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Nutrition: Serving Size and Healthy Food Choices

Why is healthy eating important?

When combined with exercise, a healthy diet can help you lose weight, lower your cholesterol level and improve the way your body functions on a daily basis.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Pyramid divides food into 5 basic food groups: grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy, meats and fats. The USDA recommends that you have the following number of servings from each of the main food groups every day:

Grains (6-11 servings)
Fruits and Vegetables (5-7 servings)
Dairy (2-3 servings for men and 3-4 servings for women)
Meats (2-3 servings)
Fats, Oils and Sweets (use sparingly)

What is serving size?

Serving size is the amount of food that makes up one Food Pyramid serving. When trying to eat a healthy diet, it’s important to know how much you’re eating. Measuring and weighing your food can seem tedious and time-consuming at first, but you’ll soon learn what a single serving looks like without measuring or weighing it. See the box below for examples of serving size from each of the food groups.

Tips to help you judge serving size:

Grains
1 tortilla
1/2 English muffin or hamburger bun
1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice or pasta
6 to 8 crackers
1/2 starchy vegetable, such as potato
1/2 cup tofu
Fruits and Vegetables
1 medium-size piece of fresh fruit
1/2 cup canned fruit or vegetable
1/2 cup dried fruit
1/2 cup cooked vegetable
1 cup leafy or raw vegetable
3/4 cup fruit or vegetable juice
Meat, Poultry, Fish and Meat Alternatives
3 ounces of meat, poultry or fish (about the size of a pack of cards)
1 egg
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup cooked dry beans
Dairy
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt
1 ounce or 1/2 cup cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
Fats, Oils and Sweets
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 tbsp butter

What are some easy healthy changes I can make in my diet?

Grains
Instead of this:	Try this:
Croissants, biscuits and white breads and rolls	Low-fat whole grain breads and rolls (wheat, rye, pumpernickel)
Doughnuts, pastries, scones	English muffins, small whole grain bagels
Fried tortillas	Soft tortillas (corn or whole wheat), pita bread
Sugar cereals and regular granola	Oatmeal, low-fat granola, whole-grain cereal
Snack crackers	Crackers (animal, graham, rye, soda, saltine, oyster)
Potato or corn chips, buttered popcorn	Pretzels (unsalted), popcorn (unbuttered)
Fried rice or pasta and rice mixes that contain high-fat sauces	Rice or pasta (without egg yolk) with vegetable sauces

Fruits and Vegetables
Instead of this:	Try this:
Fried vegetables or vegetables served with cream, cheese or butter sauces	All vegetables raw, steamed, broiled, baked or tossed with a very small amount of olive oil
Coconut	Fruit (fresh or canned in light syrup)
French fries, hash browns, potato chips	Baked, mashed, boiled potatoes

Meat, Poultry and Fish
Instead of this:	Try this:
Regular or breaded fish sticks (cakes), fish canned in oil, seafood prepared with butter or served in high-fat sauce	Fish (fresh, frozen, canned in water), low-fat fish sticks or fish cakes, shellfish
Prime or marbled cuts	Lean beef (round, sirloin, loin)
Pork spare ribs, bacon	Lean pork (tenderloin, loin chop)
Regular ground beef	Lean or extra lean ground beef, ground chicken or turkey breast
Lunch meats such as pepperoni, salami, bologna, liverwurst	Lean lunch meats such as turkey, chicken and ham
Regular hot dogs or sausage	Fat-free hot dogs

Dairy
Instead of this:	Try this:
Whole or 2% milk	Skim or 1% milk
Evaporated milk	Evaporated skim milk
Regular buttermilk	Buttermilk made from skim (or 1%) milk
Regular cheese, cream cheese	Low-fat cheeses (no more than 3 grams of fat per ounce)
Regular ice cream	Sorbet, sherbet, nonfat or low-fat ice cream (no more than 3 grams of fat per 1/2 cup serving)

Fats, Oils and Sweets
Instead of this:	Try this:
Cookies	Fig bars, ginger snaps, molasses cookies
Shortening, butter or margarine	Olive, vegetable or canola oils
Regular mayonnaise	Nonfat or light mayonnaise
Regular salad dressing	Nonfat or light salad dressing
Using fat (including butter) to grease pan	Nonstick cooking spray