3200 Calorie Diet: How Many Fruits
Do You Need Each Day?

Article by Diet Bites


The recommended serving amount for the 3200 calorie diet equals 2.5 cups of fruit per day.

Balancing Foods in Your Daily Eating Plan

All of the selections that you put into your meal plates and during snack times should be pulled from the American Food Pyramid groups. These are the essential five necessary for optimum health.

Let' use a couple of examples to demonstrate wise choices. Danny is on a plan to lose his unhealthy fat layers. Before he started his new diet, he would often choose a raspberry filled donut for his morning breakfast.

Now he's is all about making the most healthy choices for breakfast - or for any meal of the day for that matter, because those are the selections which offer the best benefits to the body, as well as the ones that contain the most minimal in caloric values. In turn, he can enjoy more foods while remaining in his set daily kcal limit.

This is how Danny should think about the selections that he makes. He should ask, "Which food group(s) did the raspberry filled donut fit into?

The answer is not so simple. If his breakfast had consisted of butter, cream cheese and a pile of chicken fat - then the question would be so easy to answer because none of these choices are allowed into the Food Pyramid due to excessive fat values which contribute to heart disease.

Therefore, we'll answer as accurately as possible. The donut itself was made with wheat flour so it can fit into the Grain Group. Because it also contains fruit in the middle, that portion of the donut can fit into the Fruit Group. Unfortunately, the fatty acids and sugars contained within the donut make it more of an unhealthy than healthy selection. Those negative values cancel out the positive benefits that would have been received by the food.


Therefore, Danny has to not only choose foods from the five basic groups - because most foods will fit into one or more of these, although with unhealthy values as with the donut - but he also must look at the benefits of his selections.

Dieting Tips for the Basic Five Food Groups

Grains: 6 minimum servings

More servings are required from this group than any other and most should come to the plate in the form of whole grain food choices. Opt for complex over simple carbohydrate selections such as whole grain cereal, pasta, rice and breads.

Vegetables: 3 minimum servings

Foods which reside in this group offer Vitamin A and dietary fiber benefits. Look for dark green and leafy selections as well as deep yellow and orange colors.

Fruits: 2 minimum servings

Hail to Vitamin C! You'll find a plethora of it in rich citrus fruits which hold immunity boosting powers that you'll need while dieting. If you become ill, it's highly unlikely that you'll continue your plan.

Proteins: 2 minimum servings

Necessary for muscle health; look for lean meats, eggs, fish, soybean products, nuts, nut butters, edible seeds, beans, and dried peas. As a side note, many of the protein rich foods are also stellar in calcium benefits such as many species of fish that after processing have soft bones that are edible with the fish.

Dairy: 2 minimum servings

You know what to do to trim kcal values - reach for the lower fat options. Foods in this group are calcium rich.

2,200 Kcal Plan | 2,400 Calorie Diet | 2,600 Kcals

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