The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 provide advice on what to eat and drink to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and help prevent chronic disease, like cancer:
- Follow a healthy dietary pattern at every life stage.
- Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices to reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations.
- Focus on meeting food group needs with nutrient-dense foods and beverages, and stay within calorie limits.
- Limit foods and beverages higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcoholic beverages.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPlate website provides information about healthy dietary components in plain language as well as resources and tools like an app, recipes, and meal planners. The site includes toolkits and resources for professionals, and many print and digital materials are available in English and Spanish. Key messages for healthy eating include:
- Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Focus on whole fruits and vary your veggies.
- Make half your grains whole grains.
- Vary your protein routine.
- Move to low-fat or fat-free diary milk or yogurt (or lactose-free dairy or fortified soy versions).
The Community Preventive Services Task Force (Community Guide) has published several findings around promotion of healthy diet/nutrition and obesity prevention with recommendations that inform the interventions selected for inclusion on EBCCP:
- Community-based Digital Health and Telephone Interventions to Increase Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
- Digital Health and Telephone Interventions to Increase Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Among Students at Institutions of Higher Education
- Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Programs
- Gardening Interventions to Increase Vegetable Consumption Among Children
- Healthy School Meals for All
- Worksite Digital Health and Telephone Interventions to Increase Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
Additional evidence can be found in the following reports: