10 tips to a great plate

Nutrition Education Series

Making healthy food choices can be as simple as following these 10 tips. Use them to balance your calories, choose the foods you should eat more often, and cut back on the ones you should eat less often.

1. Balance calories. Find out how many calories you personally need in a day—that's the first step in managing your weight. Visit www.ChooseMyPlate.gov to find your calorie level. Staying physically active also helps balance the calories you take in with the calories you burn.

2. Enjoy your food, but eat less. Slow down and really pay attention to what you're eating. Eating too fast, or eating while distracted, can lead you to consume more calories than you need. Notice your hunger and fullness signals before, during, and after meals, and use them to know when to eat and when to stop.

3. Avoid oversized portions. Use a smaller plate, bowl, and glass, and measure out food before you eat instead of eating straight from a large container. When eating at a restaurant, order a smaller portion, split a dish with someone, or take part of your meal home.

4. Eat more of these foods often. Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or 1% milk and dairy products should form the base of your meals and snacks. These foods supply nutrients your body needs—including potassium, calcium, vitamin D, and fiber (the part of plant foods that aids digestion).

5. Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Choose red, orange, and dark-green vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, along with a variety of other vegetables. Add fruit to meals as a main or side dish, or serve it as dessert.

6. Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk. These options contain the same calcium and other essential nutrients as whole milk but have fewer calories and less saturated fat (a type of fat linked to heart disease).

7. Make half your grains whole grains. To eat more whole grains—grains that keep their full, natural kernel instead of being refined—swap a whole-grain product for a refined one. For example, choose whole-wheat bread instead of white bread, or brown rice instead of white rice.

8. Eat these foods less often. Cut back on foods high in solid fats, added sugars, and salt, such as cakes, cookies, ice cream, candy, sweetened drinks, pizza, and fatty meats like ribs, sausage, bacon, and hot dogs. Treat these as occasional indulgences, not everyday staples.

9. Compare sodium levels in foods. Use the Nutrition Facts label to pick lower-sodium versions of foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals. Choose canned foods marked "low sodium," "reduced sodium," or "no salt added."

10. Drink water instead of sugary drinks. Cutting soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks from your diet saves calories, since these beverages are a leading source of added sugar in the American diet.

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10 tips to help you eat more vegetables

Nutrition Education Series

Eating more vegetables is easier than you might think. Vegetables matter because they deliver vitamins and minerals while being low in calories for most types. Use these simple tips to fit more of them into your meals.

1. Discover fast ways to cook. Cook fresh or frozen vegetables in the microwave for a quick side dish. Steam green beans, carrots, or broccoli in a bowl with a little water.

2. Be ahead of the game. Cut up a batch of bell peppers, carrots, or broccoli ahead of time and pre-package them for days when you're short on time. Enjoy them on a salad, with hummus, or in a wrap.

3. Choose vegetables rich in color. Brighten your plate with red, orange, or dark-green vegetables like acorn squash, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, or collard greens. They're packed with vitamins and minerals—and they taste great too.

4. Check the freezer aisle. Frozen vegetables are quick, convenient, and just as nutritious as fresh ones. Add frozen corn, peas, green beans, spinach, or sugar snap peas to your favorite dishes or serve them as a side.

5. Stock up on canned veggies. Keep canned tomatoes, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, mushrooms, and beets on hand. Look for labels that say "reduced sodium," "low sodium," or "no salt added."

6. Make your garden salad glow with color. Add black beans, sliced red bell peppers, shredded radishes, chopped red cabbage, or watercress to your salad for a dish that looks as good as it tastes.

7. Sip on some vegetable soup. Try tomato, butternut squash, or garden vegetable soup, choosing reduced- or low-sodium versions when possible.

8. Order smart while you're out. When eating away from home, ask for an extra side of vegetables or a side salad instead of a fried side dish.

9. Savor the flavor of seasonal vegetables. Vegetables in season tend to taste better and cost less. Check your grocery store's weekly specials or visit a local farmer's market.

10. Try something new. Pick out an unfamiliar vegetable, add it to a recipe, or look up how to prepare it. You might discover a new favorite.

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10 tips to help you eat more fruits

Nutrition Education Series

Eating fruit offers real health benefits. People who eat more fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet tend to have a lower risk of certain chronic diseases. Fruits supply nutrients essential to health, including potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and folate (a B vitamin, also called folic acid). Most fruits are naturally low in fat, sodium, and calories, and none contain cholesterol. Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as part of the Fruit Group—fresh, canned, frozen, dried, whole, cut up, or pureed.

1. Keep visible reminders. Keep a bowl of whole fruit on the table, counter, or in the refrigerator so it's easy to grab.

2. Think about taste. Buy fresh fruit when it's in season, when it's often cheaper and at its best flavor. Add fruit to recipes to naturally sweeten them.

3. Think about variety. Stock dried, frozen, and canned fruit (packed in water or 100% juice) along with fresh fruit, so you always have some available.

4. Don't forget the fiber. Choose whole or cut-up fruit over juice most of the time, since whole fruit provides more dietary fiber.

5. Be a good role model. Set a good example for children by eating fruit with meals or as snacks every day.

6. Include fruit at breakfast. Top cereal with bananas, peaches, or strawberries; add blueberries to pancakes; drink 100% orange or grapefruit juice; or mix fruit into fat-free or low-fat yogurt.

7. Try fruit at lunch. Pack a tangerine, banana, or grapes, choose fruit from a salad bar, or grab a convenient container of peaches or applesauce.

8. Experiment with fruit at dinner too. Add crushed pineapple to coleslaw, or mix orange sections, dried cranberries, or grapes into a tossed salad.

9. Snack on fruits. Dried fruits make great snacks—they're portable and store well.

10. Keep fruits safe. Rinse fruit under clean, running water before eating or preparing it, rubbing briskly to remove dirt and surface microorganisms (tiny organisms like bacteria). Dry with a clean towel afterward.

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10 tips to help you eat whole grains

Nutrition Education Series

Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley, or another cereal grain counts as a grain product—bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereal, tortillas, and grits are all examples. Grains fall into two categories: whole grains and refined grains. Whole grains contain the entire kernel—the bran, germ, and endosperm (the outer layer, the nutrient-rich core, and the starchy middle). People who eat whole grains as part of a healthy diet have a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases.

1. Make simple switches. To make half your grains whole grains, swap a refined-grain product for a whole-grain one—for example, 100% whole-wheat bread or bagels instead of white versions, or brown rice instead of white rice.

2. Choose whole grains as healthy snacks. Popcorn is a whole grain—just make it with little or no added salt or butter. Whole-wheat or rye crackers are another good option.

3. Save some time. Cook extra bulgur or barley when you have time, then freeze half to reheat later as a quick side dish.

4. Mix whole grains into dishes. Add barley to vegetable soups and stews, or bulgur wheat to casseroles and stir-fries. Try a quinoa salad or pilaf.

5. Try whole-wheat versions. Use brown rice or whole-wheat pasta instead of the refined versions—brown rice stuffing in baked peppers or tomatoes, or whole-wheat macaroni in macaroni and cheese.

6. Bake up some whole-grain goodness. Substitute buckwheat, millet, or oat flour for up to half the flour in pancake, waffle, or muffin recipes. You may need slightly more leavening (the ingredient that helps baked goods rise).

7. Be a good role model for children. Serve and eat whole grains every day with meals or as snacks to set a good example.

8. Check the label for fiber. Use the Nutrition Facts label to check fiber content. Foods providing 10–19% of the Daily Value are good sources; those with 20% or more are excellent sources.

9. Know what to look for on the ingredients list. Choose products that list a whole-grain ingredient first, such as "whole wheat," "brown rice," "bulgur," "buckwheat," "oatmeal," "whole-grain cornmeal," "whole oats," "whole rye," or "wild rice."

10. Be a smart shopper. A food's color doesn't indicate whether it's whole grain. Labels like "multi-grain," "stone-ground," "100% wheat," "cracked wheat," "seven-grain," or "bran" often aren't 100% whole grain and may contain no whole grain at all.