Fueling Up on Low-Fat Foods Meal Planning: The New Four Food Groups - How Foods Fight Cancer

Meal Planning: The New Four Food Groups - How Foods Fight Cancer

The New Four Food Groups

The easiest and perhaps most useful guide to basic nutrition is called the
New Four Food Groups, introduced by the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine in 1991. Let us briefly review the guidelines; then,
we will see how to turn them into actual meals.

The New Four Food Groups are vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole
grains. The idea is to build your diet by choosing a variety from each of
these groups. Table 2 provides the suggested number of daily servings from
each group. Add any common multiple vitamin to ensure adequate intake of vitamin B12.

The serving numbers listed in table 2 are just suggestions to get you
started. Feel free to vary your proportions as you like. For example, one
way of using the New Four Food Groups follows a traditional Asian pattern,
favoring grains, such as rice or noodles, with smaller amounts of
vegetables and bean dishes, and reserving fruit for dessert. However, it is
just as acceptable to emphasize more vegetables and fewer grain products.

Some people who gravitate toward raw foods will increase fruits. You can
get complete and healthful nutrition using essentially any pattern that
includes each of the four groups.

For optimal nutrition, you will want to avoid meat (red meat, poultry,
and fish), dairy products, eggs, added oils, and high-fat foods (potato chips,
french fries, onion rings, olives, and so forth). Limit nuts and nut butters,
seeds, and avocados. Steer clear of fried foods and any oily or fatty toppings,
such as margarine or typical salad dressings (nonfat dressings are
fine). Avoiding fatty foods helps your taste buds to reduce their preference
for greasy tastes. When you select breads, cereals, or other grain products,
favor those that retain their natural fiber (for example, choose brown rice
rather than white rice).

So how does all this translate into actual meals? The foods you’ll now
focus on are really not so different from what you already eat. Breakfast
might be a big bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins
(but skip the milk). If you like, add some cantaloupe or whole-grain toast.

Lunch might be a bowl of split pea soup with a whole-grain roll or a plate
of hummus, fresh veggies, and pita bread. Dinner could be minestrone followed
by angel hair pasta with marinara sauce, or perhaps an autumn stew
of vegetables, beans, and hearty grains.

Recommended Recipes
■ Gingered Melon
■ Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
■ Sweet-and-Sour Stir-Fry
■ Toasted Grains