Many people wonder how they can possibly eat 11 servings of grain products a day or as many fruits and vegetables from the food pyramid. But once you consider what a serving is, you will able to plan a good menu.

Some experts in traditional healing testified that natural foods and supplements are better than processed elements. These traditional healers are referring to herbs from which you might also obtained the following substance, minerals and vitamins indicated below.

A serving is half a cup of cooked or fresh vegetables, one cup of raw leafy greens, a medium-sized fruit, or three-quarters of a cup of fruit juice. A grain serving is half a cup of cooked pasta or rice, or a slice of bread. A large roll of bagel provides two or three grain servings. A cup of milk or an eight ounce carton of yogurt is a dairy serving.

Some equally noteworthy reminders shall help you. In proportioning your servings, recognize that foods are seldom simple. What does that mean? For example, a muffin counts as one or two servings of grain, but it may also be high in fat. So if you count calories, note not just the fat that went into the muffin but any calories you put on it, such as cream cheese or jelly.

This dietary guideline will help adults stay healthy if they eat the recommended daily amounts of food in each category.

Keep alcohol, sweets, and fats to a minimum.
2-3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, eggs, or such plant protein as dry peas or beans, or nuts
2-3 servings of milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products
2-4 servings of fruit
3-5 servings of vegetables
6-11 servings of cereal, bread, grains, and grain products

It is likewise important to note that one serving of meat, poultry, or fish is about two or three ounces. Small people who are sedentary need fewer servings than large people who are active. Here's a VITAMINS and MINERALS guideline for the food supplements you take:

VITAMINS :

Biotin
Function: Metabolism of glucose, essential for many bodily processes
Sign of Deficiency: Rare except in infants; scaling skin, fatigue, pain

Cobalamin, vitamin B12
Function: Builds genetic material needed by cells; helps form red blood cells
Sign of Deficiency: Deficiency rare except in strict vegetarians, the elderly, and those with malabsorption disorders

Folic acid, folate, folacin
Function: Manufacture of red blood cells and genetic material
Sign of Deficiency: Anemia, diarrhea, bleeding gums, weight loss, stomach upsets

Niacin, nicotinic acid
Function: Helps release energy from foods, aids nerve function, digestion
Sign of Deficiency: Extreme cases: pellagra, a skin disease

Pantothenic acid, vitamin B5
Function: Needed to convert food to energy, aids digestion
Sign of Deficiency: Weakness, irritability

Pyridoxine, vitamin B6
Function: Aids protein metabolism and absorption, and carbohydrate metabolism
Sign of Deficiency: Depression, confusion and convulsions in infants

Riboflavin
Function: Metabolism of foods, release of energy to cells
Sign of Deficiency: Sores around nose and mouth, visual problems

Thiamin, vitamin B1
Function: Enhances energy, promotes normal appetite and digestion
Sign of Deficiency: Anxiety, hysteria, nausea. Extreme cases: beri-beri

Vitamin C, ascorbic acid
Function: Helps bind cells together, strengthens blood vessel walls, helps resist infection, speeds healing of wounds
Sign of Deficiency: Bleeding gums, loose teeth, easy bruising. Extreme cases: scurvy.

Vitamin D
Function: Helps build and maintain teeth and bones, helps body absorb calcium
Sign of Deficiency: Rickets in children, bone diseases in adults

Vitamin K
Function: Aids blood clotting
Sign of Deficiency: Excessive bleeding, liver damage

MINERALS:

Calcium
Function: Helps build bones and teeth, promotes proper muscle and nerve function
Sign of Deficiency: Rickets in children, bone diseases in adults

Chromium
Function: Aids glucose metabolism
Sign of Deficiency: Diabeteslike symptoms

Iodine
Function: Essential to the thyroid gland
Sign of Deficiency: Goiter, cretinism in infants

Iron
Function: Essential for healthy blood
Sign of Deficiency: Weakness, fatigue, headache, iron-deficiency anemia

Magnesium
Function: Helps release energy in body, promotes bone growth
Sign of Deficiency: Muscle weakness, cramps

Potassium
Function: With sodium, helps regulate body's fluid balance
Sign of Deficiency: Muscle weakness, cardiac arrhythmias, irritability

Zinc
Function: Essential to digestion and metabolism
Sign of Deficiency: Slow wound healing, loss of appetite, slow growth