The Healthy Eating Index: A Guide to Evaluating Your Diet
T he Healthy Eating Index (HEI) is a tool used to evaluate the overall quality of an individual's diet. It measures how closely a person's diet aligns with the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which emphasize the importance of consuming a variety of nutrient-dense foods, while limiting the intake of saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium. The HEI is calculated based on 12 components of a healthy diet, including: Total fruit Whole fruits Total vegetables Dark green and orange vegetables and legumes Whole grains Dairy Total protein foods Seafood and plant proteins Fatty acids Refined grains Sodium Added sugars Each component is scored on a scale of 0 to 10, with a higher score indicating better adherence to the Dietary Guidelines. The total HEI score is calculated by adding up the scores for all 12 components, with a maximum possible score of 100. Evaluating your own diet using the HEI can be a helpful way to identify areas for improvement