New 2010 dietary guidelines for Americans

There is an old saying..."Health is wealth." Achieving and maintaining a healthy body requires some effort. To help us reach this goal, the United States Department of Agriculture has recently released a new set of dietary guidelines for Americans.

According to the USDA the new dietary guidelines "focus on balancing calories with physical activity, and encourage Americans to consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free dairy products, and seafood, and to consume less sodium, saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains."

Why have new guidelines been released? By law, the guidelines must be reviewed and if necessary updated every 5 years.

Americans are facing an obesity epidemic. One in three children as well as the majority of adults are overweight or obese. The health implications of these statistics are enormous. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines offer some "key recommendations" to help people identify positive steps that they can take to achieve a healthy weight. These recommendations involve physical activity and managing calories. Healthcare professionals can also use these guidelines to educate their patients.

There are also specific recommendations regarding daily sodium intake, reducing saturated and trans fatty acids and calories from solid fats, sugars, and refined grains.

In my upcoming posts, I will review these recommendations in more detail. To obtain a nice summary of the guidelines, view this PDF.