Diet food
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Contents
Let Food Be Medicine, Medicine Be Food - Hippocrates
Diet food (or dietetic food) refers to any food or drink whose recipe has been altered in some way to make it part of a body modification diet. Such foods are usually intended to assist in weight loss or a change in body type, although bodybuilding supplements are designed to aid in gaining weight or muscle.
Terminology
In addition to diet other words or phrases are used to identify and describe these foods including light, zero calorie, low calorie, low fat, no fat and sugar free. In some areas use of these terms may be regulated by law. For example in the U.S. a product labeled as "low fat" must not contain more than 3 grams of fat per serving; and to be labeled "fat free" it must contain less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving.[1]
Process
The process of making a diet version of a food usually requires finding an acceptable low-food-energy substitute for some high-food-energy ingredient. This can be as simple as replacing some or all of the food's sugar with a sugar substitute as is common with diet soft drinks such as Coca-Cola (for example Diet Coke). In some snacks, the food may be baked instead of fried thus reducing the food energy. In other cases, low-fat ingredients may be used as replacements.
In whole grain foods, the higher fiber content effectively displaces some of the starch component of the flour. Since certain fibers have no food energy, this results in a modest energy reduction. Another technique relies on the intentional addition of other reduced-food-energy ingredients, such as resistant starch or dietary fiber, to replace part of the flour and achieve a more significant energy reduction.[2]
Controversy
In diet foods[3] which replace the sugar with lower-food-energy substitutes, there is some controversy based around the possibility that the sugar substitutes used to replace sugar are themselves harmful. Artificial sweeteners have been the subject of intense scrutiny for decades, but according to the National Cancer Institute and other health agencies, there is no sound scientific evidence that any of the artificial sweeteners approved for use in the U.S. cause cancer or other serious health problems. Numerous research studies confirm that artificial sweeteners are generally safe in limited quantities, even for pregnant women. [4]
In many low-fat and fat-free foods the fat is replaced with sugar, flour, or other full-food-energy ingredients, and the reduction in food energy value is small, if any.[5] Furthermore, an excess of digestible sugar (as well as an excess of any macronutrient) is stored as fat. This unhealthy weight gain is only aided by the effects of preservatives and additives present in the food which are not accounted for in the 'diet food' label. [6]
See also
- Calorie restriction diet
- Dieting
- Low GI diet
- Low-carbohydrate diet
- Olestra
- Online weight loss plans
- Negative calorie beverage
References
Featured disease
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of the most dangerous heart attack risk factors: diabetes and prediabetes, abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Affects one in three adults
Affecting about 35 percent of all adults in the United States according to the CDC, metabolic syndrome contributes to weight gain, by causing a state of internal starvation called metabolic starvation. This in turn leads to increases hunger, sugar cravings and increased portions leading to overeating and weight gain.
Cause and effect misunderstood
Since we traditionally thought that the portion control (which in turn was attributed wrongly to poor will power)is the cause of weight gain, rather than the effect of this metabolic starvation, all our traditional ideas about cause and effect of obesity were not only wrong but lead to the “blame the victim” attitude when it comes to obesity.
Secret of weight gain revealed
Secret of weight gain, and metabolic syndrome revealed - it has been recently proven that metabolic syndrome, and the weight gain itself are caused by a process called insulin resistance. Check your metabolic syndrome risk using the free Metabolic syndrome meter. Watch this amazing Ted Med video that reveals the secret of weight loss - Stop blaming the victim for obesity
| Basic types | |
|---|---|
| Religious diets | |
| Vegan diets | |
| Non-solid diets | |
| Specific restrictions | |
| Other diets | |
Calories and Nutritional Information of Foods
- Calorie Finder - Look for high protein, high fiber, and low calorie foods!!
- Nutrition Database - Comprehensive list of foods with their nutritional values & glycemic load, organized A-Z.
- Glycemic Index of Foods - Database of Glycemic index values of foods organized A-Z.
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|
Glossary of healthy eating | Nutritional value of foods: UK Foods | US Foods | Dietary Supplements | Nutrition values of foods | Nutrition lookup (USDA) Portions of content adapted from Wikipedias article on Diet food licensed under GNU FDL.
References
Featured disease
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of the most dangerous heart attack risk factors: diabetes and prediabetes, abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Affects one in three adults
Affecting about 35 percent of all adults in the United States according to the CDC, metabolic syndrome contributes to weight gain, by causing a state of internal starvation called metabolic starvation. This in turn leads to increases hunger, sugar cravings and increased portions leading to overeating and weight gain.
Cause and effect misunderstood
Since we traditionally thought that the portion control (which in turn was attributed wrongly to poor will power)is the cause of weight gain, rather than the effect of this metabolic starvation, all our traditional ideas about cause and effect of obesity were not only wrong but lead to the “blame the victim” attitude when it comes to obesity.
Secret of weight gain revealed
Secret of weight gain, and metabolic syndrome revealed - it has been recently proven that metabolic syndrome, and the weight gain itself are caused by a process called insulin resistance. Check your metabolic syndrome risk using the free Metabolic syndrome meter. Watch this amazing Ted Med video that reveals the secret of weight loss - Stop blaming the victim for obesity
- ↑ Definitions of Nutrient Content Claims, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- ↑ "Resistant starch replacement system". Fibergourmet.com. 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
- ↑ Diet and good food, National Health Service
- ↑ "Artificial sweeteners and other sugar substitutes". mayoclinic.org. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
- ↑ Fat-Free vs. Regular Calorie Comparison, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- ↑ IFIC. Food Additives Nutrition - Nutrition, Function, Side Effects - NY Times Health Information. Available from: http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/food-additives/overview.html
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