Chapter 5 Nutrition Guidelines 113 Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Food Lists Another tool that can be used to plan a healthy meal or follow a special diet is the Choose Your Foods: Food Lists system. The Food Lists system (previously called the Exchange Lists for Meal Planning) classifies foods of similar nutrient and caloric content into groups. The Food Lists were developed by the American Dietetic Association (now the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) and the American Diabetes Association. The lists can be used to balance the amounts of carbohydrate, protein, fat, and calories eaten each day. The system was originally used to help individuals with diabetes manage their food plans and stabilize their blood sugar. The Food Lists can also be used successfully for weight management. To successfully use the Food Lists, you must first know what your particular dietary requirements are, as well as the number of calories you need each day. A doctor or dietitian will often explain how many choices from each list are needed to meet daily requirements. With practice, this system can be used to plan a meal pattern that fits your individual dietary needs. Once you are familiar with the Food Lists, managing and balancing food intake become simple to master. See the Food Lists Appendix E. FOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT What Is Your Dietary “Food Print”? A dietary “food print” is the impact of per-person food choices on agricultural land use. Environ- mentalists believe there is a need to think about how food choices affect land use and how many people can be fed per acre. Meeting food needs for an entire population depends on not only effec- tive agricultural yield and production, but also people’s choice of foods to consume. Agricultural scientists want to know which dietary patterns can feed the most people with the land available. This is called carrying capacity. The way land is used has important ecological consequences! As you might expect, omnivores, or people who eat both meats and plant-based foods, require about eight times more land use than people who eat only plant-based foods and dairy. A vegetarian dietary pattern can feed the most people from the cultivatable land that is available. The conclusion remains that as meat consumption is reduced, the amount of land needed for crops to feed livestock is also reduced. Think Critically 1. Should our personal food preferences be viewed as more important than the “food prints” we may leave behind? 2. How important is the need to have equitable distribution of food to all people? 3. What is the relationship between choice of food intake and other environmental concerns, such as water and air quality? Dudarev Mikhail/Shutterstock.com Rasica/Shutterstock.com