Lecture 2: Tools for Healthy Eating Flashcards
Components of a Healthy Diet
- Diet incorporates:
- Balance
- Variety
- Moderation
- High in nutrient density
- Be aware of energy density
Balance
Include a healthy proportion of nutrients to maintain health and prevent disease
* Balance allows room for less healthy foods
* Unbalanced diets can lead to undernutrition or overnutrition and, if prolonged, malnutrition.
* Undernutrition: A person’s nutrient and/or energy needs aren’t met through diet.
* Overnutrition: Excess nutrients and/or energy are consumed.
* Malnutrition: The long-term consequence of consuming too many or too little nutrients or energy
Variety
- Choose a variety of food within each food group and across
different food groups - Different foods contain different nutrients
- Helps the body obtain all necessary nutrients
- Minimizes the potential for negative interactions between
foods
Moderation
- Consume reasonable but not excessive amounts of foods/nutrients
- All foods and beverages can fit
- There are no ”good” or “bad” foods!
- Moderation means not consuming too much energy, fat,
sugar, alcohol or sodium
Nutrient Density
A measure of the nutrient a food provides compared to
its kcal content.
* High nutrient
* Low kcal – generally low in fat and added sugar
Energy Density
- A measurement of the kcal in a food compared with the weight
of the food - Eating low energy-density foods can promote weight loss
Tools for Planning a Healthy Diet
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
MyPlate
Exchange System
Food Labels
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)
provide nutrient recommendations for healthy individuals
Reference values used for planning and assessing the diets of healthy people on an average daily basis
* Goals:
* Prevent deficiencies
* Decrease incidence of chronic disease and
promote health
* Avoid unhealthy excess
* Different requirements exist for different
life stages and ages
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Provide broad dietary and lifestyle advice
- Set of diet and lifestyle recommendations designed to
improve and maintain health and decrease risk of
chronic disease for individuals aged 2 and older - Updated every 5 years by the US Dept of Agriculture
(USDA) and Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) - Used to develop federal food, nutrition, and health
policies and programs - Used as the basis for federal nutrition education
materials
MyPlate
helps individuals implement the recommendations of the DRIs and Dietary Guidelines
- Puts dietary guidelines into practice for the
general public - Emphasizes proportionality: the
relationship of one entity to another - The ChooseMyPlate.gov website determines the
amount of food to consume from each food group
based on an individual’s daily kilocalorie needs.
Important points:
* The calculated values use the leanest food choices with no
added sugar.
* Vary the food choices within each group to ensure that the
diet is adequate.
* On days where intake of a food group is inadequate,
consume more foods from that group the next day
1/2 plate = fruits + vegetables
1/2 plate = grains + protein
Exchange Systems
Groups foods according to macronutrient content to assist with meal planning
- The exchange system is a diet planning tool used to create meal plans based on the macronutrient content and total kilocalories of foods.
- Groups foods together based on carbohydrate, protein, and fat content
- Provides specific portion sizes for each food so each food in the group provides a similar amount of kilocalories per exchange
Six food groups in the exchange lists
* Starch
* Fruit
* Milk
* Vegetables
* Meat
* Fat
- Useful tool to control kilocalories, protein, and fat intake
Food Labels
Provides information to help consumers make food choices
The food label tells you what’s in the package to help consumers make informed food choices
Estimated Average Requirement (EAR)
- Intake that meets the estimated nutrient needs of 50% of
individuals in a sex and life-stage group - Used to assess and plans for populations
- Starting point for determining other values
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)
- Intakes that are sufficient to meet the nutrient needs of
97-98% of healthy individuals - Target for individual intakes
- Risk of deficiency is low at RDA
Adequate Intake (AI)
- Goal when insufficient data exists to determine RDA or EAR
- Based on observed or experimentally determined
approximations of the average nutrient intake by a healthy
population - Intake at or above AI is unlikely to be deficient in that
nutrient
Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL)
- Maximum daily intake that is unlikely to pose a risk of
adverse health effects - Helps prevent nutrient toxicities
- Specific to life stage and sex