Nutrition is the food you eat and how the body uses it.
People differ in how much they want to know about nutrition, but everyone needs to know a few facts about food and health as a basis for selecting the foods to eat.
You need food to get energy for work and play, to move, to breathe, to keep the heart beating—just to be alive. Children and youths need energy from food for growth.
Food also provides a variety of substances—nutrients—that are essential for the building, the upkeep, and the repair of body tissues, and for the efficient functioning of the body.
Everyone needs the same nutrients throughout life but in different amounts. Proportionately greater amounts are required for the growth of a body than just for its upkeep. Boys and men need more energy and nutrients than girls and women. Large people need more than small people. Active people require more food energy than inactive ones. People recovering from illness need more than healthy people.
You and your family can get all the nutrients you need from foods, but no one food contains all the nutrients in the amounts required for growth and health. Only a variety of different kinds of foods will supply all you need.
Nutrition scientists have translated knowledge of the nutrient needs of people and the nutritive values of foods into an easy-to-use guide for food selection.
This Daily Food Guide, on pages 4 and 5, sorts foods into four groups on the basis of their similarity in nutrient content. Each of the broad food groups has a special contribution to make toward an adequate diet.
Here are some of the reasons different food groups are emphasized in the guide and the names of some of the nutrients these foods provide.
Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs from themeat groupand their alternates—dry beans, dry peas, and nuts—are valued for their protein. This is needed for the growth and repair of body tissues—muscle, organs, blood, skin, and hair. These foods also contribute iron and the B-vitamins—thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.
Vegetables and fruits from thevegetable-fruit groupare valuable sources of vitamins and minerals. In the guide, this group is counted on to supply most of the vitamin C and a large share of the vitamin A value in the diet. Choices are directed toward the citrus fruits and some other foods that are among the better sources of vitamin C; and toward the dark-green and deep-yellow ones for vitamin A value.
Vitamin C is needed for healthy gums and body tissues. Vitamin A is important for growth, normal vision, and a healthy condition of the skin and other body surfaces.
Foods from themilk groupare relied on to meet most of the calcium needs for the day. Milk is the leading source of the mineral calcium, which is needed for bones and teeth.
Milk also provides protein, riboflavin, vitamin A, and many other nutrients. Cheese and ice cream also supply these nutrients, but in different proportions.
Thebread-cereal group, with its whole-grain and enriched bread and other cereal products, furnishes important amounts of protein, iron, several of the B-vitamins, and food energy.
Fats, oils, sugars, and sweets are not emphasized in the guide because they are common in every diet. Some of the fats and oils provide certain of the vitamins, and some furnish essential fatty acids, but the chief nutritional contribution of these foods is energy value.
Homemakers who follow the guide will find it flexible enough to use in choosing foods for families.
Food choices within the groups are wide enough to allow for a variety of everyday foods. Meals can be planned to include family favorites, foods in season, and foods to fit the family budget.
The size of servings can be suited to the needs of family members—small servings for children and for those wanting to lose weight; extra large servings (or seconds) for very active adults, teenagers, and those wanting to gain weight. Pregnant and nursing women also need more food.
Foods from the Daily Food Guide fit easily into a three-meals-a-day pattern of eating. Foods from each group often appear in each meal—but this isn’t essential. The important thing is that the suggested number of servings from each food group be included sometime during the day.
Many people want and need more food than the minimum servings suggested from the four food groups. To round out meals and satisfy appetites, you can include additional foods from the four groups as well as other foods not listed in these groups.
A Daily Food Guide
MEAT GROUP
Meat products
Foods Included
Beef; veal; lamb; pork; variety meats, such as liver, heart, kidney.
Poultry and eggs.
Fish and shellfish.
As alternates—dry beans, dry peas, lentils, nuts, peanuts, peanut butter.
Amounts Recommended
Choose 2 or more servings every day.
Count as a serving: 2 to 3 ounces of lean cooked meat, poultry, or fish—all without bone; 2 eggs; 1 cup cooked dry beans, dry peas, or lentils; 4 tablespoons peanut butter.
VEGETABLE-FRUIT GROUP
Foods Included
All vegetables and fruits. This guide emphasizes those that are valuable as sources of vitamin C and vitamin A.
Sources of Vitamin C
Good sources.—Grapefruit or grapefruit juice; orange or orange juice; cantaloup; guava; mango; papaya; raw strawberries; broccoli; brussels sprouts; green pepper; sweet red pepper.
Fair sources.—Honeydew melon; lemon; tangerine or tangerine juice; watermelon; asparagus tips; raw cabbage; collards; garden cress; kale; kohlrabi; mustard greens; potatoes and sweetpotatoes cooked in the jacket; spinach; tomatoes or tomato juice; turnip greens.
Sources of Vitamin A
Dark-green and deep-yellow vegetables and a few fruits, namely: Apricots, broccoli, cantaloup, carrots, chard, collards, cress, kale, mango, persimmon, pumpkin, spinach, sweetpotatoes, turnip greens and other dark-green leaves, winter squash.
Vegetable products
Amounts Recommended
Choose 4 or more servings every day, including:
1 serving of a good source of vitamin C or 2 servings of a fair source.1 serving, at least every other day, of a good source of vitamin A. If the food chosen for vitamin C is also a good source of vitamin A, the additional serving of a vitamin A food may be omitted.
1 serving of a good source of vitamin C or 2 servings of a fair source.
1 serving, at least every other day, of a good source of vitamin A. If the food chosen for vitamin C is also a good source of vitamin A, the additional serving of a vitamin A food may be omitted.
The remaining 1 to 3 or more servings may be of any vegetable or fruit, including those that are valuable for vitamin C and for vitamin A.
Count as 1 serving: ½ cup of vegetable or fruit; or a portion as ordinarily served, such as 1 medium apple, banana, orange, or potato, half a medium grapefruit or cantaloup, or the juice of 1 lemon.
MILK GROUP
Foods Included
Milk—fluid whole, evaporated, skim, dry, buttermilk.
Cheese—cottage; cream; Cheddar-type, natural or process.
Ice cream.
Dairy products
Amounts Recommended
Some milk every day for everyone.
Recommended amounts are given below in terms of 8-ounce cups of whole fluid milk:
Part or all of the milk may be fluid skim milk, buttermilk, evaporated milk, or dry milk.
Cheese and ice cream may replace part of the milk. The amount of either it will take to replace a given amount of milk is figured on the basis of calcium content. Common portions of cheese and of ice cream and their milk equivalents in calcium are:
BREAD-CEREAL GROUP
Foods Included
All breads and cereals that are whole grain, enriched, or restored;check labels to be sure.
Bread products
Specifically, this group includes: Breads; cooked cereals; ready-to-eat cereals; cornmeal; crackers; flour; grits; macaroni and spaghetti; noodles; rice; rolled oats; and quick breads and other baked goods if made with whole-grain or enriched flour. Bulgur and parboiled rice and wheat also may be included in this group.
Amounts Recommended
Choose 4 servings or more daily. Or, if no cereals are chosen, have an extra serving of breads or baked goods, which will make at least 5 servings from this group daily.
Count as 1 serving: 1 slice of bread; 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal; ½ to ¾ cup cooked cereal, cornmeal, grits, macaroni, noodles, rice, or spaghetti.
OTHER FOODS
To round out meals and meet energy needs, almost everyone will use some foods not specified in the four food groups. Such foods include: unenriched, refined breads, cereals, flours; sugars; butter, margarine, other fats. These often are ingredients in a recipe or added to other foods during preparation or at the table.
Try to include some vegetable oil among the fats used.
It is best to maintain desirable weight for one’s height at all ages, even during childhood. Here are two principles that you can use—
• Reduce food intake as you become less active. Exercise and activity use up energy—or calories. If you cut down activity but not food, you are providing more energy than the body needs. The excess is stored as fat.
• Reduce food intake as you—as an adult—get older. As adults grow older, less energy is needed to keep the body functioning.
To reduce food intake without shortchanging the body of essential nutrients, follow the pattern of choices suggested by the Daily Food Guide. Weight watchers need the same types of food for health as everyone else. Crash diets and food fads are not the answer and may be dangerous to health.
Cut down on food, but don’t cut out any important kinds of foods.
Snacks are counted as a part of the day’s total food. Sensible snacking can help meet nutritional needs, but indiscriminate eating between meals usually leads to more calories than are wanted, less of some nutrients than are needed.
Specific information on controlling weight is given in Home and Garden Bulletin 74, “Food and Your Weight.” It includes basic weight-control facts, suggestions for reducing or gaining weight, meals and menus, and calorie values of common foods.
Keep these points in mind when you plan meals for your family:
• Include a variety of foods each day and from day to day. Introduce a new food from time to time.
• Vary flavors and textures. Contrast strong flavor with mild, sweet with sour. Combine crisp textures with smooth.
• Try to have some meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk or cheese at each meal.
• Make a collection of nutritious recipes that the family enjoys and serve them often.
• Brighten food with color—a slice of red tomato, a sprig of dark greens, or other garnish.
• Combine different sizes and shapes of food in a meal, when possible.