Daily recommendations for all food groups---USDA

writtingonthewalls

I was just thinking about how many people don't know what really is a healthy diet. Some people, at the beginning of their weight loss journey, believe that to lose weight, you have to take diet pills, eat nothing but low-fat, lite, meals like slimfast, lean cuisine, and other chemical-laced crap. I'm not belittling anyone who has ever tried those things because I was there once! Up until a few months ago, I had no idea how many servings of fruits, veggies, protein, grains, and dairy was needed to live a healthy lifestyle. It's pretty awesome how easy it is to get in your daily recommended amount of certain foods...I visited http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/ , which is the USDA site, that explains how many servings you need of each food group to eat healthy, depending on your gender/age. I thought it was very cool to finally know what's healthy so I can achieve my fitness goals. Some things I remembered when studying this site were that you only need 2 cups of fruit for my age(22), 2 1/2 cups of veggies, 5 1/2 oz of protein...very cool and very easy to get a hang of.

The point I'm trying to make by posting this is that eating healthy isn't as hard as people have made it out to be(at least in my experience). You don't need to only eat 2 meals...live off shakes..eat phony frozen diet plates... just eat fresh, eat clean, avoid chemicals and your body will repay you. What I try to remind myself is this: I've destroyed my body in the past with fried foods, processed foods, chemicals, sugar..you name it...I'm on a journey to get my body back to its most healthiest state and treat it with respect to live a long, healthy life. I know a lot of you already know what you're doing but I want to spread whatever information I have in my head just to ensure that others that may not know of this gets the proper knowledge to help them.

So stoked to be living my healthy life!

Pearsquared

I was like, "I wonder what mine are?" and then realized they're identical to yours because we're close enough in age (25). xD

I tend to take those as a guide rather than a rule of thumb, to nitpik. I'm only 5'1'' and rather sedentary, so I just plain don't need as much food as many other people. I like the proportions, though.

tomg33

You know, I'm not American but a cursory glance of the USDA guidelines has led me to believe they're not that bad. There's some pretty good information there. The problem is that it's so moderate and balanced that it would never sell. Therefore, even though it's free, no one will accept it.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-PolicyDocument.htm


EDIT: Scroll down to "Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc"

writtingonthewalls

It's so very sad but true what you said...Our food, in the US at least, is poison...at least what's promoted the most...like all the fast food joints and processed foods in the center of our grocery stores here...it's absolute madness and *kitten*-backwards and all the reason why a lot of people are obese.

yarwell

A diet of yellow and beige food can't be right.

writtingonthewalls

A diet of yellow and beige food can't be right.

true dat

tootoop224

You know, I'm not American...

Then, I don't think this applies to you. :laugh: