Making Healthy Food Choices

The Indian Food Guide Pyramid is one way to help you make healthy food choices. The Indian food pyramid is a good guide for most other South Asian diets as well. This guide takes into consideration foods that are included in most South Asian diets. The food pyramid can help you choose from a variety of foods so you get the nutrients you need, and the suggested serving sizes can help you control the amount of calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar or sodium in your diet.

• Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of fruits—whether fresh, frozen, canned, or dried—rather than fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. For a 2,000-calorie diet, you will need 2-4 servings of fruit each day. Examples of a 1 serving include:
  • 1 cup chopped fruit (mango, guava, pear, orange, etc.)
  • ½ cup dried fruit
  • 1 cup 100% fruit juice
  • 1 large banana
  • 1 small apple
  • 8 large strawberries
  
  
  
• Vary your veggies. Eat more dark green veggies, such as bitter gourd, spinach, and other dark leafy greens; orange veggies, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash; and beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas, and lentils.
  Examples of 1 serving include:
  
  • 1 cup raw or cooked vegetables (cauliflower, cucumber, bell pepper, doodhi, okra, green beans, etc.)
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • ½ cup cooked beans (chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans)
  • 2 cups raw leafy greens (spinach or lettuce)
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 cup vegetable juice
  
  
  
• Get your calcium-rich foods. 2 to 3 servings of dairy a day is good.If you don't or can't consume milk, choose lactose-free milk products and/or calcium-fortified foods and beverages.
  Examples of 1 serving include:
  • 1 cup low-fat or fat free milk
  • 1 cup/1 8oz container of yogurt/dahi
  • 1 ½ oz hard cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, swiss)
  • 2 cups cottage cheese
  • 1 ½ cups ice cream
  • ¼ cup or 2 oz of paneer (prepared with 1% milk)
  
  
  
• Make half your grains whole. Eat at least 3 servings of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta every day. Use whole wheat, brown rice, baked pooris, and whole wheat biscuits.
  Examples of 1 serving include
  
  • ½ cup cooked oatmeal
  • 1 6-inch chapatti/roti
  • ½ cup cooked rice
  • 1 3-inch idli
  • ½ cup cooked pasta
  • 1 slice of bread
  • 5 whole-wheat crackers
  • 1 square dhokla
  
  
  
• Go lean with protein. Choose lean meats and poultry and seafood. Bake it, broil it, or grill it.
  Eat your legumes and pulses. These include items such as toovar dal, moong, rajma, or chana dal.
  Examples of 1 serving include:
  • 1 oz cooked skinless turkey or chicken, beef, pork, or fish
  • 1 Tbsp peanut butter
  • ½ oz of nuts (12 almonds, 24 pistachios, 7 walnut halves)
  • ½ cup dahl
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup/2 oz of tofu
  • ½ cup cooked beans (rajma, chole)

Know the limits on fats, salt, and sugars. Read the Nutrition Facts label on foods. Look for foods low in saturated fats and without trans fats or hydrogenated fats. Choose vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, soybean, olive), fats that are mono or poly unsaturated. Avoid fats that are solid at room temperature such as butter, ghee, shortening, or lard.Choose and prepare foods and beverages with little salt (sodium) and/or added sugars (caloric sweeteners).
Aim for 5-7 teaspoons of fat per day. Examples of a teaspoon of fat include:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil (1 Tbsp=3 tsp)
• 1 Tbsp trans fat free margarine
• 1 oz nuts
• 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp salad dressing