Chapter 3 Your Nutrition Toolbox 49
The Focus of the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans
• Building Healthy Eating Patterns
• Foods and Nutrients to Increase
• Foods and Food Components
to Reduce
• Balancing Calories
to Manage Weight
• Food Safety
3-1 3-1
You can build a nutritious diet and You can build a nutritious diet and
healthful lifestyle by following the DietaryDietary healthful lifestyle by following the
Guidelines for Americans.Americans. Guidelines for
Enrich: For more information on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans,
visit the Web site www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm.
Resource: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Transparency
Master 3-2, TR.
Enrich: Invite a registered dietitian to speak to the class about
the reason the Dietary Guidelines were originally established and
how they are revised every fi ve years.
Discuss: Why is it important to eat a variety of foods?
Refl ect: Assess the variety in your diet. Are there any changes
you need to make to improve your diet? What are they?
There are so many food choices. Which
choices are best? Which will help you
stay healthy? Should you select chicken
nuggets and a creamy milk shake? Would
crunchy celery and tangy yogurt be better
choices? The Dietary Guidelines for Ameri-
cans and MyPlate are the tools you need
to answer these questions. With them, you
can build the most nutritious diet possible.
These tools are the best, most-current
advice from nutrition experts.
The Dietary Guidelines
for Americans
The diets of many people in the United
States have too many calories and too
much fat, cholesterol, sugar, and sodium.
Many U.S. diets also contain too few whole
grains, fruits, and vegetables. These diets
are one reason so many people in the
United States have too much body fat and
face diet-related diseases. Tooth decay,
heart disease, high blood pressure, diabe-
tes, and some forms of cancer are known
to be diet-related.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans
provide science-based advice that can help
you choose a nutritious diet and healthful
lifestyle. Both can help you maintain or
even improve your health. The guidelines
focus on the areas listed in 3-1 and are
described in the following sections.
Healthy Eating Patterns
You need more than 40 different
nutrients to stay healthy and grow normally.
Eating a variety of foods every day can help
you get all the nutrients you need. Variety
is important because no one food contains
all the nutrients, but each food contains
some. For instance, fruits and vegetables
are rich sources of vitamins A and C, but
they are low in protein. Meat is a great
source of protein and iron, but contains
little calcium. Dairy products have a lot of
calcium, but they lack fiber. Whole-grain
breads and cereals have plenty of fiber,
but are low in vitamins A and C. As you
can see, eating a variety of foods every
day is the only way to get all the nutrients
you need.
The healthiest diets contain mostly
nutrient-dense foods. Nutrient-dense
foods provide a large amount of vitamins
and minerals compared to their calories.
Foods that are not nutrient dense provide
small amounts of vitamins and minerals
per calorie. These foods are called
empty-calorie foods. For instance,
fat-free milk is nutrient dense. It provides
a great deal of vitamins and minerals with
only a few calories. A soft drink provides
few nutrients and many more calories.