USDA Dietary Guidelines

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued Dietary Guidelines for Americans-2000.

Guideline 1. Aim for a healthy weight.
Guideline 2. Be physically active each day.
Guideline 3. Let the Pyramid guide your food choices.
Guideline 4. Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains.
Guideline 5. Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily.
Guideline 6. Keep food safe to eat.
Guideline 7. Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.
Guideline 8. Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars.
Guideline 9. Choose and prepare foods with less salt.
Guideline 10. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

Guideline 1. Aim for a healthy weight.
Overweight and obesity are the number one nutritional problems in the United States and in many other developed countries. In most cases, overweight results from eating too much and moving too little. Carrying around excess fat takes a heavy toll on your health. Being overweight or obese is a known risk factor for

• heart disease
• stroke
• high blood pressure
• diabetes
• some forms of cancer
• gallbladder disease
• osteoarthritis
• obstructive sleep apnea and other breathing problems

Evaluating your weight
Weight is often evaluated by looking at it in relation to height, using the Body Mass Index (BMI). To calculate your BMI-

1. Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 705.
2. Multiply your height (in inches) by itself, that is, square it.
3. Divide the result of step 1 by the result of step 2.

Here's an example of a woman who is 5'9" and weighs 160 pounds. First, multiply 160 by 705 to get 112,800. Then, multiply her height, which is 69 inches, by itself to get 4,761. Dividing 112,800 by 4,425 gives a BMI of 25.5. So, what does this mean? According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), here's what different BMI levels indicate.

The woman in the example is just a bit above normal weight.

Weight management
"Quick fixes" for weight problems don't work. The most effective approach to sensible, long-lasting weight management is to decrease your calorie intake while increasing your physical activity. Fatty tissue is where you store excess fuel. If you burn more fuel each day than you consume as calories, you'll gradually decrease your stored fat.

For optimum health, eat a variety of foods. Make sure you plan for adequate protein, vitamins, and minerals before you splurge on foods that provide calories but little else of value. As is illustrated in the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid, there's no recommended intake for fats, oils, or sweets. These foods should be consumed in limited amounts.

Sometimes it's not what you eat but how much. Controlling portion sizes is a basic part of well-balanced eating. Many foods have suggested serving sizes on their labels. You can find the calories per serving listed on most packaged foods, and calorie counter booklets or calorie information posted at your grocery store can help you identify the calories in fresh produce.

Set reasonable goals for weight loss. Aim for a loss of from 1/2 to 2 pounds per week. Losing as little as 5-15% of your body weight may improve your health. This would be from 8 to 24 pounds for the 160-pound woman in the previous example (BMI calculation).

Guideline 2. Be physically active each day.
It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of being physically active. For one thing, it works hand-in-hand with well-balanced eating to help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. In addition to helping you manage your weight, regular physical activity:

• increases physical fitness
• helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints
• builds endurance and muscular strength
• lowers risk factors for cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, and Type 2 diabetes
• helps control blood pressure
• promotes psychological well-being and self-esteem
• reduces feelings of depression and anxiety

Types of physical activity
You can benefit from aerobic activities, strength training, and flexibility exercises. Walking, running, jogging, biking, and swimming are examples of aerobic activities - those that supply oxygen to the working muscles by speeding up your heart rate and breathing. Flexibility is important at every stage of life. It allows your joints to move freely through their full range of motion. Dancing, yoga, or just stretching can increase your flexibility.

Strength training is also called weight training or resistance exercise. In addition to increasing your muscular strength, strength training helps you build and maintain strong bones. This doesn't have to mean working out in a gym. Some resistance bands or a few free weights can give you your own home gym. Remember, you're also doing strength training when you lift a grocery bag.

Flexibility is important at every stage of life. It allows your joints to move freely through their full range of motion. Dancing, yoga, or just stretching can increase your flexibility.

Most adults don't need to see a doctor before starting a program of moderate physical activity. However, check with your doctor if you're planning to start a program of more vigorous activity or if you:

• are over age 40 for men or age 50 for women
• have chronic health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, or obesity
• are at high risk of heart disease

Guideline 3. Let the Pyramid guide your food choices.

Guideline 4. Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains.

Guideline 5. Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily.
These three Dietary Guidelines are grouped together because guidelines 4 and 5 reemphasize the message from the Food Guide Pyramid. Although the Pyramid was developed to illustrate a healthy diet, it doesn't mean everyone has to eat alike. There are too many equally healthy eating patterns to count, but they all have certain things in common.

You'll note that the food groups near the bottom of the Pyramid-the ones with the most recommended servings per day-consist of plant-based foods. Each day, you should plan to eat:

• 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice, pasta, and other foods containing grains, especially whole grains
• 3-5 servings of vegetables
• 2-4 servings of fruits
• 2-3 servings from the milk, yogurt, and cheese group
• 2-3 servings from the meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts group
• limited amounts of fats, oils, and sweets

Just as grain foods form the base of the Pyramid, they should be the foundation of your daily diet. Plant foods-grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes-provide many important vitamins and minerals, and are the naturally occurring sources of fiber and phytochemicals. For more details on the Food Guide Pyramid [link to Soy Pyramid], see the many ways soyfoods can be incorporated in the various food groups.

Guideline 6. Keep food safe to eat.
It's important to handle food properly in order to decrease your risk of foodborne illnesses. Here are a few tips:

• Wash your hands and work surfaces often when handling food.
• Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods while shopping, preparing, or storing foods to avoid spreading bacteria.
• Cook foods to a safe temperature.
• Refrigerate perishable foods promptly.
• Follow label instructions on how to handle and prepare foods.
• Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold before and while you serve them; be sure to chill leftovers promptly.
• When in doubt about a food, throw it out rather than risk a foodborne illness.

Guideline 7. Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.
This guideline is primarily concerned with lowering the risk of heart disease. Saturated fat and cholesterol in foods are known to raise blood cholesterol levels, which increase heart-disease risk. Trans fatty acids, which typically are formed during the hydrogenation of oil to make margarine and shortening, also increase blood levels of cholesterol. Unsaturated fats, which are food fats primarily containing polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, don't increase cholesterol levels.

Total fat should provide 30% of your calories or less, saturated fat should provide less than 10% of calories, and dietary cholesterol intake should average less than 300 milligrams per day.

Guideline 8. Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars.
As you recall from the Food Guide Pyramid, there's no recommended intake of sugar. Although sugar naturally occurs in fruits and milk, most of the sugar we consume comes from sugars and syrups added to foods in processing or during preparation. Major sources of added sugars include:

• soft drinks
• cakes, cookies, pies
• lemonade, fruit punch
• frozen dairy desserts such as ice cream
• candy

Since sugars and starches promote tooth decay, it's a good idea to brush your teeth after eating. Although foods that provide sugar but have no other nutritional value are sometimes described as having "empty calories," keep in mind that those calories do count.

Guideline 9. Choose and prepare foods with less salt.
A high intake of salt (sodium chloride) contributes to high blood pressure in many people. It also may increase calcium loss from bone, increasing the risk of osteoporosis.

Salt is naturally present in some foods and water supplies. However, we get most of our salt in processed foods or by adding it in cooking or at the table.

Remember that not all foods containing salt have a salty taste. Soups and cured meats usually taste salty-breads and cereals typically don't. The sodium content of foods is provided on the Nutrition Facts panel on the label.

Guideline 10. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.
Moderate drinking is defined as no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. One drink is:

• 12 ounces of regular beer
• 5 ounces of table wine
• 1-1/2 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits
• 1 ounce of 100-proof distilled spirits

Some health benefits have been identified for moderate drinking. For example it may lower the risk of heart disease, primarily in men over age 45 and women over age 55.If you're trying to limit your calories, remember that alcohol provides 7 calories per gram—almost as much as fat.