italy, Greece, France,
Spain, Portugal, and north Africa - chronic disease rates were low and adult
life expectancy, high. Based on extensive scientific research to identify
what was healthy about those pre-1960 diets, a different type of regular
diet - the Mediterranean diet - has been developed.
Mediterranean
Diet Page from the American Heart Association
Rate Your Plate
A
quick way to make sure you are eating a variety of healthful foods at each
meal is to "Rate Your Plate." Rate your plate is a great way to
practice portion control if you are trying to lose weight. Follow the link
to a fun tool to help you plan your meals. When you sit down for a meal,
draw an imaginary line through the center of your plate. Draw a line to
divide one section into two.
- About one-fourth of your plate should be filled with grains or starchy foods such as rice, pasta, potatoes, corn, or peas.
- Another fourth should be protein -- foods like meat, fish, poultry, or tofu.
- For the last half of your plate, you can fill it with non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, salad, tomatoes, and cauliflower
- Then, add a glass of non-fat milk and a small roll or piece of fruit and you are ready to eat!
You may need to count the carbohydrates or exchanges in your meal so you
can be sure your insulin and exercise are on target. But "rating your
plate" will get you started.
Rate
Your Plate: American Diabetes Association
The Dash Eating Plan
The
DASH eating plan follows heart healthy guidelines to limit saturated fat
and cholesterol, and is effective in lowering your blood pressure. It focuses
on increasing intake of foods rich in nutrients that are expected to lower
blood pressure, mainly minerals (like potassium, calcium, and magnesium),
protein, and fiber. It includes nutrient-rich foods so that it meets other
nutrient requirements as recommended by the Institute of Medicine.
The DASH Eating Plan: National Institutes of Health
Interactive Menu Planner
The
interactive menu planner is designed to guide daily food and meal choices
based on one day's calorie allowance. It may be used in advance to plan
a meal, or at the end of a day to add up total calories, as well as fat,
and carbohydrates consumed.
Interactive
Menu Planner: Dept. of Health and Human Services
The Food Label
Under
regulations from the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health
and Human Services and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, the food label offers more complete, useful and
accurate nutrition information than ever before.
With today's food labels, consumers get:
- Nutrition information about almost every food in the grocery store
- Distinctive, easy-to-read formats that enable consumers to more quickly find the information they need to make healthful food choices
- Information on the amount per serving of saturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, and other nutrients of major health concern
- Nutrient reference values, expressed as % Daily Values, that help consumers see how a food fits into an overall daily diet
- Uniform definitions for terms that describe a food's nutrient content--such as "light," "low-fat," and "high-fiber"--to ensure that such terms mean the same for any product on which they appear
- Claims about the relationship between a nutrient or food and a disease or health-related condition, such as calcium and osteoporosis, and fat and cancer. These are helpful for people who are concerned about eating foods that may help keep them healthier longer.
- Standardized serving sizes that make nutritional comparisons of similar products easier to understand.
- Declaration of total percentage of juice in juice drinks. This enables consumers to know exactly how much juice is in a product.
For more information and complete explanation of the components of the
food label go to the links below.
Understanding
Food Labels: FDA
Read more:
For a complete guide to “A Healthier You” from the Department
of Health and Human Services, go to the link below.
A
Healthier You: HHS.gov
INSPIRATION CORNER
The Weight-control Information Network provides the general public, health
professionals, the media, and Congress with up-to-date, science-based information
on weight control, obesity, physical activity, and related nutritional issues.