Diet Planning Principles and Meal Design

Learning Objectives

• Explain how each of the six diet-planning principles is used to plan a healthy diet.
• Use Canada's Food Guide to design a nutritious meal plan.
• Use the information on food labels to make selections that meet dietary goals.
• Develop a well-balanced plant-based meal plan.

Diet Planning Principles

• Adequacy: Consuming all essential nutrients, fiber, and energy in sufficient amounts to maintain health. Provides the right amount of nutrients for generally healthy people.
• Balance: Providing foods in proportion to one another and to the body's needs. Consuming enough foods across major food groups to ensure adequacy.
• Energy (kcal) Control: Management of food energy intake relative to energy expenditure. Balancing energy intake with exertion.
• Nutrient Density: Promotes kcal control and adequacy. Considers the amount of nutrients in food relative to calories. Higher nutrient density helps meet needs and maintain energy balance.
• Moderation: Providing enough but not excessive amounts of nutrients. Consuming high-nutrient dense foods, but consuming low nutrient dense foods in moderation, like foods containing added sugar and fats.
• Variety: Eating a wide selection of foods from different food groups. This promotes adequacy, balance, kcal control, and moderation. Variety from different macro and micro nutrients.

Canada's Food Guide

• Started in 1942 in response to wartime food rationing.
• Focuses on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, proteins, and water.
• Plant-based proteins (legumes, nuts, seeds) are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. These are also often a good source of protein.
• Legumes from the lentil, bean, and pea family are a good source of protein, fiber, and are lower in saturated fat, compared with animal-based proteins.
• Whole grains are important for fiber and micronutrients, such as iron, folate and vitamin B12, and should be included.
• Refined grains are part of many cultural diets.
• Water is essential.

How to Eat (Canada's Food Guide)

• Be mindful of eating habits and external influences (access, advertising).
• Cook more often to control ingredients and nutrients.
• Batch cooking and meal prepping are helpful.
• Enjoy your food by tasting varieties and exploring new flavors.
  • Includes meals with others.
• Eat meals with others, learn from traditions. Eating with others provides opportunities to sample new foods and learn from cultural traditions.
• Use food labels to compare products and meet individual needs.
• Limit highly processed foods that contain high amounts of sugar ,fat, and sodium.

Processed and Highly Processed Foods

• Processed foods have been intentionally changed through cooking, preserving, milling, etc. - These changes may affect nutritional value and health impacts.
• Highly processed foods no longer resemble whole foods. Often have added sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats.
• Having foods conveniently located at eye level in stores can affect purchasing decisions, potentially increasing the consumption of unhealthy foods. Choosing to follow a grocery list, to avoid impulse buys, is advised.
• Coffee, spices, and baked goods are exempt from food labeling requirements in certain cases. Many small businesses do not have to have food labeling requirements.

Food Labels

• Food labels must include the name of the product, contact information for the manufacturer, best before or expiry date, nutrition facts table, ingredient list.
• Approved nutrient claims or disease risk reduction claims must be clearly labeled.
• Priority allergens (gluten, etc), and added sulphites must be clearly labelled.
• Small businesses do not need to have food labels.
• Nutrition facts tables list serving size, calories, macronutrients (cholesterol, saturated and trans fat), sodium, fiber, sugars, potassium, calcium, iron and percent daily values.
• Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight.
• Sugar-based ingredients must be grouped together on the label.
• Newly added requirement on packages to help consumers quickly identify foods that are high in saturated fats, sugar, or sodium.
• This helps consumers easily identify potentially less healthy ingredients and make more informed choices.