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eating well
eating well
LAST MONTH, WE TALKED ABOUT the new food label that came out in 2020. This month, I’ll review the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans that, like the updated food label, were rolled out in 2020 with little fanfare or attention amidst all the other troubles Americans were facing.
This nutrition guide, released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), includes over 100 years of nutrition science and advice and is updated every five years to incorporate new scientific findings as well as new public health marketing techniques.
Some of the messaging for this initiative that you may recall from the past includes the “Basic Seven,” “Basic Four” (what most of us late boomers learned in grade school), “My Food Pyramid,” “MyPyramid,” and most recently “MyPlate.”
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), 2020-2025 (the ninth and most recent edition) includes dietary guidelines for all ages. The purpose of the DGA is to help health professionals, nutrition scientists, dietitians, and policy makers advise Americans about healthy choices for their diet to help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, and renal disease.
The newest guidelines include four key points. What are these pearls of wisdom? Without further ado:
1. Follow a healthy dietary pattern throughout your life.
The guidelines encourage that it’s never too early or too late to eat healthy. This is so true! People often tell me they want to start eating healthy or ask, “What is a healthy diet?” Core elements include 2½ cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit, 6 ounces of grains, 3 cups of dairy, 5.5 ounces of protein-containing foods, and 27 grams (2 Tbs.) of oil. This represents a healthy dietary pattern for an adult consuming 2,000 calories per day.
2. Make every bite count.
Try to choose nutrient-dense foods and beverages while staying within calorie limits. Nutrient-dense foods provide our bodies with more of the nutrients we need for optimal health per calorie. To list just a few examples:
• A ground beef patty made from 97 percent lean ground beef has 100 fewer calories than a ground beef patty made from 80 percent lean beef.
• Cereals without added sugars are more nutrient-dense than sugary choices.
• Roasted vegetables are more nutrient-dense than fried ones.
• Fresh carrot and celery sticks are more nutrient-dense than salted veggie chips.
You want to think in terms of choosing the least processed foods and avoiding the “supersized” restaurant meals. Typically, it’s the starchy, sugar-added, fried foods that can really push your calorie limit over the edge.
3. Personalize it.
The new DGA edition puts added emphasis on choosing a meal plan that meets your needs while promoting the foods that appeal to you most, factoring in cultural traditions, religion, and budget considerations. For example, salmon and blueberries are considered super foods, but if you don’t care for them, then perhaps you would eat tuna and strawberries instead. Kale gets a lot of attention these days, but if you grew up with collard or turnip greens, don’t stop eating them! Just avoid the nutritional trap of making them with high levels of fats and sodium.
4. Limit undesirable nutrients.
Foods and eating patterns that contain high amounts of added fats and sugars have been attributed to an increased risk for chronic diseases. So, let’s take a look at the guidelines that pertain to these undesirable nutrients:
Added sugars—infants and toddlers should avoid added sugars altogether. After the age of two, added sugars should amount to less than 10 percent of calories. Pay attention to beverages like juices and soda pop that are full of added sugars. Also, be sure to read those (now updated) food labels and switch to lower-sugar products.
Saturated fat—limit this form of fat to less than 10 percent of your calories as well. For example, if you’re eating a 2,000-calorie meal plan, that would be less than 20 gm of saturated fat per day. To achieve this, limit red meat to no more than two times a week, choose low-fat dairy products, and opt for plant oils like olive oil, canola oil, or peanut oil.
Sodium—to decrease the risk of stroke and heart disease related to high blood pressure, the DGA recommends keeping sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day. You can compare labels of similar foods to find the lower-sodium versions.
Alcoholic beverages—if you drink alcohol, do so in moderation, no more than two drinks a day for men and no more than one drink a day for women. A drink is 12 oz. of beer, 5 oz. of wine, or 1½ oz. of liquor.
These guidelines are not without controversy—especially those related to added sugar and alcohol—but that’s a topic for another time and place. Plenty of information is available online if you’re interested.
With that said, looking at all the science and research, there is ample evidence that making even small changes to bring your diet more in line with the new DGAs can help you take charge of your health and wellbeing. And remember, as Wilbur Olin Atwater (who published the first DGAs in 1894) said, “We live not upon what we eat, but upon what we digest.”
Laurie Syring, RD/LD, is Clinical Nutrition Manager at ProMedica Flower Hospital.
