Take A Healthy Audit Of Your Diet

Try checking your diet against thefood guidepyramid. If you receive the recommended serving of a particular foodgroup each day, you should give yourself a credit. If you do not receivethe recommended serving, that should be considered a debit.

Although a good nutrition audit will not leave a refund in yourmailbox, the returns last you a lifetime, but if you try to cheat on yourtaxes ornutrition, it will eventually catch up withyou.

"We cheat everyday on our nutritionalintake. We cheat our bodies every time we pickup something that has no benefit to us and put itin our bodies," says Janet Grubbs of the Southeast United DairyAssociation. "Whether it be a soft drink or a bagof chips, we are cheating our bodies of somethingthat could be nutritious and a good choice andprovide us with the vitamins and minerals weneed."

Healthy eating is associated with reducedrisk for many diseases, including the threeleading causes of death: heart disease, cancer,and stroke. Keeping track of your caloric intake andexercise will help you see progress and hopefully produce a healthier youby this time next year.

Health Team Producer/Photographer:Lynn French