Some Calories Are Better Than Others: Making Healthy Choices

Nutrient-dense. Energy-dense. For consumers who want to maintain a healthy diet, what do these terms really mean? Foods that are nutrient-dense contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals compared to their total number of calories.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPyramid recommends replacing energy-dense foods with those that are more nutrient-dense. For example, in the fruit group, apple pie is an energy-dense food while a whole apple is a nutrient-dense food. An apple is a healthier choice.

An easy way topic nutrient-dense foods and beverages is to select foods with the lowest amounts of saturated fats, trans fats and added sugars. Saturated fats and trans fats fend to be solid at room temperature. Some common solid fats are butter, beef fat (tallow, suet, chicken fat, pork fat (lard) stick margarine, and shorting). Saturated fat and trans fat content are clearly marked on the Nutrition Facts label of packaged food items.

It is recommended to replace some of the energy-dense foods you may currently eat with more nutrient-dense alternatives. Some examples include using low-fat or skim milk instead of whole milk; eating low-fat, reduced-fat or fat-free cheese instead of full-fat cheese; removing the skin from chicken before eating it; baking chicken instead of deep frying it; having a bagel instead of a biscuit; and choosing a tomato-based sauce for pasta instead of creamy Alfredo sauce.

(Spaghetti Sauce and Alfredo Sauce)

For more suggestions for making nutrient-dense food choices go to:
http://www/mypyramid.gov/steps/nutrientdensefoodchoices.pdf

Information for this blog article was provide by Susan Nitzke, Cooperative Extension Nutrition Specialist and Nutritional Sciences Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Mallory Koenings, Graduate Student, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison.