Dietary Guidelines

New USDA Dietary Guidelines: See the Executive Summary and Press Release.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines include 23 recommendations for the general population and additional recommendations for specific populations. Additional advice and tools, including a next-generation Food Pyramid will be released by USDA and HHS in the coming months.  

Among the tips:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less
• Avoid oversized portions
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread and frozen meals and choose the foods with lower numbers
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks

• Maintain calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight. People who are most successful at achieving and maintaining a healthy weight do so through continued attention to consuming only enough calories from foods and beverages to meet their needs and by being physically active. To curb the obesity epidemic and improve their health, many Americans must decrease the calories they consume and increase the calories they expend through physical activity.

• Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages. Americans currently consume too much sodium and too many calories from solid fats,
added sugars, and reined grains. These replace nutrient-dense foods and beverages and make it dificult for people to achieve recommended nutrient intake while controlling calorie and sodium intake. A healthy eating pattern limits intake of sodium, solid fats, added sugars, and reined grains and emphasizes nutrient-dense foods and beverages—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, and nuts and seeds.

For more information regarding dietary guidelines, please visit MyPlate at:

www.ChooseMyPlate.gov