Kids need plenty of calories on a daily basis to grow and develop properly -- but children who eat too many calories, especially those who are inactive, are at risk for childhood obesity. Your child’s individualized calorie needs are based on age, gender and activity level.
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Although it’s a good idea to include a variety of starchy and nonstarchy vegetables in your diet, starchy vegetables are higher in total carbs and often a better source of energy, especially for athletes, notes Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
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Water is often a good beverage choice, especially when you’re trying to avoid added sugar and maintain a healthy body weight. Drinking plenty of water may even help prevent constipation and clean out your digestive tract when coupled with a well-balanced, nutritious diet.
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Whether you get your dietary protein from milk or eggs, consuming protein from these foods is an efficient way to meet your dietary protein -- and amino acid -- needs. The protein in milk varies slightly from protein found in eggs, but advantages and disadvantages exist for each.
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A teenager’s daily calorie needs are highly dependent on his size and activity level. However, general guidelines exist to give you and your teen a good idea of how many calories he should consume each day. Using an online calorie calculator will help you estimate your teen’s individualized calorie needs.
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Weight maintenance is a good goal if your body mass index, or BMI, falls within a normal, healthy range of 18.5 to 24.9, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Chocolate ice cream does provide some essential nutrients -- such as calcium and potassium. But it’s also high in sugar, saturated fat and calories, so eat it only in moderation -- or avoid it entirely -- if you want to maintain a healthy body weight.
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Diet and exercise both play an important role in helping women successfully tone up, which requires losing excess body fat and building or maintaining lean muscle mass. Daily calorie control, choosing foods that help you stay lean and regular exercise maximizes toning results for women.
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Although clam chowder is not a low-calorie food, it does provide you with some essential nutrients, and you can still include it – in moderation – in a healthy meal plan. But overindulging in clam chowder, especially New England clam chowder, can cause you exceed your daily calorie allotment and gain weight.
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Although iron supplementation is sometimes necessary, getting too much iron from tablets causes side effects and can be dangerous. Even taking iron in recommended amounts can create problems.
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Protein deficiency is uncommon in the United States; however, protein deficiencies have been observed in some children, especially abused or neglected children; elderly people in nursing homes; and people living in poorer countries, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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Your body can survive for days without food. Just because you can survive for long periods of time without eating, however, doesn’t mean you should. Fasting comes with some negative -- even serious -- side effects.
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The total daily calorie requirements for a man to maintain his weight are based on his body weight -- but also on his age, height, activity level and weight-management goals. Using just body weight and activity level is a quick and easy way to estimate daily caloric needs.
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Choosing lean meats and skinless, unbreaded poultry helps keep your overall calorie intake low while meeting your daily protein needs. Most adults eat more than just a 1-ounce portion of meat or poultry.
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The recommended dietary allowances, or RDA, for protein are listed as total grams of dietary protein, regardless of whether the source is animal or vegetable. Animal and vegetable proteins, however, are different from each other in unique ways.
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High-protein foods are ideal snacks before bedtime because they boost satiety and increase your body’s energy expenditure, according to a study published in the December 2009 issue of “The Journal off Nutrition.
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A daily dose of fish oil can be beneficial for women. A 2006 review published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” reports that consuming omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil reduces your risk of dying from heart disease and possibly from stroke as well.
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Many adults will gain weight eating 3,000 calories per day, which is beneficial, if you’re underweight or trying to increase lean muscle mass. However, active adult men ages 19 to 35 require 3,000 calories daily just to maintain current healthy body weights, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010.
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Commonly used in soups and cooking, beef broth provides you with some beneficial nutrients, is low in calories and can make certain cuisine more palatable. Because beef broth is high in sodium, however, use it in moderation to help reduce your risks for high blood pressure and heart disease.
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Peanut butter contains healthy unsaturated fats and unhealthy saturated fats, but the mere presence of bad fat does not suddenly kick it into the unhealthy camp, according to Harvard Health Publications. It's more important to look at the ratio of good to bad fats.
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