Healthy Eating – How Do I Start Eating Healthier?
To eat healthier, you first need to know what makes up a balanced diet. A nutritional guideline such as MyPyramid will show you how many servings of each food group you need for a healthy, balanced diet. The guidelines stress whole grains and fruits and vegetables, and limited fat and sugar. After you know what foods make up a balanced diet, you can figure out what changes you need to make. Keep a food diary(What is a PDF document?) for a week or two and record everything you eat or drink. Make sure to track the number of servings you get from each food group. Most people need: • 5 to 8 one-ounce-equivalents of grain products each day. Get at least half of your grain requirements from whole grains. A one-ounce-equivalent is 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of ready-to-eat cereal, or ½ cup of cooked rice, cooked pasta, or cooked cereal. • 1½ to 2 cups of fruits each day. • 2 to 3 cups of vegetables each day. • 3 cups of nonfat or low-fat milk or equivalent milk products each day. An equivalent f
