New Dietary Guidelines Promote Healthy Lifestyles

On January 31, 2011, the federal government released the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, providing information on healthy nutrition. With more than two-thirds of U.S. adults considered overweight, the guidelines encourage reducing caloric intake and increasing physical activity to promote health lifestyles, lower the risk of chronic disease and decrease the prevalence of obesity.

Here are the highlights from the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

• Enjoy food but eat less. 
• Participate in regular physical activity.
• Increase intake of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, low-fat or fat-free dairy or fortified soy beverages, vegetable oils and seafood.
• Decrease intake of added sugars, solid fats and refined grains.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Reduce daily consumption of sodium to less than 2300 mg. For African Americans, people with hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease and those over 50, daily consumption should be less than 1500 mg. This number has been reduced from previous years.
• Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fats. Replace them with calories from unsaturated fats.