Diet Basics

"The definition of 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 his or her diet. If a person consistently eats a Big Mac from McDonald’s, that is part of his or her diet. However, 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. 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 nutritional concepts so long-term health can be achieved. 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, 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, 20–35%; and proteins, 10–35%. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) are reference values of nutrient intake that help with nutrition planning and assessment of healthy individuals. There are four measures that together comprise the DRI: 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; Adequate Intake (AI), a value based on observed or experimentally determined approximations of nutrient intake by healthy people, used when an RDA cannot be determined; 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; and 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."