Resources to Planning a Healthy Diet

1. Planning a Diet

A diet is anything that is consumed by a particular person or people on a regular basis. That means if someone routinely drinks coffee in the morning, that is part of their diet. If a person consistently eats a Big Mac from McDonald’s, that is part of their diet.

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Think about foods that you eat regularly. What foods are a part of your diet? Are you a coffee drinker? Are you surprised that this is considered a part of your diet?

It is clear that food choices influence short-term and long-term health. That is why it is so important to make wise choices in what one eats on a regular basis. If a person chooses to have a diet high in calories without balancing energy use, that person can expect to put on unhealthy weight. A diet that is high in fiber, with the appropriate amount of calories and proper amounts of the macronutrients, will contribute to a healthy body.

big idea

When people discuss “going on a diet,” they are actually talking about changing their existing dietary habits in order to change their body shape. All people are “on a diet” because everyone eats! Many times, the term diet is thought of as a method to lose weight or to change body shape. However, it is important to focus on the nutritional concepts listed below, so long-term health can be achieved.

term to know

Diet

Anything that is consumed by a particular person or people on a regular basis.

2. Tools for Designing Healthy Diets

Decisions about nutrition can be difficult. Knowing and using scientific research can lead to better health. Over time public health organizations have developed tools based on nutritional science to help people design healthy diets. These tools should be used as guidelines for each individual with the awareness that everyone is different and therefore has different needs. Everyone, regardless of age, size, shape, or physique, can benefit from learning and utilizing the following tools:

Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR)
The AMDR describes the proportions of daily caloric intake that should be carbohydrates, lipids (fat), and proteins. Basically, the AMDR provides guidelines on how many macronutrient calories one should consume a day.

According to the AMDR, the range of caloric intake in a daily diet should be:

• Carbohydrates: 45-65%
• Lipids (fat): 20-35%
• Proteins: 10-35%

If you determine that you need 2,000 calories every day, you could use the AMDR percentages to calculate how many grams of carbohydrates, lipids, and protein you need every day.

key concept

There are 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates, 4 calories per gram for protein, and 9 calories per gram for fat. If we multiply 2,000 calories by 45% and 65%, our range for calories from carbohydrates would be 900-1,300 calories. Knowing how many calories from carbohydrates you need each day is helpful, but what is more helpful is knowing how many grams you need—it is easier to plan and use food labels with grams.

To do this, we divide the number of calories by the number of calories per gram. For carbohydrates: 900 calories/4 calories per gram = 225 grams and 1,300 calories/4 calories per gram = 325 grams. Now you can plan your daily carbohydrate intake to be between 225-325 grams.

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try it

Using the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDR), practice calculating the amount of fat and protein needed in a day.

Calculate how many grams of fat and protein you would need if you eat a 2,000-calorie diet.

If you eat a 2,000-calorie diet, you should have 44-78 grams of fat and 50-175 grams of protein.

term to know

Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR)

Provides guidelines on how many macronutrient calories one should consume a day.

3. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI)

The Dietary Reference Intakes or DRIs are reference values of nutrient intake that help with nutrition planning and assessment of healthy individuals.

key concept

There are four measures that together comprise the DRI:

1. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): the average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirement of nearly all (about 97%) healthy individuals in a group. This is the basic quantity of a nutrient recommended.
2. Adequate Intake (AI): a value based on observed or experimentally determined approximations of nutrient intake by a group (or groups) of healthy people—used when an RDA cannot be determined. This is the minimum amount of a nutrient needed for maintaining health.
3. Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): the highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects to almost all individuals in the general population. As intake increases above the UL, the risk of adverse effects increases. This is the maximum that would be consumed prior to developing negative effects of eating too much. This is not a level that is met but rather one that is avoided to prevent a decrease in health.
4. Estimated Average Requirement (EAR): a nutrient intake value that is estimated to meet the requirement of half the healthy individuals in a group. These nutrient values should be used as goals for dietary intake for health.

Familiarizing yourself with each of the food groups is the first step in diet planning. Individual requirements for nutrients vary considerably depending on factors such as age and gender. Other relevant factors are size, metabolic rate, and occupation. A farmer would have a different dietary need than someone in a sedentary occupation. The body also has stores of certain nutrients (fat-soluble vitamins, for example) so that variations in daily intake of such nutrients can be accommodated. Thus it could be misleading to recommend a particular daily intake level. The following will help you identify the difference between the RDA, EAR, UL, and AI.

try it

Use the calorie level calculations you learned from the previous tutorial on calculating nutrient needs, to help you select a food pattern from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommended intake amounts:

The diet plan you selected is just one of many possibilities. For example, if you selected a 2,000 calorie diet plan, then for breakfast, you would have ½ c of fruit, 1 oz of grains, and 1 c of dairy. What foods would you select to put on your grocery list? Maybe ½ cup of strawberries to go with a cup of cereal and 1 cup of low-fat milk?

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If you had a 2,000 calorie diet that called for 1 cup of vegetables, 2 oz of grains, 2 oz of protein, and 1.5 tsp of fat or oil, what foods would you select for lunch?

4. Selecting Foods to Buy

The Dietary Guidelines emphasize nutrient-dense foods. Nutrient-dense foods include whole grains, vegetables, lean meats, low-fat milk products, and fruits. There are thousands of foods available to us in each of these categories, how do you start planning? One place to start is by making your grocery list. By choosing nutrient-dense foods that have been minimally processed, you can make improvements. Minimally processed foods are those that are frozen, fresh, or even canned in their own syrup or without added salt or sugar. Consider corn as an example. You can buy fresh, frozen, or canned corn, corn chips, popcorn, and corn nuts. The first three options could be considered minimally processed since they retain much of their nutrient value and do not have added salt, sugar, or fat.

We will learn more about food groups and groupings in the next challenge.

5. 4 Key Concepts for Personalizing a Healthy Diet

Personalizing meal plans can be extremely beneficial psychologically as well as physically. Knowing that one is eating healthy reduces some of the subconscious doubts about doing what needs to be done to be well.

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However, as with every healthy practice, there can be pitfalls. To help avoid these, there are 4 approaches that can be taken:

• Assessing and changing your diet
• Staying committed to a healthy diet
• Try additions and substitutions to bring your current diet closer to your goals
• Plan ahead for challenging situations

When considering dietary needs, various techniques have been established by health officials to assist people in choosing foods and food amounts wisely. Like we learned before, MyPlate is a graphic representation of what a healthy plate of food might look like. Other tools, such as meal planning guides have also been established.

REFERENCES

USDA. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2022, from www.usda.gov