Rate Your Plate: Following a healthful diet is highly individual so let's apply this information to you and see how your choices stack up against the Food Guide Pyramid. Using yesterday as a reference, print out this page and record the number of servings you had from each food group. Some foods may need to be recorded as a combination of food groups. For example, if you ate beef stew yesterday, record the serving information in both the Vegetable and Meat Groups. Repeat this exercise in a month's time after you've had a chance to set goals and make some changes.
GROUP GOALS YESTERDAY 1 MONTH 2 MONTHS Bread Group 6-11 servings Vegetable Group 3-5 servings Fruit Group 2-4 servings Milk Group 2-3 servings* Meat Group 2-3 servings** Fats, Oils & Sweets use sparingly *Pregnant or breastfeeding women, and young adults to age 24 need 3 servings. **The Total amount of these servings should be the equivalent to 5-6 ounces of cooked lean meat, skinless poultry or fish per day.
		You may be surprised by the results of the Rate Your Plate exercise, and find that you're eating too much from one food group, not enough from another. The next few pages will focus on each food group, and help you set goals for improving your eating habits. Some of the goals will help you meet, but not exceed, serving recommendations by eating a variety of foods from each food group; others will help you make low-calorie, lowfat selections. As you set goals for yourself, keep in mind that all foods can be part of a healthful diet, as long as you keep an eye on portion sizes and number of servings.

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