Healthy Food Choices Article
The Basics of the Basic Food Groups
Medical and health professionals have established five basic food groups. The reason for the establishment of the five food groups is that health professionals wanted the general public to know what kinds of foods and nutrients are required to maintain a healthy body. These basic food groups are essential in providing things that our bodies need on a regular basis in order to maintain itself. People often refer to the five basic food groups as the “food pyramid”. The reason that the five basic food groups were organized into a pyramid structure is to help people keep in mind the total amount of servings of each food group that one should consume in a given day.
As stated previously, there are a total of five food groups. The food groups are as follows: Grains, Vegetables, Fruits, Milk, and Meat. This is a basic explanation of the basic food groups. Many people prefer to classify the basic food groups as follows: Fiber, Vitamins, Fats, Fiber, and Carbohydrates. However you choose to classify the basic food groups, it is important to ensure that you consume the appropriate portions of each food group, each day.
When consuming foods from the basic food group of grains, you will want to ensure that you eat an assortment of foods such as bread that is advertised to be whole grain, various types of cereals, an assortment of crackers, various styles of rice, and any kind of pasta. You should ensure that you eat the minimum of at least three to four ounces of one of the aforementioned items each day. If you observe the various types of ingredients on these products, you may notice that some are referred to as “whole” type of grains. It is important to make sure the total amount of grains that you consume each day is at least the “whole” type of grain.
It is very important to eat vegetables each day. You can eat the vegetables in the quantity that you desire, and however you wish for them to be prepared. It is important to make sure that you try to eat vegetables that are colored green. These types of vegetables provide the highest amount of nutritional value. The next highest nutritional vegetables are the ones that are orange, like carrots. Try to include a vegetable with your lunch and dinner. You may even choose to have a vegetable as a snack, such as a raw carrot.
Fruits are essential to your body and should be consumed each day. You should eat an assortment of fruit. Experiment and try out new flavors each day. It is better to eat standard fruit then to drink fruit juices. Make sure you implement fruit into your daily regime to optimize your health!
Milk is an essential element to the basic food groups, and can be found in a variety of products. You should ensure that you get a dose of milk each day, whether it is by drinking milk, eating cheese, or simply enjoying some yogurt as a snack.
When eating from the basic food group of meat, you should be sure to choose meat that does not contain a lot of fat. Meat should be cooked by the grill. You can also choose to bake the meat that you eat, or boil the meat that you eat. In addition to meat, you may substitute items like beans, and fish for meat.
