Eating a nutrition and balanced diet is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle. To help individuals manage eating habits, the United States Department of Agriculture developed the Food Guide Pyramid. The pyramid contains information on breads and cereals, fruits, vegetables meal and poultry and dairy. The nutrients from dairy remain an integral part of a complete diet.
Dairy Category Options
Dairy products are all fluid milk products and foods that are made from milk and retain the calcium. Some foods like butter or cream, which are technically made from milk, don't retain the nutritional value after they're made and as such aren't considered dairy options. Most milk options should be low fat or fat free.
Serving Sizes
According to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, men and women over the age of 19 should have three cups of dairy daily, as should children between ages of 9 and 18. Kids between the ages 2 and 8 should have two cups of dairy daily.
Making Up a Serving
One single serving or cup of milk can come from actual milk, yogurt, cheese or even milk-based desserts. For milk, 1 cup of fluid milk or 1/2 cup fluid evaporated milk constitutes 1 cup or serving. For yogurt, 8 ounces or 1 cup constitutes one serving. For low fat cheeses, 2 cups of cottage cheese or half a cup of ricotta cheese constitutes one serving. For more cheese options, go with 2 ounces of processed cheese such as an American cheese slice, 1/3 cup of shredded cheese or 1 1/2 ozs. of hard cheese such as cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss and Parmesan. For a sweet touch to daily dairy servings, 1 cup of milk-based pudding, 1 cup of frozen yogurt or 1 1/2cups of ice cream constitute one cup or one serving of dairy.
Member Comments