Eating a variety of foods from the 5 main food groups provides a variety of nutrients to the body, promotes good health, and can help reduce the risk of disease, in addition to maintaining an interesting diet with different flavors and textures. Eating a clean, balanced diet with healthy choices for all groups is essential for good health. Find out why you should consider eating a wide variety of grains, fruits, vegetables, proteins, and dairy products every day. Eating a balanced diet is important for our health.
Enjoy foods from each of the five food groups and you'll get a fantastic combination of the best nutrients and vitamins. Plant-based sources of protein, such as nuts and seeds, have a different nutritional value than plant-based meat alternatives, which can be heavily processed and high in sodium. Although many beverages can be part of a healthy eating pattern, some add calories without providing nutritional value, so you should avoid them. Keep in mind that how much you should eat to maintain your weight depends on your age, gender, and level of physical activity.
Any food made from wheat, rye, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley, or other cereals is a grain-based product. Understanding the different food groups and how much of each you should include in your diet can help you form a healthy eating pattern over time. While 100% fruit juice is also included in this category, at least half of the fruits you eat should be whole fruits. As these foods do not provide any nutritional benefit, they should only be eaten occasionally and in limited quantities.
It's important to eat the recommended amount from each food group without exceeding the recommended daily calories. By consuming the recommended amounts, people can meet their nutritional needs without having to register dozens of individual nutrients. Measuring daily oils can be complicated; knowing what you add when cooking or baking is one thing, but oil is naturally part of some foods. Some of the food groups are divided into subgroups to emphasize foods that are particularly good sources of certain vitamins and minerals.
The plant food group includes dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, starchy vegetables, and legumes (beans and peas). Most sweetened beverages don't help meet food group goals and often contain a lot of calories.
