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Publication #FCS8792

MyPyramid Mini Poster: Steps to a Healthier You1

Linda Bobroff2

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Figure 1. 

Table 1. 

Grain Group

Make half your grains whole

Vegetable Group

Vary your veggies

Fruit Group

Focus on fruits

Milk Group

Get your calcium-rich foods

Meat & Beans Group

Go lean with protein

  • Eat at least 3 oz. of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta every day

  • 1 oz. is about 1 slice of bread, about 1 cup of breakfast cereal, or 1/2 cup of cooked rice, cereal, or pasta

  • Eat more dark green veggies like broccoli, spinach, and other dark leafy greens

  • Eat more orange vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes

  • Eat more dry beans and peas like pinto beans, kidney beans, and lentils

  • Eat a variety of fruit

  • Choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruit

  • Go easy on fruit juices

  • Go low-fat or fat-free when you choose milk, yogurt, and other milk products

  • If you don’t or can’t consume milk, choose lactose-free products or other calcium sources such as fortified foods and beverages

  • Choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry

  • Bake it, broil it, or grill it

  • Vary your protein routine — choose more fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds

For a 2,000-calorie diet, you need the amounts below from each food group. To find the amounts that are right for you, go to MyPyramid.gov.

Eat 6 oz. every day

Eat 2½ cups every day

Eat 2 cups every day

Get 3 cups every day; for kids aged 2 to 8, it's 2

Eat 5½ oz. every day

Find your balance between food and physical activity

  • Be sure to stay within your daily calorie needs.

  • Be physically active for at least 30 minutes most days of the week.

  • About 60 minutes a day may be needed to prevent weight gain.

  • For sustaining weight loss, at least 60 to 90 minutes a day may be required.

  • Children and teenagers should be physically active for 60 minutes every day, or most days.

Know the limits on fats, sugars, and salt (sodium)

  • Make most of your fat sources from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.

  • Limit solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening, and lard, as well as foods that contain these.

  • Check the Nutrition Facts label to keep saturated fats, trans fats, and sodium low.

  • Choose food and beverages low in added sugars. Added sugars contribute calories with few, if any, nutrients.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FCS8792, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date October 27, 2005. Visit the EDIS Web Site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu

2.

The University of Florida contact is Linda B. Bobroff, associate professor, Foods and Nutrition, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611-0310. This is a publication of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer, Interim Dean.


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