Nutrition Guide offers helpful resources and tools to help you find a healthy eating style. Find information on food labels, vegetables and fruits, meat and dairy foods, as well as printable handouts that can be used for health fairs or classes.
Balanced diets are high in nutrient-rich, whole foods and low in highly processed foods. These are general recommendations, and not a substitute for individualized dietary advice from a registered dietitian.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) are updated every five years by the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. They are intended to guide the development of nutrition education materials for the general public. The DGAs are developed through a thorough scientific review process by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and by USDA and HHS staff.
The DGAs promote healthy dietary patterns and highlight the importance of meeting nutritional needs through food groups. They encourage people to eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods, including plant-based proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, while staying within their daily calorie allowance.
The 2020-2025 DGAs include 4 overarching guidelines and supporting key recommendations to encourage healthy dietary patterns at all life stages, from infancy through older adulthood, including pregnancy and lactation. In addition, the DGAs provide guidance for those with or without a chronic disease who may need more condition-specific dietary advice. This includes those with conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
MyPlate
Designed to replace the earlier Food Guide Pyramid and Food Wheel, the MyPlate model is believed to be easier to understand and personalize than its predecessors Personal Trainer San Diego. It suggests that half of your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables and the other quarter with grains and protein-rich foods like meats, fish, poultry, tofu, beans and nuts, and soy products.
The blue section of the plate represents dairy, and MyPlate encourages consumers to choose low-fat or non-fat options. It also recommends that you get protein from a variety of sources, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, nuts, seeds and tofu.
The app allows users to track daily calorie, protein, fat and carbohydrate intake as well as a limited number of micronutrients. It can also be used to monitor weight and exercise. However, the app is best used under the guidance of a dietitian and to help build awareness of eating habits.
Food Labels
Food labels tell you how much of each nutrient is in a typical serving of the product. They also help you compare the nutritional content of different products.
Most packaged foods have a Nutrition Facts label. Some unpackaged foods such as fresh produce, meat and dairy may not have a label but do provide nutritional information on request.
The Nutrition Facts label shows you how many calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, sodium, and vitamins are in each serving of the product. The label also provides the percent of recommended daily intake for each nutrient.
The latest food labels have slight formatting changes and a shifted focus on certain nutrients, including more information about added sugars and percentages of calories from fat, which now highlight unhealthy saturated and trans fats in addition to other types of fat. The new labels also distinguish between naturally occurring (lactose in milk or fructose in fruit) and added sugars.
Nutrition Facts
Food manufacturers must display Nutrition Facts labels on all packaged foods and drinks sold in the United States. The information on the label helps consumers make healthy choices. The label was updated in 2016 based on newer research and dietary recommendations for Americans.
The amounts of calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and vitamins and minerals in a serving of food are shown in large, bold font. The percent Daily Value (% DV) is also listed. This percentage indicates how much of a nutrient is in one serving of the food or beverage compared to a 2,000-calorie diet.
The ingredients in a product are listed in order of weight, with the first five being the most prevalent. Check the ingredients to avoid foods with unrecognizable or chemically-derived additives. Studies indicate that those who use the Nutrition Facts label frequently have better dietary outcomes. This finding was consistent across a cross-sectional study of young adults participating in Project EAT-IV.