What is a balanced diet?? I. Characteristics of a Nutrient: A. A specific chemical that is essential. Essential means it is necessary and cannot be synthesized. B. How much of it do you need? Different for everyone. Optimum range where body works at it’s best. 1. Not enough of it- deficiency! Totally deprived is FATAL. 2. Marginal deficiency- Not horrible things happening but you’re not functioning as best as you could. 3. Too much of it- toxicity! SO much is FATAL. Interfering and causing aproblem. 4. Marginal toxicity- Not horrible but not functioning as well as it could be. 5. Not all nutrients are toxins, so that’s good. - Leading toxic nutrient is too much iron. Leading cause of death for kids. - Usually only gets this with a supplement source. Extremely unusual for toxicity to come from food. Supplement used properly won’t lead to this. Balance the intake to optimal areaDetermining each person’s correct nutrient intake is very expensive and time consuming. Done with populations… Take midpoint of optimal range. Get’s Normal Distribution Graph- Some needs are really low (low body weight, efficient in use of it) Some needs are a lot- 2% need more than RDA (fast metabolism, high body weight)… Most ppl closer to average. II. DIETARY REFERENCE INTAKE- guidelines. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)… How much of a nutrient you need on a daily basis. Derived from the normal distribution graph. Covers 97% of healthy population. A. RDA is usually more than adequate. Chances are you fall back in the middle w/majority. B. RDA is applicable to normal, good health. C. RDA is not a meal planning tool. It’s used for evaluating your diet. a. Analysis of your diet. It does analysis for you! Gives you ___% of your RDA.In terms of what kind of things you should buy, meal prep, things you should think about guidelines- DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS. 1. Balancing calories to manage weight2. Balancing intake with expenditure. In balance… Calorie intake= caloric expenditure. Decrease calories or increase activity. Reduce sedentary behaviors. 3. Food components to reduce- a. Saturated Fat (animal fat, milk fat)- Heart Diseasei. Less than 10% should come from fats. Mono and polyunsaturated fats are better for you. b. Salt (sodium)- High BP (hypertension)- Less than 2300mg per dayc. Cholesterol- Same food sources as saturated fats. Less than 300mg/day. (heart disease). d. Transfat- Byproduct of food processing… margarine. Acts like saturated fat. (heart disease). e. Reduce intake of refined grains (replace with whole grains- 1/2) f. Alcohol- in moderation. 1 glass for females. 2 glasses for men. 4. Food components to increase-a. Veggies and fruits- need a variety- dark green, red, and orange.b. Legumes- beans, peas, soy products. c. Whole grains- ½ of diet. i. Germ (trace minerals), Starch/protein, bran layer (where fiber is). ii. Lost the bran and germ when turning brown rice/flour to white. d. Low fat/fat free milk, yogurt, soy—high in calcium! e. Variety of proteins and lower fat. i. Fish, eggs, seafood, lean meats, poultry, legumes, beans5. Build healthy eating patterns- balance intake w/expenditure. a. MyPlate- 5 food groups. WHOLE DAY!b. ½ should be fruits and veggies- veggies lowin calories. Nutrient dense for those amounts ofcalories. Need variety to get all nutrients. Fruit-good vitamins, fiber, and complex carbs. c. ¼ should be grainsd. ¼ should be proteine. Dairy!f. You can group them into groups! Some foodssupply multiple things. Have x many servings ofgrains per day. Substitute different grains eachday (pasta one day, then bread).Food labels! What the food has to offera. Ingredients listed in descending order by weightb. –OSE suffix means sugar! c. Serving size- is it reasonable or eat double? If double, double the numbers!d. Daily Value- based on normal distribution. What does one serving of this contribute to an average person’s 200kcal intake? a. 20%+ is high sourceb. 10-19% is goodc. less than 10% is poor