Principle #1- Food is a basic need of humans.
Principle #2 – Foods provide energy (calories), nutrients, and other substances needed for growth and health.
Principle #3 – Health problems related to nutrition originate within cells.
Principle #4 – Poor nutrition can result from both inadequate and excessive levels of nutrient intake.
Principle #5 – Humans have adaptive mechanisms for managing fluctuations in food intake.
Principle #6 – Malnutrition can result from poor diets and from disease states, genetic factors, or combinations of these causes.
Principle #7- Some groups of people are at higher risk of becoming inadequately nourished than others.
Principle #8 – Poor nutrition can influence the development of certain chronic diseases.
Principle #9 – Adequacy, variety, and balance are key characteristics of a healthy diet.
Principle #10 – There are no “good” or “bad” foods.
Nutrients – Chemical substances in foods that are used by the body for growth and health.
Food Security Access at all times to a sufficient supply of safe, nutritious foods.
Food Insecurity Limited or uncertain availability of safe, nutritious foods, or the ability to acquire them in socially acceptable ways.
Calorie – A unit of measure of the amount of energy supplied by food. Also known as the “kilocalorie” (kcal), or the “large Calorie.”
A calorie is a measure of the amount of energy transferred from food to the body.
Because calories are a unit of measure and not a substance actually present in food, they are not considered to be nutrients.
Nutrients are chemical substances in food that the body uses for a variety of functions that support growth, tissue maintenance and repair, and ongoing health.
Essentially, every part of our body was once a nutrient consumed in food.
There are six categories of nutrients. Each category except water consists of a number of different substances.
