Dietary Guidelines

You are the most important influence on your child. You can do many things to help your children develop healthy eating habits for life. Offering a variety of foods helps children get the nutrients they need from every food group.

Making food choices for a healthy lifestyle can be as simple as using these 10 Tips. Use the ideas in this list to balance your calories, to choose foods to eat more often, and to cut back on foods to eat less often.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Recommends that Americans 9 and older include 3 servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy foods in their diet each day. On average, Americans ages 2 and older consume only 2 servings of dairy a day. By adding 1 more serving of milk, cheese or yogurt, Americans can help close the calcium gap and meet their needs for this and other key nutrients.

The Dairy Group includes milk, yogurt, cheese, and fortified soymilk. They provide calcium, vitamin D, potassium, protein, and other nutrients needed for good health throughout life. Choices should be lowfat or fat-free—to cut calories and saturated fat.