Nutrition low income diet plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nutrition low income diet plan - Essay Example The protein and carbohydrate requirement were at par to RNI and DRV values, though carbohydrates were less in terms of RNI. Unfortunately the fat rich foods were purchased less. Although the fat requirement of 35% was obeyed but there was disparity in intake of trans fatty acids, saturated fatty acids and mono-unsaturated fatty acids. This could lead to impairment of transport and absorption of vitamins, less available energy for heavy endurance work, and decreased feeling of satiety. After reorienting her purchase by reducing 1 avocado, white wine and replacing with 12 more French dressings in her diet will not only address the issue of meeting RNI and DRV of fats but will also reduce her expenses by 0.32 pounds and her new expenditure will be 23.3pound/week. This indicates that she will be able to live on a 30 pound weekly income. Introduction Diet Charts are essential to indicate the amount or portions of the various food items that one should consume in the entire day to meet the daily calorie requirements. Calorie requirement depends on the gender of the individual, the type of daily activity undertaken, profession of the individual, specific disease states, and specific clinical conditions like pregnancy, lactation ( Darnton-Hill, Nishida and James,2004:101-121). Diet charts also need to be formulated based on the socioeconomic conditions of the individual and hence there cannot be a concept of universal diet chart (Barker, 2002:17). Calorie requirements are based on the concept of Balanced Diet. A Balanced Diet is one which contains all the necessary macro and micronutrients comprising of carbohydrates, fats and proteins including vitamins and trace elements to meet the daily calorie need of an individual, so that the individual can maintain his or her daily activities and at the same time keeping a good health and preventing the chance of diseases by building body immunity. The calorie requirements of an individual are expressed in the form of Adult Con sumption Units. Adult Consumption Unit expresses the calorie requirement of a person in reference to the average calorie requirement of a reference man, which is normal sedentary adult man. The calorie requirement normally considered at an average of 2400kcal. The different ACU speculated are: The calories are provided by carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Dietary carbohydrates serves the principle source of energy, acts as protein sparers, as metabolic primers for protein and fat metabolisms and also forms the fuel of the Central Nervous system (Lippard and Berg, 1994).50-60% of total calories should come from carbohydrates (McArdle, Katch, and Katch ,2006). The calorific value of carbohydrates is 4.1kcal/gram (Kathleen Mahan, Raymond and Escott-Stump, 2012). Fats are required to supply the required amount of essential fatty acids, to act as dietary vehicles for transport and absorption of vitamins, provide high percentage of energy for heavy endurance work, to bring satiety (Haque and Mozaffar,1992:1351-4). Fat requirement increases with the rise in total calorie requirement because fat have a high calorie value around 9.1 kcal/gram, which is more than proteins or carbohydrates (Berg , Tymoczko, and Stryer 2002:603). The calorific values of proteins are 4.1kcal/gram. A protein containing adequate and balanced amounts of essential amino acids has high nutritive value because its amino acids are promptly incorporated into