disease, and high blood pressure. To achieve and maintain a healthy body weight, don’t eat more calories than you burn each day. If you find that your weight is creeping up, or has crept up over the years, shave off calories here and there by choosing healthier foods and burning more calories with physical activity.
3. Increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products you eat each day. These foods provide essential vitamins and minerals to keep your body functioning properly. The best way to get the vitamins and minerals you need is to choose more of these healthy low-fat foods and less of the foods with lots of added fats and sugars.
4. Choose fats wisely for good health. Keep the amount of saturated fat and trans fats you eat as low as possible. Use healthier fats and oils—those that contain mainly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
5. Choose carbohydrates wisely for good health. Get about half the calories you eat each day from foods that contain healthy carbohydrates—whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods. Choose fewer processed foods and foods with added sugars and fat.
6. Choose and prepare foods with little salt. Limit your sodium intake to no more than 2,300 milligrams a day or less. Research shows that it would be better to get sodium intake down to less than 1,500 milligrams a day, which is a challenge. Eat fewer processed and prepared foods and limit the amount of salt you add while preparing and eating food.
7. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation. In other words, if you drink, don’t drink too much and don’t drink too much atone time. The recommendation is no more than 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men.
8. Keep food safe to eat. Although this guideline doesn’t directly have to do with nutrition, it’s important to handle your food carefully to stay healthy. Practicing good hygiene is the watchword of food safety. Wash your hands regularly and keep all surfaces that food touches clean. Wash all fruits and vegetables. Keep raw meats, poultry, and seafood away from cooked food. A surprising recommendation is that you don’t need to wash or rinse meat or poultry. This prevents spreading potentially dangerous bacteria.
9. Be physically active every day. In late 2008, a new set of physical activity guidelines were published by the U.S. government giving recommendations for children, adults, and older adults. See daily activity recommendations on page 23. This report notes:
1. some activity is better than none,
2. activity is safe for almost everyone,
3. health benefits of physical activity far outweigh the risk,
4. people without a diagnosed condition and without symptoms of a medical problem do not need to discuss whether it is ok to be active with their health care provider.
Are your food habits similar to those of most people? Use the chart on the following pages to find out, and then decide which food choices and habits you may need to change.
Do you see a few themes here?
• Eat more fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, lean meats, and healthier fats and oils.
• Limit unhealthy saturated and trans fats.
• Limit foods that contain added fats (particularly saturated and trans fats) and added sugars.
• Choose minimally processed foods as much as possible.
These ideas may sound simple and repetitive of what you know, but following these guidelines regularly is easier said than done in today’s world. Eating healthy takes determination and slow and steady behavior changes.
Recommendations for Daily Activity
Here are the basic recommendations:
Children and adolescents (6-17years old): 1 hour (60 minutes) or more of moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity every day. They also should do muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activity at least 3 days per week.
Adults (aged 18-64 years old): 2 hours and 30 minutes a week of moderate-intensity, or 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. Aerobic activity should be performed in episodes of at least 10 minutes, preferably spread throughout the week. Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups performed on 2 or more days per week.
Older adults (aged 65 and older): Follow the guidelines for adults. If not possible, be as physically active as abilities allow. Avoid inactivity. Do exercises that maintain or improve balance to prevent falls.
To maintain a lower body weight after weight loss: Experts now agree that people who are trying to maintain weight loss will need to get about 60 minutes of moderate or 30 minutes of vigorous activity daily to prevent weight regain. Being physically active has been shown to be even more important to maintain weight loss than to lose weight.
Learn more at: http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/index.html or http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/factsheetprof.aspx.
*These guidelines are based on the Dietary Reference Intakes from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. They are acceptable ranges for adults and children other than infants and younger children.
Healthy Eating Guidelines for Diabetes
What You’ll Learn:
• the key principles of healthy eating with diabetes
• the goals of medical nutrition therapy (MNT), also known as nutrition counseling
• specific recommendations on the big and small nutrients
Over the last few decades, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has revised its nutrition principles and recommendations for healthy eating numerous times. ADAs goal is to have these recommendations reflect the most current diabetes and nutrition research, as well as consensus among diabetes nutrition experts. Find and read the most current ADA nutrition recommendations at www.diabetes.org.
As you review these recommendations, you will see how similar they are to the Dietary Guidelines discussed in chapter 3. You’ll also note that the focus of diabetes care is much broader than just attending to blood glucose control. Today, diabetes care includes managing blood glucose, blood lipid, and blood pressure levels. Keeping these three factors in the target ranges (see ABC goals) will keep you healthy for years to come.
Healthy Eating with
