Nutrition and Weight Loss

Thinking About Healthier Food Choices

Even if you're not ready to change your eating patterns, take a few minutes to think about what a healthier diet could mean by reviewing this information.

Why Do Healthier Food Choices Matter?

Just as a car runs best when the tank is filled with the right fuel, your body works best when nourished properly. That means selecting foods that provide energy and decrease your risk of illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.

• Eat a variety of foods
• Cut down on fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol
• Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
• Limit foods with a lot of sugar or sodium
• Drink alcohol in moderation or not at all

Benefits of a Healthy Weight

The advantages of a healthy weight are significant:

• More energy for work and play
• Enhanced self-image and confidence
• Decreased risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, gallstones, some cancers, and osteoarthritis.

Calories Count

Most people who want to lose weight need to cut back on calories. The easiest way to do that is to limit the amount of fat you eat and alcohol you drink. Both have nearly twice as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins.

• 1 gram carbohydrate = 4 calories
• 1 gram protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram alcohol = 7 calories
• 1 gram fat = 9 calories.

Just remember that fat free doesn't mean calorie free. Even fat-free and low-fat foods can cause weight gain if you eat too much. The only way to lose weight is to create a calorie deficit; eat fewer calories than you burn.

In general, women need at least 1200 calories daily and men 1500 to lose weight safely. Eating less than these recommended amounts may slow your metabolism, making weight loss difficult and risky. Plan to lose no more than a pound a week. It's best to ask your doctor or dietitian for a specific healthy goal weight and daily calorie level for your body.

Finding the Fat

Aim to cut your total fat intake to 20%-30% of your calories and your saturated fat intake to 7%-10% of your calories. For a food to be considered low fat it should have 3 grams or fewer of total fat in a serving. Your total fat intake can be counted in grams. Use food labels to help determine calories and fat grams. The daily fat grams recommended correspond to daily calories, as shown below.

You can enjoy any food as long as it fits into your total daily fat count and you avoid eating too many other high-fat foods that day.

What's a Serving

Use these comparisons to help determine serving sizes:

• 1 slice of bread - compact disk
• Average bagel - hockey puck
• 1 cup lettuce - 4 green leaves
• 1 cup fruit - baseball
• 1/2 cup asparagus - 4 spears
• 1/2 cup broccoli - 3-5 spears
• 1/2 cup grapes - 15 grapes
• 1/2 cup carrots - 7-8 sticks
• 1 ounce cheese - 4 dice
• 3 ounces meat - deck of cards

Remember, today's emphasis on larger portions can be misleading; for example, 1 large bagel can equal up to 4 servings! So be careful not to overeat by confusing portion sizes with serving sizes.

10 Ways to Cut Out the Fat

• Order a side vegetable as an appetizer when dining out
• Broil, roast, stir-fry, steam, or poach instead of frying
• Replace part or all of the meat with vegetables in casseroles, lasagna, meat loaf, stir-fry,
  pasta, and soup recipes
• Prepare a main dish using dried beans or legumes
• Substitute applesauce for the oil, margarine, or fat in baking recipes
• Drain browned hamburger and rinse with hot water
• Make salad dressings, sauces, and dips with nonfat yogurt
• Switch to nonfat cream cheese, salad dressings, yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese
• Drink skim or 1% milk
• Remove the fat from soups, stews, gravies, and sauces by refrigerating and then skimming the fat off the top

When you're ready, the Food Guide Pyramid is a handy tool to help you achieve a healthy diet. Plan your daily food choices by selecting the number of servings in each group.