Leslie Bertsch, MS, MPH, RD, LD, Nutrition & Health Education Specialist, St. Louis, University of Missouri Extension

Every five years the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services publish the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines are developed by an expert panel of nutrition and health professionals to help all Americans consume a healthy and nutritionally adequate diet. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were recently released and have outlined the following five recommendations…

So what do these guidelines actually mean and how can one use them to consume a healthy diet?

In the past the Dietary Guidelines have focused on specific foods and nutrients that Americans should limit or increase. This set of dietary recommendations is a bit different in the fact that the guidelines focus on a “healthy eating pattern”… The recommendations suggest types of foods that one should consume regularly but allow someone to select their own specific foods to fit within their own culture, lifestyle and budget, while maintaining a healthy body weight…

For the helpful lists of key recommendations from the dietary guidelines and for establishing healthy eating patterns, see the full version of this article at http://missourifamilies.org/features/nutritionarticles/nut476.htm