Nutritional Health for Persons with I/DD (and for our Children)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise us to “Choose wisely within a food group.” When we’re faced with each day’s array of food choices, what does “choosing wisely” mean?  Researchers at The University of Montana Rural Institute created the Wise Choices Food Pyramid as a tool to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and others have healthier diets by making better choices within food groups.

The Wise Choices Pyramid ranks foods based on recommendations from the USDA MyPyramid, the American Heart Association, the American Dietetic Association, and other scientific organizations. Then, within each food group, the ranked foods are placed according to their nutritional benefits.

For more information, please read our latest Practice Guideline: The Wise Choices Food Pyramid: What if We Did Compare Apples and Oranges? at http://mtdh.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/Publications/WiseChoices.htm

Also, please visit http://www.goodnutritionideas.com for free education materials and full-size posters to help consumers and students learn to make wise diet choices.