Chronic Disease Prevention & Control

Nutrition

Eating well means eating a variety of food to achieve a balanced diet. Choose foods on a daily basis from all five food groups; grains, vegetables, fruits, and dairy and the protein group (containing meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts).

Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snack

Breakfast

• • Breakfast on the Go
  • Breakfast on the Run
  • Breakfast is an important source of energy and nutrition at the beginning of the day. Missing breakfast can cause you to feel fatigued, experience a loss of energy, or become dehydrated.
• • For a Healthy Breakfast on the Run:
  • Choose toast, a roll, or a bagel. Skip the spread, or limit the amount of butter, margarine or cream cheese. Try low-fat cream cheese or preserves!
  • Choose low-fat scones or muffins instead of doughnuts, pastries, crossants or biscuits.
  • Choose lean ham instead of bacon or sausage.
  • Try to limit an egg breakfast to no more than three times per week or switch to a cholesterol and fat free egg beaters.
  • Switch to decaffeinated tea or coffee. Better yet, try a nutrient - rich fruit juice.
• • Best Bet
  • Whole grain cereal, with skim or 1% milk and banana; or low/non-fat yogurt with berries.

Lunch

• • Lunch On The Go
  • Often you do not have a lot of time for lunch. It is more difficult to make healthy food choices when you are in a hurry. Remember that fast food restaurants to take out menu items are often high in fat. Try to minimize the fast food and take out lunches among your lunch options.
• • Soup Kettle:
  • Choose bean or vegetable soups. Limits soups made with cheese, whole milk or cream.
  • Load up on greens - the darker, the more nutritious.
  • Choose fresh, raw vegetables.
  • Try roasted or grilled vegetables, without oil.
  • Dress salads with reduced fat or fat-free dressings, lemon juice or flavored vinegar.
  • Limit amounts of high fat items - eggs, cheese, bacon bits, flavored croutons and prepared salads, such as coleslaw, potato, macaroni, chicken, tuna, shrimp or egg salad. These are traditionally made with lots of mayonnaise. Take small amounts, or ask for lo-fat mayonnaise.
  • Select fruit salad or whole fruit daily.
• • Sandwich Board:
  • Choose whole-grain rolls, bread, pita or tortilla wraps. Select grilled or sliced meats instead of meas that are fried or breaded.
  • Preferred slice meat include: fresh roast beef, Virginia ham, boiled ham, roast port, skinless turkey, or grilled chicken.
  • Skip the cheese unless there is a low-fat variety.
  • Try grilled or roasted vegetables instead of meat.
  • Ask for sandwich salads (tuna, chicken and egg) that are made with low-fat mayonnaise.
  • Select mustard, ketchup or reduced fat or fat-free salad dressings as condiments.
• • Food Tip:
  • If the sandwich is oversized, save half for lunch the next day or split it with a coworker.

Dinner

• • Dining Out
  • Eating out is a great pleasure for most of us. However, if also poses the greatest challenge to maintaining a healthy diet with eating well. You can continue to have a relatively healthy diet if you follow the guidelines below.
• • Fast Food Pizza
  • Choose vegetable toppings for pizza. Avoid meat toppings. Try having one slice with a salad as a side dish. Better yet, try a cheeseless slice.
• • Fast Food Burger:
  • Normal size it. Try a single serving hamburger without cheese. Select ketchup instead of the mayonnaise dressing. Limit the amount of french fries.
• • Fast Food Chicken:
  • Try roasted chicken without the skin. Choose white meat more often that dark. Try a grilled chicken sandwich. Limit the amount of fried chicken. Choose side dishes without added butter - corn, baked potato, or rice and beans.
• • Italian:
  • Choose pasta with red (tomato) sauce instead of white (cream) sauce. Avoid large quantities of olive oil or cheese or fatty meals, such as sausage and proscuitto.
• • Chinese:
  • Avoid fried foods, such as egg rolls, shimp rolls and fried rice. Limit fatts times like duck and spare ribs. Be careful of stir fry and sweet and sour dishes that contain deep fat fried meats. Choose vegetable or sliced meat dishes with steamed rice. Ask for sauce on the side with only half the usual oil.
• • Mexican:
  • Choose (soft) tortillas, burrito and fajitas. Choose read beans and rice, corn, tomatoes and salsa. Limit sour cream, quacomole, extra cheese, chorizo (sausage), mole sauce, refried beans and fried (hard) tortillas, taco shells and chips.

Snack

• • Snacking:
  • Choose pretzels, unbuttered popcorn, baked chips, low-fat cookies (ginger snaps, fig newton, biscuit) or low-fat crackers (melba toast). Choose fresh vegetables. Choose fresh or dried fruit. For a higher calorie and higher protein snack, choose low-fat-fat yogurt or a train mix or seeds, nuts and dried fruit.

For more information, call 311.