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New Year, New Dietary Guidelines
Happy New Year! I hope that everyone enjoyed the holidays and is off to a well start this year! Not only are we welcoming in year 2016, but we are also welcoming the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that were released on January 7, 2016.
One of my favorite things about the new guidelines is the inclusion of a recommendation to consume no more that 10% of daily calories from added sugar. This is the first set of DGA’s to include a limit for added sugar intake. This recommendation is consistent with the FDA’s new regulation that requires nutrition labels to include the amount of added sugars and the percent of daily value that those added sugars represent. If you are interested in a healthy sweet treat, check out my watermelon cooler recipe! This recipe has no added sugars, only naturally occurring sugars from the fruits included this recipe.
Another recommendation that I am excited about is the inclusion of moderate coffee consumption as part of a healthy diet. Moderate is defined as three to five 8 ounce cups a day. This is great news for all of my fellow coffee drinkers! It is important to be mindful of cream and sugar use when consuming coffee. I like to use maple syrup to sweeten my coffee. Maple Syrup can be a healthy, natural sweetener due to it’s richness in antioxidants including polyphenols that may help reduce inflammation and minerals including zinc and manganese. Check out this infographic from Pure Canada Maple:
The new DGA also recommended limiting saturated fat consumption but not necessarily unsaturated fat. Unsaturated fat represents healthy fats that are rich in Omega-3’s and Omega-6’s. For more information on healthy fats, check out my blog post about Essential Fatty Acids!
Overall, it seems like the new DGA provides great recommendations for a healthy 2016-2020! For more information about the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, check out health.gov.
