Is Your Diet Up to Par?
Are you getting enough whole grains? How about your dairy intake – is it up to snuff? Perhaps you’re not eating enough vegetables. It seems like every time you turn around, some expert is reminding you that you need more of this kind of food, or that.
Join the club! I may be a registered dietitian, but I don’t always get everything I need on a daily basis, either. Let’s face it: it’s hard to eat right 100% of the time. But if you are always coming up short for a certain food group or one or more nutrients, that could spell trouble for your health.
Here’s my guide to working in more of the foods and nutrients that Americans do not get enough of.
Whole Grain Foods
How much you need: A minimum of three servings a day (48 grams of whole grain, total).
Why you need them: Whole grains supply complex carbohydrate, fiber, B vitamins, vitamin E, and the mineral selenium.
How to get more: Every day, eat foods such as Mom’s Best Naturals oatmeal, Toasted Wheat-fuls and Sweetened Wheat-fuls (which supply 44 grams of whole grains per serving), and whole grain: breads, crackers, tortillas, and pasta, brown and wild rice, quinoa, bulgur, and popcorn.
Dairy Foods
How much you need: Adults and younger children require the equivalent of three eight-ounce glasses of milk daily; teens require four glasses a day. (Eight ounces of yogurt and 1 ½ ounces of hard cheese both qualify as equal to eight ounces of milk.)
Why you need them: Milk provides protein, calcium, vitamin D, B vitamins, and vitamin A. Most yogurt contains a similar nutritional profile, but minus the vitamin D. While higher in fat, cheese is rich in the same nutrients as yogurt.
How to get more: If you’re not a big milk drinker, eat cold breakfast cereal with milk and prepare oatmeal with milk instead of water, snack on low-fat yogurt, make milk- and fruit-based smoothies, and add a slice of reduced-fat cheese to sandwiches. If you’re allergic to milk, try calcium and vitamin D fortified foods, such as soy beverages and orange juice.
Vegetables
How much you need: Adults require two to three servings a day (about one cup of raw or cooked vegetables or vegetable juice, or two cups raw leafy greens is a serving). Children require one to two servings, depending on their calorie needs.
Why you need them: Vegetables provide an array of nutrients that promote health. Population studies show people who eat more fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet are less likely to develop certain chronic conditions, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer of the mouth and stomach, and colon-rectum cancer.
How to get more: Having trouble choking down the broccoli and Brussels sprouts? Try serving veggies with a dip, such as hummus, peanut butter, or reduced-fat Ranch salad dressing, or top them with a bit of trans-fat free margarine or grated cheese. Choose bean-based soups and stews, such as lentil soup. (Beans are vegetables.) Add cooked, pureed vegetables, such as potatoes, sweet potato, and canned pumpkin to stews and soups. And, eat the few kinds of vegetables that you do like on a daily basis. After all, any vegetables (with the possible exception of French fries!) are better than none.