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Improving Your Food Choices

Home > Staying Active and Eating Healthy Home > How to Eat for Health > Improving Your Food Choices

• At Home
• Eating Out
• Additional Resources

There are many small ways that you can change your eating habits so that you eat healthier foods. Consider these tips when choosing or preparing your foods.

At Home

• Fry foods with a little bit of olive oil rather than butter, margarine, or lots of vegetable oil.
• Use canola oil when baking.
• Prepare fish such as salmon or mackerel twice a week.
• Sprinkle slivered nuts or sunflower seeds on your salads instead of bacon bits.
• Eat Canadian bacon or lean ham instead of bacon.
• Try low-fat frozen yogurt instead of regular ice cream.
• Eat broiled, baked, roasted, or grilled chicken without the skin instead of fried chicken.
• Add lettuce, tomato, and other vegetables, rather than cheese, to your sandwiches.
• Eat extra lean ground beef (5% fat) instead of regular ground beef (25% fat).
• Try whole-wheat tortillas instead of regular flour tortillas.
• Try whole-wheat or multigrain bread instead of white bread.
• Try low-fat, low-sodium crackers instead of regular crackers.
• Eat water-packed rather than oil-packed tuna.
• Use mustard, catsup, or low-fat mayonnaise on your sandwiches instead of regular mayonnaise.
• Try making sandwiches with 95% to 97% fat-free lunch meats.
• Use lemon juice, herb vinegar, or reduced-calorie salad dressings on your salads.
• Choose nonhydrogenated peanut butter. You can tell that it's nonhydrogenated if there's some oil on top of the peanut butter. Hydrogenated peanut butter is all solid at room temperature.
• Eat lower-fat cookies, such as graham crackers or fig bars.
• Choose canned fruits packed in water rather than syrup.

Eating Out

In any restaurant:

• Ask for salad dressing, gravy, or sauce on the side and use sparingly.
• Choose main dishes that are broiled, baked, roasted, or grilled, instead of deep-fried or pan-fried.
• Don't be afraid to make special requests, such as asking that something be cooked with less fat.

When ordering a sandwich:

• Add lettuce and tomato.
• Ask for whole-wheat or rye bread.
• Choose mustard instead of mayonnaise.

At Chinese restaurants:

• Have brown rice instead white rice.
• Order a side dish of steamed broccoli.

At fast food places:

• Order smaller burgers. Skip the cheese and bacon.
• Order a grilled chicken sandwich.
• Order garden or grilled chicken salads with low-fat dressings.
• Choose water or low-fat milk instead of regular soda.

At pizza places:

• Ask for vegetable toppings, such as mushrooms or peppers, rather than meat toppings.
• Get whole-wheat crust.
• Request half the cheese.
• Eat a salad with low-fat dressing in place of a slice of pizza.

Additional Resources

Publications

1.   Aim For A Healthy Weight! - These guidelines from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute present a new approach for assessing whether someone is overweight or obese. They also establish principles of safe and effective weight loss. Calculate your obesity risk online. If you need to lose weight or need help maintaining your current weight, there are items to help you get started, including recipes, shopping tips, and advice on choosing an exercise program.

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/patmats.htm

2. Nutrition: How to Make Healthier Food Choices (Copyright © AAFP) - This fact sheet outlines the foods to eat for a varied and nutritious diet.

   http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/food/general-nutrition/297.html...

Organizations

1.   Food and Nutrition Information Center, NAL, USDA
2.   Nutrition.Gov
3. American Dietetic Association
4. International Food Information Council

= Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated June 17, 2008.