What Are The Seven Dietary Guidelines For Americans?

Promoting health and preventing disease have a lot to do with
one's diet. The Food and Nutrition Information Center of the
United States Department of Agriculture laid out seven dietary
guidelines for people above the age of two years old regarding
intelligent food choices that promote health and prevent
disease.

These guidelines are:

1. Consume different varieties of food.

Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals can foster disease in
your body. It is important that you consume different types of
food so that your body can get a good spread of all the
necessary vitamins and minerals.

2. Perform physical activity in proportion with the amount of
food that you are taking in.

Balancing the food that you consume with corresponding physical
activity to burn off the energy is extremely important in
maintaining a healthy weight. You will gain weight if you
consume more calories than what you burn off through your
physical activities.

3. Include a lot of grain products, vegetables, and fruits in
your diet.

Fiber, vitamins, and minerals are essential for your health and
well-being. By eating a different variety of grain products,
vegetables, and fruits you will be feeding your body the
essential elements that it needs.

4. Eat foods that are low in fat, saturated fat, and
cholesterol.

Foods high in cholesterol and saturated fat are amongst the
biggest killers in our society today. Eating foods that are
low in fat content is important if you do not want to have a
heart attack in your future. Do not avoid all kinds of fat.
Your body does need some fat to function properly. Unsaturated
fats are the best type to consume.

5. Only allow a moderate amount of sugars in your diet.

Sugars are high in calories and many of the foods that we eat
already contain sugar. These can be sugars that occur
naturally in fruits or that are added during the manufacturing
process. Watching your sugar intake will help you avoid
gaining unnecessary weight.

6. Only include a moderate amount of salt and sodium in your
diet.

Scientific studies suggest that a high amount of salt and
sodium intake could increase your blood pressure. When this
occurs it could lead to serious and sometimes fatal health
risks.

7. Consume alcoholic beverages in moderation, if you consume
them at all.

There are almost no nutrients in alcoholic beverages and yet
these drinks contain a lot of calories. Excess consumption of
alcohol could lead to serious health problems in addition to
the social and relationship problems that it also causes.

To many people the seven dietary guidelines will sound like
common sense. If it were common sense, one wonders why such a
large percentage of the population is obese.

Following these seven dietary guidelines will help you lead a
more healthy and active life, give you more energy to perform
your daily activities, and improve your general health and
well-being.

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