According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 and CDC, a healthy eating plan:
Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products
Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts
Is low in saturated fats, trans fat, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars
Stays within your daily calorie needs
Changes based on age, special considerations (pregnant or underlying condition)
Featured below are multiple examples of healthy eating featuring the definition, overview, and resource. Search through the tabs to learn more about healthy eating plans.
The National Institute on Aging defines a healthy eating pattern includes a variety of nutrient-dense foods across and within all the food groups:
Vegetables
Fruits
Grains
Protein foods
Dairy products
Oils
MyPlate is based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.
Emphasis on:
The American Diabetes Association recommends the Diabetes Plate Method. It is the easiest way to create healthy meals that can help manage blood sugar. Using this method, you can create portioned meals with a healthy balance of vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates—without any counting, calculating, weighing, or measuring. All you need is a plate!
Nonstarchy vegetables (1/2 plate)
Lean protein (1/4 plate)
Carbohydrate foods (1/4 plate) - greatest effect on blood sugar levels
Water or low-calorie drink
The DASH Eating Plan stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension. It is a flexible and balanced eating plan that helps create a heart-healthy eating style for life.
The DASH eating plan requires no special foods and instead provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends
It requires no special foods and instead provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends:
Eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils
Limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils
Limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets.
Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate places emphasis on:
Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service defines intuitive eating as “a way of eating using our hunger and fullness cues that signals the body to know when and how much to eat.”
Harvard Health published 8 Steps for Mindful Eating, which begins with your shopping list to the act of eating.
Explore information about Shopping Smart.