Being 23 and having just finished college I am still looking for work so I dont have alot of money coming in right now where I am able to spend even a small amount on a diet plan. So I have decided to try and come up with one myself and thats where I am stuck. After all the searching I have done the information avaliable is quite overwhelming and I dont know where to start. What Im trying to do is make myself up a plan where I get enough of the vitamins and nutrients my body needs. Its not the actual meal plans I need help with, its questions like for example how much dairy and vegetables do I need to eat each day? Or how much fiber do I need? or should I even be worrying about fiber?
Any thoughts, ideas or resources any of you have to offer would be greatly appreciated

Go to www.mypyramid.gov and you can get all that information. I like www.mydailyplate.com for recording my meals and it shows me the breakdown and, best of all, it's free!

I don't have specific answers but I think you should possibly look at a diet plan that gives you general guidelines on what to eat. Your body benefits from a variety of foods. I'd recommend looking at a Whole Foods diet and there is a whole foods forum here at 3FC. I would recommend looking at the stickies:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=209

But it may sound like you need something that says "eat x amount of servings of this per day". To do this inexpensively, I'd look at something like South Beach diet. Your library should have the book but again there is a forum here at 3fc:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=110

Hi there!
Hit the library, check out their diet book section, flip through and choose one that seems good to you. I personally would look for those that include servings from all 5 food groups and aims for 1-2 lb loss per week.
Good luck!
Kira

Thank you for the advice its much appreciated