Our healthy pantry initiative group holds regular meetings to keep us updated on ways to share healthy information with our guests. We want to promote nutrition to help everyone be healthier and provide those with chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, suggestions to help make good dietary choices that can help them manage these conditions.

We recently had a review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture My Plate guidelines as well as some tips for reading nutrition labels. These are always good tips to hear again. A quick review of the focus of each of the food groups provides guidelines for the choices we should try to make when working toward a healthier diet while not expecting every meal or snack to be picture perfect.

There’s always room for some foods that might not be “healthy” but that are part of a well-rounded diet and general enjoyment. “Progress, not perfection” is a positive approach we should strive for.

Make half of your plate fruits and vegetables and include a variety of colors. Choose fresh or frozen when possible or those canned with juice or light syrup and canned vegetables that are low salt or no salt added. The idea to “eat a rainbow” of colors in our fruits and vegetables helps to provide a variety of different nutrients because each color is known to provide a different nutrient profile and benefit.

Whole grains such as oats, whole wheat bread or pasta, quinoa, brown rice and barley are good sources of fiber.

“Make half your grains whole grains,” My Plate recommends.

Dairy has an emphasis on providing calcium. Low fat may be a good choice. For those who do not eat dairy products, calcium can also be found in orange juice and leafy green vegetables. Proteins may come from meat, nuts and seeds. Choose lean meats or drain some fat before eating.

Nutrition labels are on almost every package to help us find more of the ingredients that are good and less of what we want to avoid. Some people find them confusing, but we can learn to focus on a few simple pieces. The top of the label tells you approximately how many servings are in a package, and the nutrition details correspond to a single serving. If you eat more than one serving, you need to multiply those numbers.

The percentage of daily value on the right column shows how much of each nutrient in a serving contributes to your total daily count. This is usually based on a 2,000-calorie diet, so many people consuming fewer calories would need less than listed.

Generally speaking, we want less saturated fat, less sodium, less added sugar and more fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium. Saturated fat is shown near the top, below total fat, and, along with trans-fat, is said to cause heart disease. Both should be limited.

Below total sugar, added sugar is a fairly new line item on the label. This is to differentiate between natural sugars and the added sugars or corn syrup that increase the calories and carbohydrate values.

Sodium has its own line, and the guideline for most people is often no more than 2,000-2,400 mg daily. A person who has heart disease or high blood pressure would be instructed by his or her doctor to consume much less sodium daily. The vitamins and minerals at the bottom of the label are also things we want to include in our diet.

Individually, we should find ways to do the best we can to make the choices that work best for ourselves. We don’t always need to do all the things all the time, but, little by little, use the above guidelines to choose well most of the time and strive for progress, not perfection.

Editor’s note: This column was written by Jenn Dietz.