6. Food Intake Patterns
In the past when you talked about USDA
guidelines all one heard over and over again was the reference to
“servings.” This wasn’t a bad approach to portion control but many
people just couldn’t relate to the term. Nowadays, MyPyramid offers
recommendations in cups and ounces and not in servings and serving
sizes. You can look at what you eat the whole day rather than how many
servings you had during a meal or snack. This is much more user
friendly. Of course, the exact amount of food you should consume depends
on many factors, including your age, size, gender, health status, and
activity level. Young children and teenagers often require additional
foods because of their body’s needs during the growing years. Athletes
may require more servings due to their high energy needs. Sedentary
individuals and the elderly often require less because of their
less-active lifestyle. And individuals seeking to lose weight may reduce
their overall intake.
In the corresponding box you will find a link
to a graph of the USDA recommended food pyramid—MyPyramid. The food
intake graph helps to demonstrate how you can create your personal
eating plan coupled with physical activity to achieve healthy balance in
your life. However, to really make this work you have to dig deeper.
MyPyramid only works if you consume the right amount of each of the food
groups for your individual needs.
What’s really cool is you can use this table to
help you develop healthy food intake patterns that are just right for
you. It explains the exact portion sizes that you need without using
confusing terms like “servings.” Use your calorie requirement
calculation and this table to adjust exactly how much of each food group
you can eat to reach your personal desired goal.
Promise me that you take a look at this table.
It really works! Once you reach your optimum weight goal this table can
also help you maintain a healthy weight for life. I love this table.
Refer to it often.
Oh, keep in mind that
the most effective way to lose weight is to do so with gradual decreases
in calorie requirements. This will allow for a slow and steady weight
loss. Caloric decreases should be no more than 500–700 calories per day.
At this level, individuals can expect a weight loss of about 1 to 2
pounds per week. Get ready to see some smoking results!
7. 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.”
