USDA publishes dietary recommendations every 5 years. They can be a signpost for us in the maze of dietary information. See what the guidelines until 2020 look like for healthy people over 2 years of age and what is worth paying attention to.
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Nowadays, when information about the principles of nutrition is flowing everywhere and some of them are radically different from others, it is not known what to believe. Then it is worth looking at the guidelines of organizations such as USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), which collect research results and publish nutritional recommendations for the population for the sake of their health. Although they are aimed at Americans, we too can benefit from it.
5 main rules
The guidelines collect the reports as they come up and make corrections. The current ones focus more on a general change of diet for the better than on introducing specific products, which was the case in earlier years. Here they are:
- Stick to healthy eating habits throughout your life. All food and drink choices have an effect on your body. Introduce healthy nutrition at the appropriate energy and nutritional level. Thanks to this, you will maintain an appropriate body weight and protect yourself against chronic diseases.
- Focus on the variety, nutritional value, and quantity of food you eat. To meet your nutritional needs, choose products with high nutritional density from all product groups in the recommended amounts.
- Limit your calories from added sugars and saturated fat, and your salt intake. Reduce the presence of foods rich in these ingredients in your diet.
- Start making healthier food and drink choices. Choose foods with high nutritional density, i.e. those rich in valuable ingredients, over less healthy choices.
- Support healthy eating habits for everyone. Start with your family. When you cook healthy, your family will eat healthy as well. Pass on good practices to others.
Healthy eating habits
The rules include the slogan of healthy eating habits, but what is it? How to understand? Specialists also did not forget about it, they explain that healthy habits are:
- reaching for a variety of vegetables from all subgroups, starting from dark green, through red, ending with legumes, both fresh, frozen and canned,
- eating fruit, fresh, frozen or dried,
- choosing whole grain products, at least half of the cereal products eaten should be such,
- reaching for lean dairy products,
- eating a variety of protein products such as seafood, fish, lean meat, poultry, eggs, legumes, nuts and seeds, soy products,
- introducing vegetable oils,
- limited consumption of saturated fat, trans fat, added sugars and salt.
Coffee and cholesterol
It should be emphasized that eggs and coffee are no longer our enemies according to our guidelines. In the case of caffeine, the norm for healthy adults is up to 400 mg per day. This means that you will drink 3-5 cups of coffee depending on its strength. Reports on cholesterol are even more interesting. While previous guidelines said limiting cholesterol intake to 300 mg a day, at present it is considered that there is no need for such a limit. Nevertheless, it is recommended that you limit it to values that allow you to stick to healthy eating habits. So if you exclude fatty meats and full-fat dairy products, you will also keep your cholesterol at an appropriate level. Eggs should appear in the diet as a protein product. Just remember that, according to the WHO, they should be limited to 10 a week, including eggs. The guidelines also indicate that farmed seafood is just as good a source of omega-3s as wild. In turn, the risks resulting from the mercury content do not reduce the nutritional value of fish for the body. Experts recommend reaching for a variety of their types, both farmed and wild.
Important changes
It is worth noting that the guidelines do not require a specific product group or article, but an incentive to diversify their diet. This should be borne in mind, especially when losing weight. It is often then that we look for products that will speed up the entire process and create mono-diets. It is neither healthy nor effective in the long run. Often, changing the habits themselves according to the above guidelines, e.g. eliminating sugary drinks, unhealthy snacks, or limiting alcohol will allow you to achieve weight effects. The limits proposed in the USDA guidelines as:
- consumption of less than 10 percent of the daily energy supply from added sugars,
- consuming less than 10 percent of the daily energy intake from saturated fat
- limiting alcohol to 1 drink a day for women and 2 for men,
will allow you to reduce energy supply and keep body weight in check. It is also emphasized that regular physical activity allows you to maintain a slim figure, but above all has a beneficial effect on the condition and health of the entire body.
The photo comes from flickr.com
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