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How Do You Imagine Yourself in 2020?
Patrice Powers-Barker, OSU Extension, Lucas County
The Truth Contributor
The goal of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020
Edition is to help promote health and reduce the risk of
chronic disease across the lifespan. The Office of Disease
Prevention and Health reminds us: healthy eating is
one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce the onset
of disease. Healthy eating helps prevent chronic diseases
like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and Type 2
diabetes.
Healthy people come in all shapes and sizes – and ages! As
you imagine yourself in 2020, it does not matter how old you
are now nor how old you will be in 2020. We are all
encouraged to follow a healthy eating pattern across the
lifespan.
Key recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
remind us to include:
·
A variety of vegetables from all subgroups – dark green, red
and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy and other
·
Fruits, especially whole fruits
·
Grains, at least half of which are whole grains
·
Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese,
and/or fortified soy beverages
·
A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats
and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas) and nuts, seeds,
and soy products
·
Oils that are liquid at room temperature from plants like:
canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, and
sunflower. Oils also are naturally present in nuts, seeds,
seafood, olives, and avocados.
·
Exercise is another healthy habit that can last a lifetime.
Physical activity, like healthy eating should be enjoyable
and adaptable to a person’s lifestyle and budget.
A healthy eating pattern limits saturated fats and
trans fats (fats that are solid at room temperature), added
sugars, and sodium.
Can you imagine yourself following those healthy eating
recommendations through 2020? It does not matter how fit and
healthy you are right now - or if you are not fit and
healthy right now. If you do follow those healthy
suggestions, keep up the good work! If you do not currently,
don’t despair. We are all encouraged to shift to
healthier food and beverage choices. Most people can
benefit from making shifts in eating habits to improve
health across the lifespan. Be encouraged that small shifts,
or small healthy choices throughout the week, a day, or even
a meal, can make a positive difference in creating a healthy
eating pattern. Some examples of healthy eating pattern
shifts include:
·
Instead of a high calorie snack like chips and high-fat dip,
choose a nutrient dense snack like vegetable slices and
hummus
·
Instead of choosing fruit products with added sugar (or just
a fruit flavored snack) choose a piece of fruit like an
apple or berries or banana or raisins ….
·
Instead of refined grains like plain white bread, choose 100
percent whole grain bread and other grain foods
·
Instead of snacks with added sugar, choose an unsalted snack
like almonds
·
Instead of cooking with solid fats, choose oils that are
liquid at room temperature
·
Instead of beverages with added sugars, choose
no-sugar-added beverages like infused water
What is your role in the community? It does not matter if
you have an official leadership title or not. You are part
of this community and everyone has a role in helping to
create and support healthy eating in all settings from home
to school to work to communities.
The Dietary Guidelines recognize that we all have individual
and personal factors including our diet and physical
activity that help predict our personal health outcomes. In
addition to that, we all interact with our immediate
settings like our home, schools, worksites, recreational
facilities, grocery stores and restaurants as well as other
community settings.
We can all play a small but important role in helping make
small changes or shifts so that healthy food options are the
first options at our different settings.
If you haven’t had a chance to shop at a local farmers
market yet this year, it’s the best time of year for a great
variety of fruits and vegetables. If you are free on Friday,
September 9, 2016, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. come downtown to
Local Food Friday, located on Jackson Street outside of One
Government Center. Buy lunch from local food vendors and
food trucks and enjoy live music while you dine. Also buy
fresh produce from local vegetable growers.
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