Healthy Eating From All of the Food Groups

No matter what your healthy eating or weight goals are, it is helpful to know a little about the basic food groups. This can help you ensure that you are eating a healthy, balanced diet and are giving your body the nutrients and fuel it needs to function properly. Whether you grew up with the four basic food groups, the food pyramid, or another way of grouping food, nutritional science has changed over the years and continues to evolve to supply us with the best nutritional information available.

When grouping foods together, foods with similar nutritional properties are always put in the same group. The food groups provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are based on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, eating plant. Each eating plan you find may have slight differences, but the fundamentals should remain the same.

The CDC has five main groupings of food:

1. Grains: Whole wheat bread and rolls, whole wheat pasta, English muffin, pita bread, bagel, cereals, grits, oatmeal, brown rice, unsalted pretzels, and popcorn.

2. Fruits: Apples, apricots, bananas, dates, grapes, oranges, grapefruit, grapefruit juice, mangoes, melons, peaches, pineapples, raisins, strawberries, tangerines, and 100 percent fruit juice.

3. Vegetables: Broccoli, carrots, collards, green beans, green peas, kale, lima beans, potatoes, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes.

4. Fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products: Fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk or buttermilk, fat-free, low-fat, or reduced-fat cheese, fat-free or low-fat regular or frozen yogurt

5. Lean meats, poultry, and fish: Beef, poultry, pork, game meats, fish, shellfish Select only lean; trim away visible fats; broil, roast, or poach; remove skin from poultry.

6. Nuts, seeds, and legumes: Almonds, hazelnuts, mixed nuts, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, kidney beans, lentils, split peas.

By choosing a variety of foods from each of these different food groups, you’ll be well on your way to establishing the healthy eating habits your desire.