The focus on weight and health issues is everywhere! The interest in a healthier lifestyle is at an all time and high and people are beginning to take a closer look at the foods that they are consuming. To provide MUSC customers with the tools that they need to make smart food choices, Wellness & You is now available in the MUSC dining areas.                                                

Wellness & You is a nutrition lifestyle and educational program designed to provide ongoing health and wellness information as well as a variety of healthy food choices. The Wellness & You program takes a fresh approach to offering the education and information you are looking for to make healthy dining decisions.

The Wellness & You nutrition criteria meet the dietary guidelines of most health organizations in North America including the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the American Dietetic Association and the American Heart Association.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

• Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Choose 5 or more servings per day.
• Eat a variety of grain products, including whole grains. Choose 6 or more servings per day.
• Include fat-free and low-fat milk products, fish, legumes (beans), skinless poultry and lean meats.
• Choose fats and oils with 2 grams or less saturated fat per tablespoon, such as liquid and tub margarines, canola oil and olive oil. The total fat calories should not exceed 30% of the total calories per day.
• Limit your intake of foods high in calories or low in nutrition, including foods like soft drinks, and candy that have a lot of sugars.
• Limit foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and/or cholesterol, such as whole milk products, fatty meats, tropical oils, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and egg yolks. Instead choose foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol
• Eat less than 6 grams of salt (sodium chloride) per day (2,400 milligrams of sodium).
• Have no more than one alcoholic drink per day if you are a woman and no more that two if you are a man. One drink contains less than or equal to ½ ounce of pure alcohol.
• Maintain a level of physical activity that keeps you fit and matches the number of calories you eat.

The dietary recommendations are based on a typical day’s meals. When the guidelines were adapted for individual meals, Sodexho used one-third of the day’s total recommendation. Entrees that qualified for the Wellness & You guidelines were selected if they met the guidelines for lean meat by the American Diabetes Association and FDA.