Coach on Call. Thank you for your interest in My Daily Food Needs. I hope you find this tip sheet helpful.

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1 It was great to talk with you. Thank you for your interest in. I hope you find this tip sheet helpful. Please give me a call if you have more questions about this or other topics. As your UPMC Health Plan health coach, I am ready to help in any way I can. What should I eat? Focus on vegetables, fruits, grains, protein foods, and dairy foods. One of the simplest guides to healthy eating is called MyPlate. It uses the image of a place setting to show the five food groups that are the building blocks for a healthy diet. The place setting guides your choices for each meal. CMN (q) UPMC_14_0085 Copyright 2014 UPMC Health Plan, Inc. All rights reserved C ON C NU PYRAMID C (MCG) 4/2/14 PDF

2 Page 2 of 8 The chart below describes each MyPlate food group. Food group Tip Examples of foods What counts as a serving? Vegetables Vary your veggies. Choose among five subgroups each week: dark green; red and orange; cooked dried beans, split peas, and lentils; starchy; and other vegetables. Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice; raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/ dehydrated; whole, cut-up, or mashed One cup is 1 cup raw or cooked vegetables; 1 cup 100% vegetable juice; or 2 leafy salad greens. Fruits Grains Dairy Protein Foods Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of fruit. Choose whole or cutup fruits more often than fruit juice. Make at least half your grains whole. Whole grains include the nutrient-rich bran and germ. Make sure a whole grain is the first item in the ingredient list. Get your calcium-rich foods. Drink fat-free or 1% milk. Choose fat-free or low-fat yogurt and cheese. Or try calcium-fortified soy products. Go lean with protein. Twice a week, make seafood the protein on your plate. Vary your protein routine choose cooked dried beans, split peas, lentils, nuts, and seeds more often. Keep meat and poultry portions small and lean. A healthier life is on the line for you! Any fruit or 100% fruit juice; fresh, canned, frozen, or dried; whole, cut-up, or pureed Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley, or another cereal grain, such as bread, pasta, oatmeal, breakfast cereals, tortillas, and grits All fluid milk products; yogurt; cheese; calciumfortified soymilk; NOT included in this group cream cheese, cream, or butter All foods made from cooked dried beans, split peas, and lentils; eggs; processed soy products; nuts; seeds; seafood; poultry; meat One cup is 1 cup raw or cooked fruit; 1 cup 100% fruit juice; or ½ cup dried fruit. One ounce is 1 slice of bread (1 ounce); ½ cup cooked pasta, rice, or cereal; 1 ounce uncooked pasta or rice; 1 tortilla (6- inch diameter); 1 pancake (5-inch diameter); or 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal (about 1 cup cereal flakes). One cup is 1 cup milk; 1 cup fortified soymilk (soy beverage); 1 cup yogurt; 1½ ounces natural cheese (e.g., Cheddar); or 2 ounces processed cheese (e.g., American). One ounce equivalent is 1 ounce lean meat, poultry, seafood; 1 egg; 1 tablespoon peanut butter; ½ ounce nuts or seeds; or ¼ cup cooked dried beans, split peas, or lentils.

3 Page 3 of 8 Use small amounts of oils. Oils are not a MyPlate food group. But they are needed in small amounts for health. Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature. Examples are canola, corn, cottonseed, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, and sunflower oils. Some foods are naturally high in oils such as nuts, seeds, olives, some fish, and avocados. Foods that are mainly oil include mayonnaise, some salad dressings, and tub or liquid margarine with no trans fats. Trans fat is a fat made from vegetable oils and is solid at room temperature. Limit trans fat as much as possible. One teaspoon oil is 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (e.g., canola, corn, olive, soybean); 1½ teaspoons mayonnaise; 2 teaspoons tub margarine; or 2 teaspoons Italian-type salad dressing. Limit empty calories. Empty calories are calories from solid fats, added sugars, or alcohol that provide calories but few or no nutrients. Calories measure the energy in food. Solid fats are fats that are solid at room temperature, for example, butter, beef fat, shortening, and stick margarine. Some solid fats are found naturally in foods. They can also be added when foods are processed by food companies or when foods are prepared. Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added when foods or beverages are processed or prepared. The foods and drinks that provide the greatest number of empty calories for Americans are: cakes, cookies, pastries, donuts, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, cheese, pizza, ice cream, sausages, hot dogs, bacon, and ribs. Many of these foods can be found in forms with less or no solid fat/added sugar. A small amount of empty calories is okay. But most people eat far more than is healthy. How much should I eat? The amount you should eat depends on your age, gender, weight, height, and how active you are. To learn how much to eat, use one of the two methods below. 1. Use the Daily Food Plans tool on the MyPlate website. Visit the MyPlate website at Click on the SuperTracker and Other Tools tab at the top of the page. Select Daily Food Plans. Enter your age, sex, weight, and height. Also choose the amount of physical activity you do.

4 Page 4 of 8 Click on the Submit button. You will be given a Daily Food Plan, based on the average needs of someone like you. The plan includes your daily calorie needs and targets for each of the five food groups, oils, and empty calories. You can print out your plan. You can also print a worksheet for tracking what you eat and drink. Would you like a more detailed assessment of your diet and physical activity? Click on the link for SuperTracker. Talk with your UPMC Health Plan health coach if you have questions about the Daily Food Plans tool. 2. Or estimate your food needs. If you don t have access to the MyPlate website, use these steps: 1. First, decide how active you are. Check one: I am inactive. On most days, I do only the light activities of daily life. These include getting dressed, driving, sitting, cooking, eating, and reading. I am active. On most days, I walk briskly for minutes or more. (Briskly means you cover one mile in minutes.) Or I do another activity that s like brisk walking for minutes. Examples include riding a bike, general gardening, and water aerobics. I am somewhere in the middle. 2. Find your estimated daily calorie needs. Look at the chart on the next page. Find your age and gender in the left column. Your calorie needs are in the same row. Use the lower number if you are inactive. Use the higher number if you are active. Use a number between the two if you re somewhere in the middle. I need about calories to stay at my current weight. Important: Keep in mind that this is a rough estimate. This calorie level is for staying at your current weight. To lose weight, you will need fewer calories. To gain weight, you will need more. If you become much more active, your calorie needs will go up. If you become much less active, your calorie needs will go down.

5 Page 5 of 8 Estimated Daily Calorie Needs Age/Sex Calorie Range Per Day Inactive Active Children 1,000 1, Years Females 4-8 years 1,200 1, ,600 2, ,800 2, ,000 2, ,800 2, ,600 2,200 Males 4-8 years ,400 2,000 1,800 2,600 2,200 3,200 2,400 3,000 2,200 3,000 2,000 2, Find your targets for each food group, oils, and empty calories. Look at the chart below. Find your calorie needs in the top row. Circle or highlight that number and the numbers below it. Aim to eat those amounts from the MyPlate food groups and oils. Aim to limit your empty calories to the amount given or less. Daily Food Needs Estimated 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,800 3,000 3,200 daily calorie needs Grains 3 oz. 4 oz. 5 oz. 5 oz. 6 oz. 6 oz. 7 oz. 8 oz. 9 oz. 10 oz. 10 oz. 10 oz. Vegetables 1 cup Fruits 1 cup 1 cup Dairy Protein 2 oz. 3 oz. 4 oz. 5 oz. 5 oz. 5.5 oz. 6 oz. 6.5 oz. 6.5 oz. 7 oz. 7 oz. 7 oz. Foods Oils 3 tsp. 4 tsp. 4 tsp. 5 tsp. 5 tsp. 6 tsp. 6 tsp. 7 tsp. 8 tsp. 8 tsp. 10 tsp. 11 tsp. Empty calories limit

6 Page 6 of 8 Track how closely you follow MyPlate Tracking what you eat will help you become aware of your eating habits now. It will also show you where you can make changes to more closely follow MyPlate. For a tracker, you can use: My Daily Food Plan Worksheet. This is found on the MyPlate website. To create the worksheet, first create your food plan using the Daily Food Plans tool. See above for instructions. Next, on the page that shows your Daily Food Plan, click on the link to the right that says: Click here to view and print a PDF of a helpful Meal Planning Worksheet. The attached MyPlate Tracker. Fill in the blanks in the column labeled Target based on your food needs. Then list the foods you eat and the amounts in the appropriate food groups. Estimate your total for the day for each row, and compare with your targets.

7 Page 7 of 8 MyPlate Tracker Make copies of this page to use. Keep one copy blank for making more copies from in the future. Name Date Food group and other Target List everything you eat and drink and the amounts Estimate your total for the day Fruits Vegetables Grains ounces ounces (at least ounces whole grains) ( ounces whole grains) Protein Foods ounces ounces Dairy Oils teaspoons teaspoons Empty Calories calories calories

8 Page 8 of 8 Take Action Name two small changes you would like to make now to more closely follow MyPlate. Examples: I will eat a piece of fresh fruit with my lunch on weekdays. I will have 1% milk instead of 2% milk on my breakfast cereal.