Healthy Children Healthy Futures

Food Guide

The food items in the left column are less healthy. The choices on the right are your best route to a healthy body and healthy weight.

Instead of...	Do this ...
Whole or 2% milk, and cream	Use 1% or fat-free milk
Fried foods	Eat baked, steamed, boiled, broiled, or microwaved foods
Cooking with lard, butter, palm and coconut oils, and shortenings made with these oils	Cook with corn, safflower, canola, sunflower, soybean (vegetable), olive, cottonseed, peanut or sesame oils
Smoked, cured, salted and canned meat, poultry and fish	Eat (unsalted) fresh or frozen meat, poultry and fish
Fatty cuts of meat, such as prime rib	Eat lean cuts of meat (i.e. round or loin) and cut off fatty parts of meat
One whole egg in recipes	Use two egg whites
Sour cream and mayonnaise	Replace with plain low-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, or low-fat or "light" sour cream and mayonnaise
Sauces, butter and salt	Season vegetables, including potatoes, with herbs and spices
Regular hard and processed cheeses	Eat low-fat, low-sodium cheeses or just a little regular, flavorful cheese
Regular canned soups, broths and dry soup mixes	Eat sodium-reduced canned soups and broths, mainly those with veggies
White bread, white rice, and cereals made with white flour	Eat whole wheat bread, brown rice, and whole-grain cereals
Potato chips and other snacks	Choose baked chips or other baked snacks

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