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The main message: Focus on diet quality The type of carbohydrate in the diet is more important than the amount of carbohydrate in the diet, because some sources of carbohydrate—like vegetables (other than potatoes), fruits, whole grains, and beans—are healthier than others. The Healthy Eating Plate also advises consumers to avoid sugary beverages, a major source of calories—usually with little nutritional value—in the American diet. The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to use healthy oils, and it does not set a maximum on the percentage of calories people should get each day from healthy sources of fat. In this way, the Healthy Eating Plate recommends the opposite of the low-fat message promoted for decades by the USDA. The Healthy Eating Plate summarizes the best evidence-based dietary information available today. As nutrition researchers are continually discovering valuable information, The Healthy Eating Plate will be updated to reflect new findings. Indeed, there is much w

THE DASH DIET The DASH diet focuses on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It includes fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans and nuts. The diet limits foods that are high in salt, also called sodium. It also limits added sugar and saturated fat, such as in fatty meats and full-fat dairy products. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, is an eating plan designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure, which is clinically known as hypertension. It emphasizes eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. It is low in salt, red meat, added sugars, and fat. While the DASH diet is not a weight loss diet, many people report losing weight on it. How it works The DASH diet recommends specific servings of different food groups. The number of servings you are encouraged to eat depends on your daily calorie intake. For example, each day an average person on the DASH diet would eat about: five servings of vegetables five servings of fruit se