Use the New Four Foods Groups in Planning Health

Use the New Four Foods Groups in Planning Health-Promoting Meals - How Foods Fight Cancer

Serving sizes and food examples for the New Four Food Groups

For cancer-fighting power, put the New Four Food Groups from chapter 1
into practice. Build your diet from whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and
fruit, while avoiding animal products (meat, poultry, dairy products, and
eggs) and fried foods (such as potato chips, french fries, onion rings, tempura,
and donuts), and keeping vegetable oils and other high-fat plant
foods to a minimum. If you like, you may use coffee and tea with nondairy
creamers and low-fat vegan salad dressings and condiments, such as lowfat
Italian dressing, ketchup, mustard, relish, soy sauce, tamari, and fat-free
or low-fat vegan mayonnaise. Nuts and seeds should be treated as condiments
rather than food groups, as they are high in fat.

Protein

Eating a variety of plant foods will give you all the protein you need. The
recommended intake of protein is approximately 10 percent of calories, or
0.8 grams for every kilogram of body weight. On a 2,000 calorie diet, 10
percent of calories equals 50 grams of protein. Or, using the body weight
equation, an individual who weighs 150 pounds (68 kilograms) should be
getting approximately 54 grams of protein per day. Most vegetables,
legumes, and grains derive at least 10 percent of their calories from protein.
Legumes and meat alternatives (such as tofu, seitan, and veggie burgers) are
especially rich sources, with at least 20 percent of their calories coming
from protein.

Calcium

There’s plenty of highly absorbable calcium in dark leafy greens, such as
bok choy, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, and turnip greens, as well as
broccoli, legumes, figs, almonds, calcium-fortified juices, calcium-fortified
soymilk, and rice, almond, and oat milks. These foods contain other cancerfighting
nutrients that are not present in dairy products. For more
information on bone health and the calcium content of plant foods, see
chapter 3, Discovering Dairy Alternatives (page 17).

For cancer-fighting power, put the New Four Food Groups from chapter 1
into practice. Build your diet from whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and
fruit, while avoiding animal products (meat, poultry, dairy products, and
eggs) and fried foods (such as potato chips, french fries, onion rings, tempura,
and donuts), and keeping vegetable oils and other high-fat plant
foods to a minimum. If you like, you may use coffee and tea with nondairy
creamers and low-fat vegan salad dressings and condiments, such as lowfat
Italian dressing, ketchup, mustard, relish, soy sauce, tamari, and fat-free
or low-fat vegan mayonnaise. Nuts and seeds should be treated as condiments
rather than food groups, as they are high in fat.

Protein

Eating a variety of plant foods will give you all the protein you need. The
recommended intake of protein is approximately 10 percent of calories, or
0.8 grams for every kilogram of body weight. On a 2,000 calorie diet, 10
percent of calories equals 50 grams of protein. Or, using the body weight
equation, an individual who weighs 150 pounds (68 kilograms) should be
getting approximately 54 grams of protein per day. Most vegetables,
legumes, and grains derive at least 10 percent of their calories from protein.
Legumes and meat alternatives (such as tofu, seitan, and veggie burgers) are
especially rich sources, with at least 20 percent of their calories coming
from protein.

Calcium

There’s plenty of highly absorbable calcium in dark leafy greens, such as
bok choy, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, and turnip greens, as well as
broccoli, legumes, figs, almonds, calcium-fortified juices, calcium-fortified
soymilk, and rice, almond, and oat milks. These foods contain other cancerfighting
nutrients that are not present in dairy products.