10 Useful Definition of Terms: Nutrition and Health

Useful Definition of Terms in Nutrition and Health

1.Discretionary Calories

2.Naive View versus Accurate View of Optimal Nutrient Intakes

3.Exchange System

4.EER

5.Health Claims

6.Colossal Cuisine

7.Percentages of AMDR

8.DRI

9.Fat terms:  extra lean, lean

10.Cholesterol Free

1. Discretionary calories are extra calories that can be used or can be enjoyed when essential nutrients are already met. Such foods with high fat like milk, cheese,sugar sauce, soda these became extra calories providing no nutrients.  

Discretionary calories, for example, if your daily budget is 2000 calories, you only need 1800 calories for required nutrients to keep your body functioning properly; the extra 200 calories are what we refer to as discretionary calories.

2.  The naive view of optimal nutrients means  that eating less than the DRI amount or recommended amount of nutrient is bad, but eating more than the recommended amount is better, whereas the accurate view means that DRI values fall safely within the safe range, that excess intake of some nutrients can affect with the absorption of other nutrients, and that the lower the intake, the greater the risk of deficiency.

The difference between a naive and an informed understanding is that ingesting too much or too little of a nutrient can be harmful to one's health.   

  3. Food exchanged system means any similar amount of nutrient such as carbohydrate  can be grouped together ending with the same amount of nutrient.  The food exchange system consists of six food groups, each of which is listed on a food exchange list. Fruits, vegetables, milk, starches, fats, meats, and meat substitutes are on the food exchange lists.

Foods with a similar amount of carbohydrate per serving size are grouped together in the exchange system. the meals on each list can be "exchanged" for one another, and you'll end up with roughly the same amount of carbohydrate. If a person's diet includes starch or  bread he or she can choose from a variety of cereals, grains, pasta, beans, in exchange to vegetables starchy vegetables like or potatoes  Starchy items with a lot of fat, such cupcake  or french fried, qualify as both a starch and a fat exchange.

  4. EER The Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) is defined as the average dietary energy intake required to maintain energy balance in a healthy adult of a specific age, gender, weight, height, and level of physical activity. 

A balanced, healthy diet must meet all of a person's energy and nutrient requirements. The amount of food energy required to balance energy expenditure in order to maintain body size, composition, and a level of essential and desirable physical activity that is consistent with long-term good health is referred to as estimated energy requirement (EER)

 5. Health Claims are  food labeling health claims  that have been assessed by the FDA  (Food and Drug Authority) and are allowed on food items to show that a food or food component may lessen the risk of a disease or a health condition.  

When you buy food in the label it says health benefits  'Contains vitamin D which contributes to the maintenance of normal bones' - this is what we call  health claim. 

6. Collosal Cuisine refers to a set of cooking practices and traditions that are generally connected with a particular culture or region. It means in large or in bulk when its prepared or being cooked  Each cuisine entails the preparation of food and drink in a large portion to produce distinct meals.  

Collosal Cuisine is set of of large food preparation that is being prepare to a particular people for example Italian Cuisine in large size.   

7. Percentage of AMDR  Acceptable Macronutrients  Distribution Range are the desired  Dietary range  for each of the macronutrients such as carbohydrate, protein and fats. 

AMDR is the dietary recommendation to have a complete diet.   Carbohydrates have an Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) of 45 to 65 percent. On a 2,000-calorie diet, this means a person should consume between 225 and 325 grams of carbohydrate per day. For protein its 10 to 35 percent range and 20 to 35 for dietary fat.

8.Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are a set of reference values used to plan and evaluate healthy people's nutritional intakes. Nutritionist or Dieticians  Create dietary food guidelines. Health programs are planned and tracked by them.    

DRI is very important to help the nutrional needs of a person. They are quantitative recommendation used as reference value for planning and evaluating the diet of a person. 

9.  Food labels when you go shopping, have listing ingredients of the  amount of fat grams. When we say  lean whether (meat, poultry, or seafood), we mean less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram meal. In a 100 gram serving of extra lean meat, poultry, or seafood, fewer than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol are present.  

10. Cholesterol free means  food has less than 2 mg of cholesterol and 2 grams of saturated fat per serving.

Cholesterol is derived from dietary fat by the human body. Although a product labeled Cholesterol Free may not include the specific fat molecule known as Cholesterol, it may contain many of the hundreds of other fat substance.  Being fat-free isn't not always true in food labels , because sugar and salt are frequently added to improve the taste of these items.