dietary guidelines

Dietary guidelines for Americans 2005 is a very interesting report discussing all manner of suggestions for our diets. It is a long and detailed document although well worth spending some time with if you are at all concerned about the health, or not, of your current diet. It details the relationship between health and food.

The report is published jointly between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services every five years and has been since 1980. The dietary guidelines are not for babies but provide information on dietary goals, making our diets better and how to improve health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

Chapter 5 discusses Food groups to encourage. It provides a detailed discussion of why foods we know are good for us, like fruit and vegetables, are in fact good for us. The report also suggests what quantities of fruit, vegetables, dairy and whole grain produce we should be consuming in our diets.

It tells us that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables reduces our risk of chronic diseases such as strokes and other cardiovascular diseases as well as specific types of diabetes and cancers. Everyone knows eating lots of fruit and vegetables in our diet is a good thing. We all know it will make us feel healthy and improve our vitality. But we’re still not doing it! The dietary guidelines simply suggest replacing low density nutrient food with higher quality nutrient dense foods.

The paper goes on to outline what nutrients come from which foods. So variety of fruit and vegetables is as important as quantity. It is a great resource to help you create a healthy diet plan.

If you think of your body as an engine, surely you’d want to put give it the highest quality gas. I know I do.

Eating a better diet has a variety of beneficial effects upon our health. One of the most important for me is simply feeling good, feeling energetic, feeling alive.

Healthy diets are a great way to improve the quality of your life without recourse to medications, treatments and therapy.

Reference: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005