The ABC’s and DMV’s of healthy eating. A Healthful Diet The ABC’s and DMV’s of healthy eating.

Diet Defined Diet refers to the pattern of food consumption followed by an individual. Your diet can include both healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors. Dieting refers to changing one’s usual pattern of eating. Often dieting includes reduction of unhealthy nutrients like saturated fats, sodium, or sugar.

The ABC’s and DMV of Healthy Eating Patterns Six concepts can help you to improve your diet. ABC: Adequacy, Balance, Calorie control DMV: Dense with nutrients, Moderation, and Variety. Small changes in eating patterns can cause great benefits in long term health.

A: Adequacy Adequacy: your diet provides enough of each of the 6 nutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water) essential for maintaining good health. If your body does not provide enough nutrients deficiencies could result. Remember that some nutrients are stored in the body (protein, fat, calcium) and others must be replaced each day (carbohydrates, iron, vitamin C & others)

Energy Yielding Nutrient Components of a Healthful Diet Your diet should be comprised of approximately 58% carbohydrate foods (fruits, vegetables, and grains), 12% protein (meat, dairy, beans, nuts), and 30% fat (meat, dairy, nuts).

B: Balance Balance: your diet does not overemphasize any food type or nutrient at the expense of another. Your diet contains a balance from the food guide pyramid. Too much or too little of one nutrient may cause health problems. Too much of a nutrient may cause a deficiency in consumption or absorption of other nutrients.

C: Calorie Control Calorie Control: your diet supplies enough calories to maintain your weight, not too much or too little. Foods should be selected to balance each other in total calorie content. For example if you wish to eat a sweet food with excess calories then you should choose a meal that is low in calories but high in nutrients. The four slices of bread and ½ of a blueberry muffin both have 200 calories

D: Dense with Nutrients Dense with nutrients: or nutrient dense foods, are those that provide a lot of nutrients but relatively few calories. Examples of nutrient dense foods are spinach, broccoli, beans, small white fish, oranges, green pepper, skim milk, cottage cheese, light meat of poultry, watermelon. Whole unprocessed foods tend to be more nutrient dense than prepared processed foods.

M: Moderation Moderation: your diet is relatively low in fat, sugar, and salt. Too much fat, sugar, and salt in the diet are associated with many types of cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Moderation is best learned at a young age since it is easier to maintain a healthy habit than to create a new one. Foods to avoid include, candy, pastries, fried foods, red meats, pickled foods, and processed foods like microwave dinners.

V: Variety Variety: your diet provides a variety of different foods from each section of the food guide pyramid. You eat many different types of fruits rather than just apples, grapes and bananas. The more variety from each section you eat the better your changes are of getting enough of all the nutrients. Variety helps to make foods interesting.