Coach on Call
My Daily Food Needs
“It was great to talk with you.
Thank you for your interest in ‘My Daily Food Needs.’ I hope you find this tip
sheet helpful.
Please give me a call if you have more questions about this or other topics.
As your UPMC Health Plan health coach, I am ready to help in any way I can.”
What should I eat?
Focus on vegetables, fruits, grains, protein foods, and dairy foods.
One of the simplest guides to healthy eating is called MyPlate. It uses the image of a place setting
to show the five food groups that are the building blocks for a healthy diet. The place setting
guides your choices for each meal.
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CMN13-1021-2(q)
UPMC_14_0085
Copyright 2014 UPMC Health Plan, Inc. All rights reserved
C ON C NU PYRAMID C20120228-36 (MCG) 4/2/14 PDF
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My Daily Food Needs
The chart below describes each MyPlate food group.
Food group Tip
Vegetables
Vary your veggies. Choose
among five subgroups
each week: dark green;
red and orange; cooked
dried beans, split peas, and
lentils; starchy; and other
vegetables.
Fruits
Focus on fruits. Eat a variety
of fruit. Choose whole or cutup fruits more often than fruit
juice.
Grains
Dairy
Protein
Foods
Make at least half your
grains whole. Whole grains
include the nutrient-rich bran
and germ. Make sure a whole
grain is the first item in the
ingredient list.
Examples of foods
Any vegetable or 100%
vegetable juice; raw or
cooked; fresh, frozen,
canned, or dried/
dehydrated; whole, cut-up,
or mashed
What counts as a serving?
One cup is 1 cup raw or
cooked vegetables; 1 cup
100% vegetable juice; or
2 cups leafy salad greens.
Any fruit or 100% fruit juice;
fresh, canned, frozen, or
dried; whole, cut-up, or
pureed
One cup is 1 cup raw or
cooked fruit; 1 cup 100%
fruit juice; or ½ cup dried
fruit.
Any food made from wheat,
rice, oats, cornmeal, barley,
or another cereal grain, such
as bread, pasta, oatmeal,
breakfast cereals, tortillas,
and grits
One ounce is 1 slice of
bread (1 ounce); ½ cup
cooked pasta, rice, or
cereal; 1 ounce uncooked
pasta or rice; 1 tortilla (6inch diameter); 1 pancake
(5-inch diameter); or 1
ounce ready-to-eat cereal
(about 1 cup cereal flakes).
Get your calcium-rich
All fluid milk products;
One cup is 1 cup milk; 1
foods. Drink fat-free or
yogurt; cheese; calciumcup fortified soymilk (soy
1% milk. Choose fat-free or
fortified soymilk; NOT
beverage); 1 cup yogurt;
low-fat yogurt and cheese.
included in this group —
1½ ounces natural cheese
Or try calcium-fortified soy
cream cheese, cream, or
(e.g., Cheddar); or 2 ounces
products.
butter
processed cheese (e.g.,
American).
Go lean with protein. Twice All foods made from cooked One ounce equivalent is
a week, make seafood the
dried beans, split peas, and 1 ounce lean meat,
protein on your plate. Vary
lentils; eggs; processed soy poultry, seafood; 1 egg;
your protein routine —
products; nuts; seeds; sea- 1 tablespoon peanut butter;
choose cooked dried beans, food; poultry; meat
½ ounce nuts or seeds; or
split peas, lentils, nuts, and
¼ cup cooked dried beans,
seeds more often. Keep meat
split peas, or lentils.
and poultry portions small
and lean.
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My Daily Food Needs
Use small amounts of oils.
Oils are not a MyPlate food group. But they are needed in small amounts for health. Oils are
fats that are liquid at room temperature. Examples are canola, corn, cottonseed, olive, peanut,
safflower, soybean, and sunflower oils. Some foods are naturally high in oils such as nuts, seeds,
olives, some fish, and avocados.
Foods that are mainly oil include mayonnaise, some salad dressings, and tub or liquid margarine
with no trans fats. Trans fat is a fat made from vegetable oils and is solid at room temperature.
Limit trans fat as much as possible.
One teaspoon oil is 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (e.g., canola, corn, olive, soybean); 1½ teaspoons
mayonnaise; 2 teaspoons tub margarine; or 2 teaspoons Italian-type salad dressing.
Limit empty calories.
“Empty calories” are calories from solid fats, added sugars, or alcohol that provide calories but few
or no nutrients. Calories measure the energy in food.
• Solid fats are fats that are solid at room temperature, for example, butter, beef fat,
shortening, and stick margarine. Some solid fats are found naturally in foods. They can also
be added when foods are processed by food companies or when foods are prepared.
• Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added when foods or beverages are
processed or prepared.
The foods and drinks that provide the greatest number of empty calories for Americans are: cakes,
cookies, pastries, donuts, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, cheese, pizza, ice
cream, sausages, hot dogs, bacon, and ribs. Many of these foods can be found in forms with less
or no solid fat/added sugar.
A small amount of empty calories is okay. But most people eat far more than is healthy.
How much should I eat?
The amount you should eat depends on your age, gender, weight, height, and how active you are.
To learn how much to eat, use one of the two methods below.
1. Use the Daily Food Plans tool on the MyPlate website.
–– Visit the MyPlate website at http://www.choosemyplate.gov. Click on the SuperTracker and
Other Tools tab at the top of the page. Select Daily Food Plans.
–– Enter your age, sex, weight, and height. Also choose the amount of physical activity you do.
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My Daily Food Needs
–– Click on the Submit button. You will be given a Daily Food Plan, based on the average
needs of someone like you. The plan includes your daily calorie needs and targets for each
of the five food groups, oils, and empty calories. You can print out your plan. You can also
print a worksheet for tracking what you eat and drink.
–– Would you like a more detailed assessment of your diet and physical activity? Click on the
link for SuperTracker.
Talk with your UPMC Health Plan health coach if you have questions about the Daily Food
Plans tool.
2. Or estimate your food needs.
If you don’t have access to the MyPlate website, use these steps:
1. First, decide how active you are. Check one:
❒❒ I am inactive. On most days, I do only the light activities of daily life. These include
getting dressed, driving, sitting, cooking, eating, and reading.
❒❒ I am active. On most days, I walk briskly for 45-60 minutes or more. (Briskly means
you cover one mile in 15-20 minutes.) Or I do another activity that’s like brisk walking for
45-60 minutes. Examples include riding a bike, general gardening, and water aerobics.
❒❒ I am somewhere in the middle.
2. Find your estimated daily calorie needs. Look at the chart on the next page. Find your age
and gender in the left column. Your calorie needs are in the same row. Use the lower number
if you are inactive. Use the higher number if you are active. Use a number between the two if
you’re somewhere in the middle.
I need about ______________ calories to stay at my current weight.
Important:
• Keep in mind that this is a rough estimate.
• This calorie level is for staying at your current weight. To lose weight, you will need fewer
calories. To gain weight, you will need more.
• If you become much more active, your calorie needs will go up. If you become much less
active, your calorie needs will go down.
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My Daily Food Needs
Estimated Daily Calorie Needs
Age/Sex
Calorie Range Per Day
InactiveActive
Children
1,0001,400
2-3 Years
Females
4-8 years
1,2001,800
9-13
1,6002,200
14-18
1,8002,400
19-30
2,0002,400
31-50
1,8002,200
51+
1,6002,200
Males
4-8 years
1,4002,000
9-13
1,8002,600
14-18
2,2003,200
19-30
2,4003,000
31-50
2,2003,000
51+
2,0002,800
3.Find your targets for each food group, oils, and empty calories.
Look at the chart below. Find your calorie needs in the top row. Circle or highlight that number
and the numbers below it. Aim to eat those amounts from the MyPlate food groups and oils.
Aim to limit your empty calories to the amount given or less.
Daily Food Needs
Estimated
1,000 1,200
daily calorie
needs
Grains
3 oz.
4 oz.
Vegetables 1 cup 1.5
cups
Fruits
1 cup 1 cup
Dairy
Protein
Foods
Oils
Empty
calories limit
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
5 oz.
2 cups
6 oz.
2.5
cups
2 cups
7 oz.
3 cups
8 oz.
3 cups
2 cups
10 oz.
3.5
cups
2 cups
10 oz.
4 cups
2 cups
9 oz.
3.5
cups
2 cups
10 oz.
4 cups
1.5
cups
3 cups
5 oz.
6 oz.
2.5
cups
1.5
cups
3 cups
5 oz.
3 cups
5.5 oz.
3 cups
6 oz.
3 cups
6.5 oz.
3 cups
6.5 oz.
3 cups
7 oz.
2.5
cups
3 cups
7 oz.
2.5
cups
3 cups
7 oz.
5 tsp.
132
5 tsp.
195
6 tsp.
267
6 tsp.
290
7 tsp.
362
8 tsp.
410
8 tsp.
426
10 tsp.
512
11 tsp.
648
2 cups
2 oz.
2 cups
3 oz.
5 oz.
1.5
cups
1.5
cups
2 cups
4 oz.
3 tsp.
165
4 tsp.
171
4 tsp.
171
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A healthier
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A
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My Daily Food Needs
Track how closely you follow MyPlate
Tracking what you eat will help you become aware of your eating habits now. It will also show you where
you can make changes to more closely follow MyPlate. For a tracker, you can use:
• My Daily Food Plan Worksheet. This is found on the MyPlate website. To create the worksheet, first
create your food plan using the Daily Food Plans tool. See above for instructions. Next, on the page
that shows your Daily Food Plan, click on the link to the right that says: “Click here to view and print a
PDF of a helpful Meal Planning Worksheet.”
• The attached MyPlate Tracker. Fill in the blanks in the column labeled “Target” based on your food
needs. Then list the foods you eat and the amounts in the appropriate food groups. Estimate your
total for the day for each row, and compare with your targets.
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A healthier
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A
healthier
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Coach on Call
Page 7 of 8
My Daily Food Needs
MyPlate Tracker
Make copies of this page to use. Keep one copy blank for making more copies from in the future.
Name ___________________________________________ Date ________________________________
Food group and Target
List everything you eat and
Estimate your total
other
drink and the amounts
for the day
Fruits
_____ cups
_____ cups
Vegetables
______ cups
_____ cups
Grains
_____ ounces
_____ ounces
(______ ounces whole grains)
Protein Foods
(at least ______
ounces whole
grains)
_______ ounces
Dairy
____ cups
____ cups
Oils
_______ teaspoons
_______ teaspoons
Empty Calories
_______ calories
_______ calories
_______ ounces
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A healthier
life is
onis
theon
linethe
for you!
A
healthier
life
line for you!
Page 8 of 8
Coach on Call
My Daily Food Needs
Take Action
Name two small changes you would like to make now to more closely follow MyPlate.
Examples: I will eat a piece of fresh fruit with my lunch on weekdays. I will have 1% milk
instead of 2% milk on my breakfast cereal.
A healthier
life is
onis
theon
linethe
for you!
A
healthier
life
line for you!