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.
Maintaining desirable weight
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.