Making Healthy Choices in Each Food Group

Vegetable Group

(choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried)

• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Pumpkin
• Spinach
• Cooked greens (such as kale, collards, turnip greens, and beet greens)
• Winter squash
• Tomatoes and tomato sauces
• Red sweet peppers

These vegetables all have both vitamin A and potassium.  When choosing canned vegetables, look for "low-sodium" or "no-salt-added" on the label.

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Fruit Group

(choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried)

• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew melon
• Mangoes
• Prunes
• Bananas
• Apricots
• Oranges
• Red or pink grapefruit
• 100% prune juice or orange juice

These fruits all provide potassium, and many also provide vitamin A. When choosing canned fruit, look for those canned in 100% fruit juice or water instead of syrup.

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Dairy Group

• Fat-free or low-fat yogurt
• Fat-free milk (skim milk)
• Low-fat milk (1% milk)
• Calcium-fortified soymilk (soy beverage)

These all provide the calcium and potassium you need.  Make sure that your choices are fortified with vitamins A and D.

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Grain Group

• Fortified ready-to-eat cereals
• Fortified cooked cereals

When buying ready-to-eat and cooked cereals, choose those made from whole grains most often.  Look for cereals that are fortified with iron and folic acid.

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Protein Foods Group

• Beans and peas (such as pinto beans, soybeans, white beans, lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas)
• Nuts and seeds (such as sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter)
• Lean beef, lamb, and pork
• Oysters, mussels, crab
• Salmon,  trout, herring, sardines, and pollock

NOTE:  Do not eat  shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish when you are pregnant or breastfeeding.  They contain high levels of mercury.  Limit white (albacore) tuna to no more than 6 ounces per week.  Learn moreabout the safety of eating seafood during pregnancy.

All of these foods provide protein.  In addition, beans and peas provide iron , potassium, and fiber.  Meats provide heme-iron -which is the most readily absorbed type of iron.  Nut and seeds also contain vitamin E.  Seafood provides omega-3 fatty acids.