Maureen Bligh, Registered Dietitian
Maureen Bligh
About me:
Maureen Bligh is a registered dietitian and project manager for the Dairy Council of California. She manages online communication and social media efforts, an internal Nutrition Trends Team and develops online continuing education courses for health professionals.
Maureen's career in dietetics spans over 30 years and began in clinical dietetics and out-patient education at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA, where she provided nutrition education, focusing on diabetes education for children, pregnant women and adults. She has passion for providing reality-based, nutrition education to help people enjoy a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods to lead a healthy life and was delighted to recently discover that her commitment to family meals helped shape healthy eating habits for her two teenage sons.
Follow Maureen on Twitter: @MaurBligh_RD
Recent consumer research conducted by the Center for Food Integrity, found the greatest level of consumer agreement to this statement:
“Eating a balanced diet, which includes a variety of foods including meat, vegetable and dairy is a sound strategy for good nutrition.”
I find it interesting that the simple, sound principle of variety and balance expressed in this statement resonates with consumers even in our current era of complicated nutrition advice. While I think this statement is true, I believe it is incomplete. A balanced diet should include foods from all five food groups, adding fruit and breads/grains to the foods listed above.
Moderation, variety and balance are key components of healthy eating. While these principles do not have the flair of the popular diet regimens du jour, they are tried and true and form a solid foundation for diverse food choices that expand, not limit your options.
By eating balanced meals, i.e. meals that include one food from each food group, you can achieve the principles of moderation, variety and balance. The food grouping system was designed to provide for important and unique nutrients.
The foods from the fruits and vegetables groups tend to be lower in calories and including foods from these groups helps keep calories in check. Foods from the meat and milk groups have high quality sources of protein, which tend to offer satiety. And foods from the breads and grains group offer important nutrients and tend to be less expensive per ounce as compared to the other food groups. These foods really do form the perfect balanced diet in many different ways when taken together.
If you are confused by all the diet advice, check out these easy-to-follow tips that will get you back in balance in no time.
Maureen Bligh, Registered Dietitian