Everyone is buzzing about the new food symbol MyPlate, but how do you know exactly which foods you should buy to fill your family’s plates? The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s We Can ®! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition) program offers a great tool for easy, healthy eating: GO, SLOW and WHOA foods! That is:
1) GO Foods: Nutrient-dense foods to be eaten almost anytime, like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, low fat dairy and water.
2) SLOW Foods: Foods to be eaten less (only sometimes), like white bread, oil, frozen yogurt, 100% juice and dried fruit.
3) WHOA Foods: Calorie-dense foods that should only be eaten once in awhile, like French fries, doughnuts, cookies, butter, soda, and other foods with added fats and sugars.
Using this printable GO, SLOW, and WHOA chart as a guide can make shopping, cooking, and healthy eating a whole lot easier for your entire family. Post it on the fridge, or bring it with you on weekly trips to the grocery store. And here’s a version just for the kids: “U R What U Eat.”
For more tips and ideas to build a healthy family, visit the We Can! website.
We Can! Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition, We Can! and the We Can! logos are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Participation by Nicole Geurin, RD does not imply endorsement by DHHS/ NIH/ NHLBI.
Nicole Geurin, MPH, RD 