Diet food
Diet food (or
dietetic food) refers to any food or beverage whose recipe is altered to
reduce fat, carbohydrates, and/or sugar in order to make it part of a weight loss program or
diet.
Such foods are usually intended to assist in weight loss or a change in body type,
although
bodybuilding supplements
are designed to increase weight
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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]
The process of making a diet version of a food usually requires finding an adequate low-food-
energy substitute for some high-food-energy ingredient.
[2]
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 high fiber content effectively displaces some of the starch
component of the flour. Since certain kinds of fibers have no food energy, this results in a
moderate energy reduction. Another process 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.
The low-fat foods are those that have 30% of their calories or less from fats. So, if a food
contains fewer than 3 gram of fat per 100 calories, it is a low fat food. Examples of cereals,
grain, and pasta products are corn or whole wheat tortillas, oatmeal, backed cracker, whole
grain versions of noodles, and pita bread. Examples of protein sources are beans, lentils, tofu,
egg white, tuna, and peas. On the other hand, polysaturated such as omega 3 and omega 6
fatty acids can be beneficial to the body. Nutritious foods are avocado, almond, salmon,
cashews, seeds, and walnuts.
[3]
A "low fat" child's meal from
Burger King
, with "apple fries" replacing fried potato chips, and a serving of
macaroni and
cheese
as its main dish
Terminology
Process
Example of low-fat foods
Controversy
In diet foods
[4]
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.
[5][6][7]
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.
[8]
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.
[9]
Negative-calorie food
Olestra
Online weight loss plans
Obesity paradox
1.
Definitions of Nutrient Content Claims (https://www.thenutritionalsource.com/definitions-of-nutrient-
content-claims/)
,
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2016
1005192448/https://www.thenutritionalsource.com/definitions-of-nutrient-content-claims/)
October 5, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine
2.
"Low-Energy-Dense Foods and Weight Management: Cutting Calories While Controlling Hunger" (http
s://www.cdc.gov/NCCdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/r2p_energy_density.pdf)
(PDF)
. CDC.gov.
3.
"Low fat foods: List, benefits, and meal plan" (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/32586
0.php)
. Medical News Today. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
4.
Diet and good food (http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/goodfood/Pages/Goodfoodhome.aspx)
, National
Health Service
5. Sandee LaMotte (18 January 2016).
"Can artificial sweeteners cause weight gain?" (https://www.cn
n.com/2016/01/18/health/where-do-we-stand-artificial-sweeteners/index.html)
. CNN. Retrieved
2019-11-11.
.
"The best and worst sugar substitutes for your health" (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-worst-
sugar-substitutes-health-145139561.html)
. finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
See also
References