Health and Food Guides are Very Beneficial in Making Your Meal Selections

Health & Food Guide

A food guide is made up by nutritionists to help guide people in their choices of what to eat and how to be healthy. The following is a guide that was made up to be geared towards teens. Now, we realize that one can't follow this guide perfectly on a day to day basis, but it is useful to consult it when making food choices.

How many servings do you need each day?
Food group	Older children, teen girls, active women, most men (about 2,200 calories)*	Teen boys, active men (about 2,800 calories)*
Bread, rice, cereal, pasta (grains) group, especially whole grain	9	11
Vegetable group	4	5
Fruit group	3	4
Milk, yogurt, and cheese (dairy) group-preferably fat free or low fat	2-3**	2-3**
Dry beans, eggs, nuts, fish, and meat and poultry group-preferably lean or low fat	2, for a total of 6 ounces	3, for a total of 7 ounces
*These are the calorie levels if you choose low-fat, lean foods from the five major food groups and if you use foods from the fats, oil, and sweets group sparingly.
**Older children and teenagers (ages 9 to 18 years) and adults over the age of 50 need 3 servings daily. During pregnancy and lactation, the recommended number of dairy group servings is the same as for non-pregnant women.

What's a serving?
If you're like most teens, figuring out what counts as a serving can be confusing. Carefully examine the box below for serving sizes for the five major food groups. This is a great reference guide to help you get the rights servings in your day's meals.

Bread, cereal, rice and pasta group (grains group) - whole grain and refined
* 1 slice of bread
* about 1 cup of ready-to-eat cereal flakes
* 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta
Fruit group
* 1 medium apple, banana, orange, pear
* 1/2 cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit
* 1/2 cup of fruit juice
Vegetable group
* 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables
* 1/2 cup of other vegetables-cooked or raw
* 1/2 cup of vegetable juice
Milk, yogurt, and cheese group (dairy group)1
* 1 cup of milk2 or yogurt2
* 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese
* 2 (such as cheddar)
* 2 ounces of processed cheese2 (such as American)
* 1 cup of soy-based beverage with added calcium
Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans3, eggs, and nuts group (meat and beans group)
* 2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish (the size of a deck of cards)
* 1/2 cup of cooked dry beans or 1/2 cup of tofu counts as 1 ounce of lean meat
* 2 1/2 ounce soyburger or 1 egg counts as 1 ounce of lean meat
* 2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1/3 cup of nuts counts as 1 ounce of meat

Note: Many of the serving sizes given above are smaller than those on the Nutrition Facts Label. For example, 1 serving of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta is 1 cup for the label but only 1/2 cup for the food pyramid.
1This includes lactose-free and lactose-reduced dairy products.
2Choose fat-free or reduced fat dairy products most often.
3Dry beans, peas, and lentils can be counted as servings in either the meat and beans group or the vegetable group. As a vegetable, 1/2 cup of beans counts as 1 serving. As a meat substitute, 1 cup of beans counts as 1 serving.