Tip: Choose healthier foods more often

Every five years since 1985, the federal government issues revised recommendations on how to eat healthier. In the long-awaited Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, released earlier this year, the advice is simpler and easier to follow, especially for people older than 50.

"One of the big messages we need to be concerned with today is balancing calories," says Robert Post, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Post says it's not a case of "a good food or a bad food." The goal is to eat a variety of foods and to build a pattern in which you choose healthier foods more often.

The biggest change since the 2005 edition is that the number of recommendations aimed at specific age groups is reduced. Health and dietary problems that once were more likely to affect older people, for example obesity and diabetes, are now becoming more common among younger people, Post says.

Here are some recommendations:

Eat more nutrient-dense foods: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seafood, unsalted nuts and lean meats and poultry.

Avoid oversized portions, and fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables.

Adults 51 and older should limit sodium intake to less than 1,500 mg a day. You can consume that amount by eating a Big Mac with large fries and one ketchup packet, according to McDonald's. Healthy adults younger than 51 should get no more than 2,300 mg of sodium (equivalent to just short of a teaspoon) a day.

With busy lifestyles, larger portions and ubiquitous fast-food availability, it's hard to be perfect every day. Post says the new guidelines take into account what he calls this changing "food environment." The goal is to change eating habits over the long term. The occasional splurges and indulgences are not forbidden, but they should be limited and spaced out. "It's kind of hard to eat your skinless poultry every day," Post says. "It's building a healthy eating pattern, but it's not necessarily every day. It's over a week, it's over a lifetime."

The 96-page "Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010" can be downloaded free at health.gov/dietaryguidelines. A printed copy can be ordered for $19, including shipping and handling, at bookstore.gpo.gov.