Nutrition-and-Diet -fitness-first-house

Complete physical fitness is not just about exercise, but also includes good nutrition and a sensible diet. You maintain a healthy body weight and body fat percentage through sound diet and exercise to ensure the best health, fitness, and physical performance. All of these things are relevant to maintaining military readiness and achieving peak performance. The Food Pyramid Knowing the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Guidelines and understanding the Food Pyramid to determine your daily requirements of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat will help you make healthy food choices and improve your physical fitness. A new version  of the pyramid debuted in 2005 and shows the types of foods and the proportions that most healthy people should eat. In addition, USDA has an interactive website to help you track your diet. Visit www.MyPyramid.gov, where you can personalize your diet by age, gender, and general fitness level. A healthy diet has the right kinds of foods in the right amounts. Look at the Food Pyramid in Figure 2.2. The person walking up the steps on the left represents the need for daily physical activity and different individuals’ different nutrition needs. The different widths of the food group bands indicate the need for proportion—how much you should choose from each group.

• Orange (grains): USDA recommends you eat at least three ounces of whole-grain

bread, cereal, crackers, rice, or pasta every day. Half your grains should be whole.

To make sure you’re eating whole grains, look for the word “whole” before the grain

name on the list of ingredients.

• Green (vegetables): You should vary vegetable servings, eating more dark green

vegetables, orange vegetables, and dried beans and peas.

• Red (fruits): Eat a variety of fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruit, but go easy on

fruit juices, which may contain empty calories in the form of added sugars and

sweeteners.

• Yellow (oils and fats): Most of your fats should come from fish, nuts, and vegetable

oils. Limit your consumption of solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening,

and lard. Instead, when possible, consume foods with omega fish oils, which help

maintain your cardiovascular health.

• Blue (milk, an important source of calcium): Choose low-fat or fat-free milk. If

you don’t or can’t drink milk, choose lactose-free products or other sources of

calcium, such as hard cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss, or parmesan), cottage

cheese, and low-fat or fat-free yogurt (including frozen yogurt).

• Purple (meat, beans, and eggs): You may notice that this band, like the yellow

band for oils, is thinner than the others. This visually reminds you to “Go lean on

protein.” Choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry that are baked, broiled, or grilled