Planing a healthy diet

• Diet-Planning Principles

  • Adequacy (dietary)—providing sufficient energy and essential nutrients for healthy people
  • Balance (dietary)—consuming the right proportion of foods
  • kcalorie (energy) control—balancing the amount of foods and energy to sustain physical activities and metabolic needs
  • Nutrient density—measuring the nutrient content of a food relative to its energy content
  • Empty-kcalorie foods denote foods that contribute energy but lack nutrients
  • Moderation (dietary)—providing enough but not too much of a food or nutrient
  • Variety (dietary)—eating a wide selection of foods within and among the major food groups

  
• Dietary Guidelines


  • Adequate nutrients within energy needs
  • Consume foods from all food groups and limit foods that can be detrimental to health
  • Consume a balanced diet
  • Maintain a healthy body weight
  • Prevention of weight gain
  • Increase energy expenditure and decrease sedentary activities
  • Include cardiovascular conditioning, stretching, and resistance exercises
  • Choose a variety of fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, and whole grains
  • Limit saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, and trans fats
  • Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat sources
  • Choose lean, low-fat, or fat-free foods
  • Choose those that are high in fiber
  • Choose products with a minimal amount of added sugar
  • Decrease the risk of dental caries
  • Choose foods that are low in salt and high in potassium
  • Wash and cook foods thoroughly and keep cooking surfaces clean
  • Avoid raw, undercooked, or unpasteurized products

  
• Food group plans

  • Sort foods into groups based on nutrient content
  • Important in selecting foods for a nutritious diet providing balance, variety, adequacy and moderation
  • A combination of whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, meats or meat alternates and milk products is essential to a healthy diet

  
• USDA Food Guide

  • Assigns foods to the five major food groups of fruits, vegetables, grains, meat and legumes, and milk
  • Recommended intake of each food group depends upon how many kcalories are required
  • Different kcalorie requirements for those who are sedentary compared to those who are active
  • Five subgroups of vegetables including dark green vegetables, orange and deep yellow vegetables, legumes, starchy vegetables, and others
  • Variety should be a goal when choosing vegetables

  
• Nutrient Density


  • Foods can be of high, medium or low nutrient density
  • Must consider energy needs when choosing these foods

  
• Discretionary KCalorie Allowance


  • Calculated by subtracting the amount of energy required to meet nutrient needs from the total energy allowance
  • Those with discretionary kcalories may eat additional servings, consume foods with slightly more fat or added sugar, or consume alcohol
  • For weight loss, a person should avoid consuming discretionary kcalories

  
• Serving Equivalents

  • Cups are used to measure servings of fruits, vegetables, and milk
  • Ounces are used to measure servings of grains and meats
  • Visualization with common objects can be used to estimate portion sizes

  
• Mixtures of Foods

  • Foods that fall into two or more groups
  • Examples are casseroles, soups, and sandwiches
• Vegetarian Food Guide


  • Reliance on plant foods such as grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds
  • Similar food groups and servings sizes

  
• Ethnic food choices

  • Fit into the food pyramid
  • Asian examples
  • Mediterranean examples
  • Mexican examples

  
• My Pyramid – Steps to a Healthier You


  • The width of the bands represent the amount that should be consumed
  • The pyramid can be individualized for each person
  • Web site provides consumer education about making food choices

  
• MyPlate

  • Calls the former MyPyramid "Meat & Beans Group" the "Protein Group"
  • Calls the former MyPyramid "Milk Group" the "Dairy Group"
  • Balancing calories - Enjoy your food, but eat less
  • Balancing calories - Avoid oversized portions
  • Foods to increase
  • Foods to reduce

  
• Mediterranean examples

  • grans :pasta
  • Fruits: olives
• Mexican examples

  • grans :taco
  • vegetable : chilies
• USDA Food Guide

  My Pyramid - Steps to a Healthier You

  
• My Pyramid


  • The width of the bands represent the amount that should be consumed
  • The pyramid can be individualized for each person
  • Web site provides consumer education about making food choices

  
• MyPlate

  Replaces the former MyPyramid "Meat & Beans Group" with the "Protein Group"
• MyPlate

  Replaces the former MyPyramid "Milk Group" with the "Dairy Group"
• Choose MyPlate "Menu"

  • Balancing calories
  • Foods to increase
  • Foods to reduce

  
• Balancing calories

  • Enjoy your food, but eat less
  • Avoid oversized portions

  
• Foods to increase

  • Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
  • Make at least half your grains whole grains
  • Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk

  
• Fill half your plate with fruits & veggies
• Pick a variety of vegetables from each vegetable subgroup
• The vegetable subgroup of "beans and peas (legumes)" includes all cooked beans and peas, for example: Kidney beans, Lentils, Chickpeas, Pinto beans
• The "beans and peas (legumes)" subgroup does NOT include green beans
• Foods to reduce

  • Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers
  • Drink water instead of sugary drinks

  
• Exchange Lists or food lists

  • Help to achieve kcalorie control and moderation
  • Foods are sorted by energy-nutrient content
  • Originally developed for those with diabetes
  • Portion sizes vary within a group
  • Food groupings may not be logical

  
• Foods in the Exchange List

  • Divided by chemical composition re: Macronutrients
  • Specified portions of foods in each group are exchangeable with the other foods in that group
• Putting the Plan into Action

  • Choose the number of servings needed from each group
  • Assign food groups to daily meals and snacks

  
• From Guidelines to Groceries

  • Processed foods have been treated thus changing their properties
  • Fortified foods have improved nutrition

  
• Grains

  • Refined foods lose nutrients during processing
  • Enriched foods have nutrients added back including iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate
  • Whole-grain products are not refined. Examples include brown rice and oatmeal
  • Fortified foods have nutrients added that were not part of the original food

  
• Vegetables

  • Choose fresh vegetables often
  • Dark green leafy and yellow-orange vegetables are important
  • Good sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber
  • Be careful to control added fat and salt
  • Legumes: Variety is important, Economical, Low-fat, nutrient-rich and fiber-rich

  
• Fruit

  • Choose citrus and yellow-orange fruits
  • Processed fruits are acceptable alternatives to fresh
  • Provides vitamins, minerals, fibers and phytochemicals
  • Fruit juices lack fiber but are healthy beverages
  • Watch energy intakes and fruit "drinks"
• Meat, fish and poultry

  • Provides minerals, protein and B vitamins
  • Choose lean cuts
  • Textured vegetable protein is a processed soybean protein and can be used in recipes
  • Weighing can be used to determine portion sizes
  • Use low-fat cooking methods, and trim and drain fat to reduce fat intake

  
• Milk

  • Dairy foods are often fortified with vitamins A and D
  • Imitation foods that resemble other foods are nutritionally inferior
  • Food substitutes are designed to replace other foods
  • Many lower fat dairy products are available including fat-free, non-fat, skim, zero-fat, no-fat, low-fat, reduced-fat, and less-fat milk

  
• The Ingredient List

  • All ingredients listed
  • Descending order of predominance by weight

  
• Serving Sizes

  • Facilitate comparisons among foods
  • Need to compare to quantity of food actually eaten
  • Do not necessarily match the USDA Food Guide

  
• Nutrition Facts

  • Listed by quantity and percentage standards per serving, called Daily Values
  • kCalories listed as total kcalories and kcalories from fat
  • Fat listed by total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat
  • Cholesterol
  • Sodium
  • Carbohydrate listed by total carbohydrate, starch, sugars, and fiber
  • Protein
  • Vitamins and minerals are listed in % DV only

  
• The Daily Values (DV) estimate of individual foods' contribution to total diet, based on 2000-kcalorie diet, can also be calculated for personal daily values, and ease in comparing foods

  
• Nutrient Claims


  • Must meet FDA definitions and include conditions of use
  • No implied claims
  • General terms include free, good source of, healthy, high, less, light or lite, low, more, and organic
  • Energy terms include kcalorie-free, low kcalorie, and reduced calorie
  • Fat and cholesterol terms include percent fat-free, fat-free, low fat, less fat, saturated fat-free, low saturated fat, less saturated fat, trans fat-free, cholesterol-free, low cholesterol, less cholesterol, extra lean, and lean
  • Carbohydrate terms include high fiber and sugar-free
  • Sodium terms include sodium-free and salt-free, low sodium, and very low sodium