Under the new federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) released in January 2016, the emphasis is on the overall importance of healthy eating patterns. They are not suggesting one eating pattern that everyone should follow but, instead, improving the quality of individuals’ current diets.
Half of the US population is estimated to be suffering from preventable, diet-related chronic diseases. Lasting improvements to an individual’s health can happen by shifting to healthier eating patterns.
Here are some key pieces of information under the new DGA:
1. All your food and beverage choices matter and should include: a variety of vegetables with less emphasis on starchy vegetables; fruits, especially whole fruits; grains, at least half of which are whole grains; low- or fat-free dairy; a variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes, and nuts, seeds and soy products; oils, including those from plants such as canola, corn, olive, safflower, etc and those naturally occurring in nuts, seeds, olives, seafood and avocados.
2. Cut down on added sugars. They are suggesting to consume less than 10% of your daily calories. Naturally occurring sugars such as those found in milk or fruits don’t count toward the limit, because they come with valuable nutrients and fiber.
3. Not all fats are the same. The recommendation is still to limit saturated fats to less than 10% of calories a day and continues to warn against trans fats found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
4. Keep watching your sodium intake by limiting it to 2300 milligrams per day. There is a caveat for people 51 and older, African-Americans and those with hypertension and other chronic conditions to limit their daily intake to 1500 milligrams.
Three healthy dietary pattern examples are available in the appendices 3, 4 and 5 of the DGA at http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/.
Please contact Janell at the Chouteau County Extension Office at 622-3036, janellb@montana.edu or 1308 Franklin St in Fort Benton if you would like more information or have any questions.
Montana State University, US Department of Agriculture and Montana Counties Cooperating. MSU Extension is an equal opportunity/affirmative action provider of educational outreach
