Healthy Eating

When the outside temperature rises, it seems as though cooking food may be one of the last things we want to do.  It’s so easy to get into the habit of grabbing whatever’s handy – and what we grab may not be the best choice we can make.

We need to eat a variety of foods from all of the food groups every day.  How much each person should eat varies.  If you would like a personalized plan go to www.MyPyramid.gov and type in your personal information – height, weight, age, gender, and level of physical activity.  From this you will get an eating plan based on a specific number of calories.

If you do not use a computer, use the following charts as a guide:

The eating plan tells you how many ounces of grains, cups of vegetables and fruit, cups of milk, and ounces of protein you should eat every day.  For some it may seem like a lot of food, for others, it may be less than you are used to eating.  Once you know how much food from each of the food groups you should be eating, you can make your meal plan.

Check out the many colors of vegetables and fruits at the grocery store. 

Reds:  apples, beets, cherries, grapes, peppers, potatoes, radishes, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes and watermelon are some examples.  These foods may help prevent some types of cancers and help protect the cells in our bodies.

Oranges and yellows:  apples, apricots, cantaloupe, carrots, mangoes, oranges, peaches, pears, peppers, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and many others contain carotenoids that help reduce risk of cancer, heart disease, and help the immune system.

Blues and purples:  blackberries, eggplant, figs, plums, grapes and raisins help protect cells from damage.

Greens: apples, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, grapes, honeydew, kiwi, peas spinach and zucchini are thought to help with diseases of the eyes.

Whites:  bananas, cauliflower, jicama, mushrooms, potatoes and turnips may help in lowering blood pressure.  Some of these are also good sources of potassium.

This is not a complete list of all fruits and vegetables that we can find in the store, but it is a start.  Try mixing up the colors of the vegetables on your plate – it is healthy for you, can be low in calories when eaten plain, and is packed with fiber.

Just remember that you need a variety of foods every day – so why not make your plate colorful?