The NEW Four Food Groups:
Pick one of these groups,
and work on increasing your intake of those foods:
Fruit: 3 or more pieces a day
Eat fruit for dessert; it helps to signal your brain that you are full.
Eat a piece of fruit for a snack.
Avoid fruit juice; it’s a highly processed food.
Legumes : 1 cup or more a day
Legumes are beans, peas, and lentils.
They are good sources of fiber, protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and B vitamins.
If you don’t like legumes, eat more foods from the other groups:
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, brown rice, barley, corn, oats, and
other whole grains, are nutritious and filling.
Whole Grains: 5 or more a day
Whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, oats, corn, whole wheat bread, tortillas, and
hot or cold cereals.
Grains are loaded with fiber, protein, B vitamins, and zinc.
Serving size: 1/2 cup rice or other grain, 1 ounce dry cereal, 1 slice bread, 1 tortilla
Vegetables: 4 or more a day
Dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli, collards, kale, and cabbage
are especially healthy.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are filling and nutritious.
Serving size: 1 cup raw vegetables, 1/2 cup cooked vegetables
Old Five Food Groups:
Pick one of these groups,
and work on decreasing your intake of those foods:
Vegetable Oils
Oils are pure fat and have few nutrients and no fiber.
Note: This food category is the biggest source of wasted calories.
Any food can be sautéed with vegetable broth or water.
For baking, replace the oil with half the amount of applesauce.
Read food labels, check for:
Per Serving
Fiber – 2gm or more
Fat – 2gm or less
Dairy Foods
Cow milk is for baby cows. Only babies need milk.
If you want to have milk, choose one based on the cow milk you have now:
Whole or 2% milk: use soy milk
1% or fat-free milk: use rice or almond or low-fat soy milk.
(Mix cow and non-dairy milk at first, to get used to the new taste.)
Use hummus instead of cheese.
Try soy yogurt.
Meats
All meats, including chicken and fish, have saturated fat and cholesterol.
Eat meats less often. Schedule meat-free dinners every week.
Eat beans and potatoes instead.
For example:
kidney beans for chili
pinto beans for tacos
lentils with pasta sauce
garbanzo beans instead of chicken
Eggs
Loaded with toxins, like PCBs,
eggs are also very high in fat
(60% of calories from total fat, with 19% of calories from saturated fat)
and 213 mg of cholesterol in one egg.
Use Ener-G egg replacer in recipes.
Or mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons water.
Oatmeal is great for breakfast.
Or have whole grain cereal or a bean burrito.
Sugar
The average person has 20 to 30 teaspoons of added sugar a day.
This is 16% of total calories.
Soda and juice both have six teaspoons of sugar (some have more!) per 8 oz.
Recommendations are to have six or less teaspoons of added sugar per day.
Whether it's honey, agave, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, whatever,
it's all sugar (half glucose and half fructose)
and we should only have it in small amounts.
Don’t keep junk food in your home.
It takes only two to three weeks for taste buds to change.
Pick one of these groups,
and work on increasing your intake of those foods:
Fruit: 3 or more pieces a day
Eat fruit for dessert; it helps to signal your brain that you are full.
Eat a piece of fruit for a snack.
Avoid fruit juice; it’s a highly processed food.
Legumes : 1 cup or more a day
Legumes are beans, peas, and lentils.
They are good sources of fiber, protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and B vitamins.
If you don’t like legumes, eat more foods from the other groups:
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, brown rice, barley, corn, oats, and
other whole grains, are nutritious and filling.
Whole Grains: 5 or more a day
Whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, oats, corn, whole wheat bread, tortillas, and
hot or cold cereals.
Grains are loaded with fiber, protein, B vitamins, and zinc.
Serving size: 1/2 cup rice or other grain, 1 ounce dry cereal, 1 slice bread, 1 tortilla
Vegetables: 4 or more a day
Dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli, collards, kale, and cabbage
are especially healthy.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are filling and nutritious.
Serving size: 1 cup raw vegetables, 1/2 cup cooked vegetables
Old Five Food Groups:
Pick one of these groups,
and work on decreasing your intake of those foods:
Vegetable Oils
Oils are pure fat and have few nutrients and no fiber.
Note: This food category is the biggest source of wasted calories.
Any food can be sautéed with vegetable broth or water.
For baking, replace the oil with half the amount of applesauce.
Read food labels, check for:
Per Serving
Fiber – 2gm or more
Fat – 2gm or less
Dairy Foods
Cow milk is for baby cows. Only babies need milk.
If you want to have milk, choose one based on the cow milk you have now:
Whole or 2% milk: use soy milk
1% or fat-free milk: use rice or almond or low-fat soy milk.
(Mix cow and non-dairy milk at first, to get used to the new taste.)
Use hummus instead of cheese.
Try soy yogurt.
Meats
All meats, including chicken and fish, have saturated fat and cholesterol.
Eat meats less often. Schedule meat-free dinners every week.
Eat beans and potatoes instead.
For example:
kidney beans for chili
pinto beans for tacos
lentils with pasta sauce
garbanzo beans instead of chicken
Eggs
Loaded with toxins, like PCBs,
eggs are also very high in fat
(60% of calories from total fat, with 19% of calories from saturated fat)
and 213 mg of cholesterol in one egg.
Use Ener-G egg replacer in recipes.
Or mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons water.
Oatmeal is great for breakfast.
Or have whole grain cereal or a bean burrito.
Sugar
The average person has 20 to 30 teaspoons of added sugar a day.
This is 16% of total calories.
Soda and juice both have six teaspoons of sugar (some have more!) per 8 oz.
Recommendations are to have six or less teaspoons of added sugar per day.
Whether it's honey, agave, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, whatever,
it's all sugar (half glucose and half fructose)
and we should only have it in small amounts.
Don’t keep junk food in your home.
It takes only two to three weeks for taste buds to change.
