2. Yummy, Nutrient-Rich Foods
All nutrients are not created equal. There
are three main groups of nutrients that contribute calories to our diet:
protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Protein and carbohydrates each
contribute 4 calories per gram of food. Fat contributes 9 calories per
gram of food. Dietary recommendations suggest reducing fat in the diet
primarily because fats are so highly concentrated in calories. (Alcohol
is not considered a nutrient, but it also contributes calories to the
diet at 7 calories per gram.) Foods usually contain a combination of the
calorie-contributing nutrients. These nutrients together contribute to
that food’s total caloric value.
To simplify, let’s look at some snacks and see
if that helps to illustrate how calories from protein, carbohydrates,
and fat work together in one food item. For example, 1 ounce of cheese
crackers has 3 grams of protein, 19 grams of carbohydrate, and 7 grams
of fat. To determine how many calories the crackers have from protein,
multiply the amount of protein (3 grams) times 4 calories/gram, and you
see that they have 12 calories from protein. To determine how many
calories the crackers get from carbohydrates, take the amount of
carbohydrates (19 grams) and multiply it by 4 calories/gram to get 76
calories from carbohydrates. And to determine how many calories the
crackers get from fat, multiply the amount of fat (7 grams) times 9
calories/gram to get 63 calories from fat. The total calorie count for
the crackers is 151 calories per serving.
On the other hand, a ½ cup of low-fat cottage
cheese has 12 grams of protein, 4 grams of carbohydrate, and 2 grams of
fat. Multiply the 12 grams of protein times 4 calories/gram, and you see
that the cottage cheese has 48 calories from protein. Multiply the 4
grams of carbohydrate times 4 calories/gram, and you see that it has 16
calories from carbohydrate. And multiply the 2 grams of fat times 9
calories/gram, and you get 18 calories from fat, for a total of 82
calories per serving.
Determining Nutrient Percentages
To determine what percentage of each nutrient is
in a food product, divide the calories from the nutrient by the total
calories. For example, to find the percentage of fat, look at the cheese
crackers and cottage cheese again. Determine now what the percentage of
fat is in a serving of these foods. To do so, divide the calories from
fat by the total calories. So for the cheese crackers, divide 63
calories by 151 calories, and you see that 42 percent of the crackers’
calories come from fat. For the cottage cheese, divide 18 calories by 82
calories, and you see that 22 percent of the calories come from fat.
You can see from these examples that the cheese crackers are almost half
fat while only a fifth of the calories come from fat in the cottage
cheese. The cottage cheese contributes a greater amount of protein and
less fat than the snack crackers. Hopefully this gives you a smart way
to choose better calories for your lifestyle.
Recommendation for Daily Calorie Intake
An overall healthy diet should include a
combination of foods that contain protein, carbohydrates, and fats. The
Institute of Medicine advises the following Acceptable Macronutrient
Distribution Ranges (AMDR) for adults. By combining a variety of foods,
you can meet this profile:
- Protein: 10 to 35 percent
- Carbohydrates: 45 to 65 percent (The majority of these should be complex carbohydrates and no more than 10 percent from simple sugars.)
- Fat: 20 to 35 percent (No more than 10 percent should come from saturated fat.)
This program respects
your individuality. These guidelines are great because they give you a
range to allow for your unique lifestyle and health concerns. Remember,
it’s all about you! No diet will work unless you make it your own!
3. Making Friends with Good Carbs
Carbohydrates have been getting a bad rap
lately. People are determined to eat fewer of them. The part nobody
mentions is that most of the people claiming to lose weight by cutting
out the carbs were eating way too many to begin with. Too much of any
food is too much, plain and simple.
Carbohydrates primarily include sugars and
starches that come from plant sources, along with the natural sugar
found in milk. These foods include simple sugars like sucrose (table
sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar), and maltose (malt
sugar), and complex carbohydrates often referred to as starches. Choose
complex carbohydrates because they are loaded with vitamins, minerals
and are often lower in fat, calories, and higher in fiber. Additionally,
they help the body to maintain normal blood sugar (glucose) levels by
promoting a slower, healthier digestion of foods. Starches take longer
to digest than sugars. (This is why competitive athletes are encouraged
to eat a diet high in complex carbohydrates prior to competition.) You
can lose weight and still enjoy an appropriate amount of complex carbs.
How Carbohydrates Are Used in the Body
All carbohydrates are broken down during
digestion and converted to glucose (blood sugar), where they are then
carried to body cells to be used for energy that the body needs. The
pancreas then releases insulin to help move the glucose to the cells,
where it is burned for energy. If there is more glucose than what the
cells need, the remainder is stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen
and reserved for later use. If the glycogen stores are full and there
is still more glucose, it is then stored as fat. This is why some of the
carbohydrate hype is valid for quick weight loss, but read on for the
caveat.
Carbohydrates and Weight Reduction. Many
people believe that eating carbohydrates is taboo when it comes to
weight reducing. This is a total myth. Carbohydrates only become a
problem with weight gain when too many and the wrong type are consumed
or when preparation methods add excess amounts of fats, like covering
pasta (a healthy complex carbohydrate choice) with excess amounts of
cream sauce (a not-so-healthy higher-fat choice). Rice with butter,
mashed potatoes with gravy, and a bagel with cream cheese are also
similar examples of adding fat to a healthy complex carbohydrate food.
Complex carbohydrates are actually the food of
choice when seeking to reduce body weight. These foods are highly
nutritious, low in fat, and high in fiber. Just don’t eat too many of
them.
Contribution of Carbohydrates to the Overall Diet. If
carbohydrates contribute 55 percent of the total calories in the diet,
and a person consumes a 2,000-calorie diet that would equate to 1,100
total calories from carbohydrates. Vegetables, fruits, and grains such
as breads, pasta, rice, and cereals, are high in carbohydrates. Legumes
(dried beans and peas) are excellent sources as well.
