4. Build a Healthy Nutrition Base!

Building a healthy nutrition base is the foundation of staying healthy and achieving weight loss. Because no one single food can provide all the nutrients you need, you should consume a number of different foods each day. Here is what you can eat from MyPyramid to get your desired results.

Gravitate to Grains

Foods that are made from wheat, rice, oats, barley, or cereal are considered grains. Think of pasta, bread, and oatmeal, for example. Grain products are low in fat. There are “whole” and “refined” grains. Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel—meaning the bran or germ. Refined grains remove the bran and germ. While milling may lengthen the shelf life of your bread (who wants old bread?), it also removes the dietary fiber, iron, and many B vitamins. The whole truth is whole grains are better!

Vary Your Veggies

There isn’t a sensible diet on the planet that disagrees with the importance of eating lots of vegetables. Maybe it’s time you took that advice seriously. Whether they are cooked, raw, fresh, frozen, canned, dried, whole, cut-up, or mashed you can’t go wrong with vegetables. They are jam packed with nutrients for overall health. They are loaded with fiber, which is great for losing weight. Fiber can help you feel full and eat less. Fiber in your body acts as the roto-rooter of your system and helps to clean you out. MyPyramid recommends five veggie subgroups. These subgroups include vegetables that are dark green, orange, dry beans and peas, starchy vegetables, and all “other” vegetables. Different vegetables provide different nutrients. That’s why, to simplify: vary your veggies!

Fruits Are Your Friends

Making friends with fruits is easy. They are delicious. They may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried. Serve them up whole, cut-up, or puréed. Although 100 percent fruit juice counts as a fruit, make most of your fruit choices whole. My mom used to freeze peach slices from our tree and they were yummy! Just like with vegetables, the nutrients in fruit choices vary. That’s why it’s wise to make friends with lots of fruits!

Bone-Up on Calcium-Rich Foods

All fluid milk products and many foods made from milk are considered calcium rich. This is important because whether you are two or ninety-two the nutrients in milk build and maintain healthy bones and strong teeth. Choose milk products that retain their calcium content such as all fluid milk, yogurt, or cheese. Avoid foods made from milk that have little or no calcium such as cream cheese, cream, and butter. It is also best to choose fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese. For those who are lactose intolerant, lactose-free products are available.

Meat and Beans

Get lean with protein. All foods made from meat, poultry, fish, dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts, and seeds are considered part of this category. If you noticed that “dry beans or peas” are in the vegetable group as well, it’s not a typo. Vegetarians are happy that you can kill two birds with one stone—not that we would kill a bird! If you choose meat or poultry, make sure that it is lean or low-fat. It is better to choose fish, nuts, and seeds that contain healthy oils.

Making Peace with Oil

Don’t go to war with oil. Some of it is essential. Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature like cooking vegetable oils. They come from fish and many different plants. Some common oils are canola oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil. Fats that are solid at room temperature such as butter, shortening, or chicken fat come from many animal foods and can also be made from vegetable oils through a process called hydrogenation. Obviously, it’s not smart to order a plate of lard. The better fat choices should be from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Limit your intake of solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening, and lard.

Use Your Discretionary Calories

What is really cool about MyPyramid is that it allows for the fun food factor. We all have a food weakness. I love chocolate, desserts, and other good stuff. This program gives you a total calorie budget. Your budget can be divided into “essentials” and “extras.” If you make smart food choices most of the time there is room in the calorie budget for healthy “little” treats of your choice on occasion. You can call them the “discretionary calories.”