The foods that don't fit into a food group, like soda and candy, count as
discretionary calories.
For children aged 2 - 3, the USDA recommends that
discretionary calories stay between 165 and 170 per day.
Once people have met their recommended daily intake of fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious foods, most of them can safely consume a small number of «
discretionary calories» in any form they wish, says cardiovascular nutritionist Penny Kris - Etherton of Pennsylvania State University.
A maximum of 50 % of
discretionary calories are recommended by the American Heart Association to come from added sugars.
Discretionary calories are those left in the «energy allowance» once the recommended kinds and quantities of foods to fulfill all daily nutrient requirements have been consumed.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting the amount of added sugar you consume to no more than half of your daily
discretionary calories.
Once you consume the recommended amount of servings for fruits, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy, any leftover calories can be used as
discretionary calories.
The more nutrient - dense your diet is and the more you exercise, the more
discretionary calories you will have to splurge on your favorite foods without going over your daily calories.
I prefer to eat «healthy» food for 90 % of my daily intake and then I allow
discretionary calories for the other 10 %.
After reviewing the proposed food patterns, she discovered that the maximum amount of
discretionary calories after meeting the DRIs for all nutrients would be 13 percent of intake — and that level would only be valid for those at the highest end of the scale (active males, with proposed intake of 3,200 K - cals).
Would it be preferable to talk about
discretionary calories that could be used in a variety of ways, to stress the need for nutrient density?
The Institute of Medicine recommends that added sugar make up less than 25 % of total calories, 3 whereas the World Health Organization recommends less than 10 %.4 The American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugars to less than 100 calories daily for women and 150 calories daily for men.5 The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans6 recommend limiting total intake of
discretionary calories, which include added sugars and solid fats, to 5 % to 15 % of daily caloric intake.
The 10 percent cap was derived from modeling different kinds of healthy diet patterns — American, Mediterranean and vegetarian — and determining how many
discretionary calories are left over for sugar after an individual ge the nutrients he or she needs, said Dr. Susan Krebs - Smith,, the chief of the risk factors assessment branch at the National Cancer Institute.
«When all that's taken into consideration, there's a very small allowance for
discretionary calories, or what some people call «empty calories,»» Dr. Krebs - Smith said.
Not exact matches
The present research aimed to investigate the impact of the physical activity
calorie equivalent (PACE) front - of - pack label on consumption, prospective consumption and liking of familiar and unfamiliar
discretionary snack foods.
But the
calories in most chocolate bars exceed the typical
discretionary range, which Kris - Etherton estimated to be no more than 200
calories for herself.