Striving to improve Americans' lifestyles, the federal government released a new set of dietary guidelines advising people to eat a variety of nutritious foods, ingest fewer calories and exercise daily.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, which comes out every five years, was released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"We've really made an effort here to have examples of how people can apply (the guidelines) in their life," said Christina Pearson, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services. "We've received a very enthusiastic response from the public ... and they really think there's a lot of good, common sense in these guidelines."
The report includes suggestions such as keeping fat intake between 20 and 35 percent of calories for adults and consuming fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods that are high in fiber.
The guidelines correspond with the revising of the Food Guide Pyramid, which hasn't been altered since its outset 12 years ago. The new "pyramid" will be called the Food Guidance System and might include new educational aspects, a different shape and revised food-intake patterns, said Angela Harless, spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture.
The new Food Guidance System will be unveiled early this spring, but the specifics of the system are not yet confirmed, Harless said.
"We don't know yet, except that the shape is going to be different," she said. "It's currently a work in process, and some various new designs are being consumer-tested right now."
Diane Fischer, chief clinical dietitian for Sparrow Health System and spokeswoman for the Michigan Dietetics Association, said she was interested in seeing the changes.
"The Food Guide Pyramid is good in that it says, 'Here is a variety of foods that you need,' but I think it needs more definitions," Fischer said, adding there needs to be explanations of which carbohydrates are more nutritious and which should be eaten less frequently.
In addition to nutritional advice, the guidelines point out the importance of balancing a good diet with frequent exercise. The report suggests exercising about 30 minutes a day, but says children, most teenagers and those who want to lose weight should be physically active for about 60 minutes a day.
Kathy Kacynski, manager of Sparrow Weight Management Center agreed with the report's recommendations and said they already have been used for a number of years by fitness and weight-management experts.
"Weight management is not a matter of just eating correctly, but also an active lifestyle and modifying behaviors that are not allowing you to eat properly and exercise regularly," Kacynski said.
