What Is a Eucaloric Diet?

What Is a Eucaloric Diet?
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A eucaloric diet will provide your body with just the right number of calories necessary to maintain your current body weight. This diet plan will be specifically tailored to your calorie needs based on your age, sex and physical activity level. It will also provide the nutrients essential to maintaining good health.

Definition

The definition of a eucaloric diet is a meal plan that provides your body with the exact amount of calories required to maintain your body weight. Calories ingested from foods and beverages will be perfectly balanced with the calories your body burns, and as a result, you weight should not fluctuate. Keep in mind that your weight may go down a few pounds if you are dehydrated, so be sure to drink plenty of fluids.

Who Should Follow the Diet

The eucaloric diet is good for people who are trying to maintain their weight. It will ensure that all caloric requirements are met, and it will include all the essential vitamins and minerals. The eucaloric diet can be especially helpful for people who are just trying to eat better, because it puts the focus on the nutritional content of foods rather than just the caloric value of foods.

Total Calories

Eucaloric diets will vary in calories simply because different people need different amounts of calories in order to maintain their weight. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a sedentary adult woman will need 1,600 to 2,000 calories for her eucaloric diet, and a sedentary man will need 2,000 to 2,400 calories. On the other hand, an extremely active adult woman will need 2,000 to 2,400 calories in order to maintain her weight, and an active man will need 2,400 to 3,000 calories.

Distribution of Calories

The eucaloric diet still follows the general principles of a well-balanced diet. The Mayo Clinic suggests that even on a eucaloric diet, 45 to 65 percent of the calories should come from carbohydrate, 20 to 35 percent should come from fat and 10 to 35 percent should come from protein. For a general 2,000 calorie eucaloric diet, this means that you should eat approximately 225 to 325 grams of carbohydrates, 44 to 78 grams of fat, and 50 to 174 grams of protein each day.

Nutrition Labels

If you are trying to follow a eucaloric diet, figure out about how many calories you eat each day, and start reading your nutrition labels. By knowing how many calories are in your foods and by keeping track of them, you should be able to balance your intake and maintain your weight. Do not forget that it is still important to ensure that you are eating a variety of foods in order to achieve your calorie goal.

References

Article reviewed by Brad Walters Last updated on: Sep 2, 2010

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