I am trying to convey key messages of Nutrition to the general people using my personal website for couple of years. These writings are based on different environments and contexts I was exposed to. No AI or any other tools were used. People from more than a hundred countries already read those. Sometimes, I get confused about whether I am giving the right messages to the people or not.
I found it very interesting and encouraging for me to see that some of the key recommendations of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, align with my thoughts and writing. It would help me to be highly motivated to continue writing. I always love learning and helping others with Food and nutritional knowledge. I took the challenge to address some of false claims circulated in social media for misguiding people as well as following their non-research-based ideas or buying their products thought creating contents supported by updated research from diversified sources and countries. As a result, there is fair chance to increase acceptability and make gradual and sustainable changes in the process of KAP (Knowledge, Attitude and Practices) of nutritional knowledge.
It is always required to continue monitoring and assessing the effect of new guidelines based on different outcomes. So, coordinated approaches are warranted between multiple organizations, experts, and countries to identify issues that need to be addressed to overcome the challenges to make it an effective guideline. We want both general and individualized dietary guidelines that could be flexible in terms of implementation based on the demands of an individual or a group.
Here are some of the key thought alignments of Learn Nutrition Online (LNO) with Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), 2025–2030
1.
DGAs:
Eat the Right Amount for You
+ The calories you need depend on your age, sex, height, weight, and level of physical activity. (Page 3)
LNO:
What to do?
First, try to get a rough idea about your ideal weight based on your age, sex, physiological conditions, etc.
(Weight Restricted Diet: One Control Point To Enjoy A Happy And Healthy Life. | Learn Nutrition Online)
Nutritional demands vary with multiple factors such as age, sex, physiological conditions, physical activities (PA), etc. Here I would like to focus mainly on the changes in physical activity levels (PALs) (1) along with other conditions. It would be helpful if you adjust your diet as per your new physical activity or work patterns to keep you healthy and happy in the short, mid, and long term (2).
(Changed Your Physical Activities Or Work? Adjust Your Diet Accordingly. | Learn Nutrition Online)
Diversified means including foods of diverse groups. We are advised to follow recommended dietary guidelines based on different conditions such as age, sex, physiological conditions, physical activity level (PAL), environmental conditions, etc. (1, 2,3,4,5,6)
(Increase Diversified Food And Nutrient Intakes By Following Simple Steps | Learn Nutrition Online)
Food, which is a basic need to be safe and healthy, to meet our needs based on our demands in different conditions such as age, sex, physical activities, etc. To meet the demand, we have to buy and consume diversified foods.
Healthy weight includes several aspects of lifestyle modifications such as eating healthy, being active with required physical activity, coping with stress, etc.
The physical activity levels (PALs) of an individual may vary. So, one needs to know his or her PALs. This would help him or her to determine daily energy requirements and expenditures. In addition, physical activity helps us burn the energy consumed or deposited energy in our body expressed or marked as overweight and obese.
The simple summary message is to increase your energy expenditure by adding physical activity like walking at existing food or energy intake levels. This would create a gap or imbalance between daily energy intake and expenditure. As a result, you may include more food on your menu daily to balance your energy intake.
(Walk More, Eat More! | Learn Nutrition Online)
In some cases, we overlooked the necessity or importance of need or demand assessment based on individual age, sex, physiological and other conditions. Sometimes we also forced ourselves to eat when we are not intended to have that to satisfy others, due to not having no other options, economic hardships, less or no accessibility and availability, natural and manmade emergencies, etc.
Let’s avoid forced feedings and ensure or choose the best and alternative options of feedings (15,16,17,18). At the same time, try to promote on demand feedings irrespective of age, sex, etc. These would be helpful to archive optimum nutrition and health status of individual, groups.
There is no single dietary recommendation for all-whether it is a general diet or a special or therapeutic diet like keto. People differ in distinct factors such as genetic makeup, body composition, age, sex, physiological conditions, disease profile, etc. These need to be considered while recommending or following any diet.
(Are You Going To Be Nutritionally Vulnerable By Following The Keto Diet? | Learn Nutrition Online)
It is very important to introduce a food using right approaches considering different factors to be effective and sustainable such age, sex, time of the day, family and personal food habits, etc.(On-demand Or Forced Feeding? | Learn Nutrition Online)
2.
DGAs:
Eat the Right Amount for You
+ Pay attention to portion sizes, particularly for foods and beverages higher in calories. (Page 3)
Limit Highly Processed Foods, Added Sugars, & Refined Carbohydrates
+ Avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas, fruit drinks, and energy drinks.
+ While no amount of added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners is recommended or considered part of a healthy or nutritious diet, one meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugars.
+ When selecting snack foods, added sugar limits should follow FDA “Healthy” claim limits. For example, grain snacks (e.g., crackers) should not exceed 5 grams of added sugar per ¾ ounce whole-grain equivalent, and dairy snacks (e.g., yogurt) should not exceed 2.5 grams of added sugar per ⅔ cup equivalent. (Page 5)
LNO:
In general sugar, particularly natural sugar and added sugar, is not harmful if consumed in small amount (1). On the other hand, too much added sugar (2) may unhealthy due to weight gain and other diseases or problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, etc. (3,4,5)
Regulated intake of less or minimum (sparingly) sugar may be more beneficial than alternative options such as artificial sweeteners that needs more money which could be used for buying cheap and nutrition foods (11,12).
As a result, we would be able to include or adapt multiple options such as increased consumption of food or nutrients of beneficial contexts: natural and less or no processed foods, whole grain-based composite food, pre-biotics and pro-biotics (fermented food and non-fermented foods or ingredients), fortified or supplanted food or medicine with bio-active compounds and phytochemicals (functional foods/ingredients), etc.
3.
DGAs:
Eat the Right Amount for You
+ Hydration is a key factor in overall health. Choose water (still or sparkling) and unsweetened beverages. (Page 3)
LNO:
Drafted some posts those are yet to be published due to limited in contents.
Title: Should we make a change of plain water recommendation-Possible Weight management approach.
Let’s modify the chart of macronutrient recommendation-Water, carbohydrate, protein, and fat. We may make the chart first recommendation for water intake -plain drinking water Vs total water intake by food and beverages
Title: Have plenty of water to reach ideal weight..
It would be easy to reach the ideal weight if you drink plenty of water from fresh water and beverages like milk, juices, etc.
(Edit Post “Have plenty of water to reach ideal weight..” ‹ Learn Nutrition Online — WordPress)
Title: Daily water intake related to health and nutritional status
4.
DGAs:
Gut Health
+ Your gut contains trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms called the microbiome. A healthy diet supports a well-balanced microbiome and healthy digestion. Highly processed foods can disrupt this balance, while vegetables, fruits, fermented foods (e.g., sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso), and high-fiber foods support a diverse microbiome, which may be beneficial for health. (Page 3)
LNO:
Fermented foods help strengthen gut microbiota. Microorganisms known as probiotics derived from fermented foods help to develop healthy digestion (1,9). It is better to add as many fermented foods as possible to one’s diet as there is no specific recommendation for consuming fermented foods or probiotics daily (3,4, 7).
There are more chances of bringing diversity in living and good microorganisms (probiotics), beneficial enzymes, B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, digestibility as well as bioavailability of foods, reduced inflammatory proteins, etc. if you increase the number of fermented foods compared to single ones (3,5,9). It also brought a change in the microbiome to set a balance between healthy and unhealthy bacteria (6).
Let’s pick or choose one or multiple fermented food(s) and beverage(s) to serve or consume daily in different meals from the available food supply. It would help you and your family to make your health and nutritional status better.
5.
DGAs:
Prioritize Protein Foods at Every Meal
+ Prioritize high-quality, nutrient-dense protein foods as part of a healthy dietary pattern.
+ Consume a variety of protein foods from animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, as well as a variety of plant-sourced protein foods, including beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy.
+ Swap deep-fried cooking methods with baked, broiled, roasted, stir-fried, or grilled cooking methods.
+ Consume meat with no or limited added sugars, refined carbohydrates or starches, or chemical additives. If preferred, flavor with salt, spices, and herbs.
+ Protein serving goals: 1.2–1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, adjusting as needed based on your individual caloric requirements. (Page 3)
LNO:
It is stated that long-term intake of a diet that is too high in animal protein (more than 2 gm/kg body weight) such as red meat with or without saturated fats is not good for health. It may help to develop a higher risk of bone, renal, liver disorders, kidney stones, heart disease, colon cancer, etc. while a plant-based high-protein diet is safe (References: A50, 51)
It is not easy or possible to have or buy food as per your demand or need or recommendation. So, it is better to include diversified food regularly. Avoid monotony of foods. So, it would be beneficial to consume less protein instead of excess in any meal. For this, one may spread healthy protein consumption in different meals throughout the day (References: A50).
It is wise not to consume more than 2 g of protein per kg body weight per day. So, try to consume healthy proteins both from animals and plants following the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of protein intake to avoid the risk of developing diseases (References: A50, 53).
(Excess Animal Protein Intake By Imbalanced Diet. Good Or Bad? | Learn Nutrition Online)
6.
DGAs:
Limit Highly Processed Foods, Added Sugars, & Refined Carbohydrates
+ Avoid highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies, and candy that have added sugars and sodium (salt). Instead, prioritize nutrient-dense foods and home-prepared meals. When dining out, choose nutrient-dense options.
+ Limit foods and beverages that include artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes, artificial preservatives, and low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners. (Page 5)
LNO:
Food is one of the basic needs of humans. We may easily make a safe food unsafe while processing the final items to be consumed. It may be intentional as well as unintentional food and dietary practices.
Nowadays, people are using lots of food additives while processing food. These may be harmful to your health. For example, if you add more heat or use ingredients containing chemical preservatives such as vinegar, catchup, etc. Those may denature proteins and reduce the nutritional value of your foods. As a result, reversible or irreversible denature of proteins may lower or reduce the nutritional value of those foods. At the same time, some of the ingredients may be irritating to your digestive system as well as harmful to intestinal beneficial microflora. These promote an inflammatory environment and favor the growth of harmful microorganisms. So, food with fewer additives or in its natural form is safe, suggested, and more beneficial for healthy eating.
Sometimes people get used to different chemicals, hoping that they will help them to control their food intake. There is a fair chance of getting adulterated and contaminated chemicals in Bangladesh when people create a huge demand and become dependent on them. in addition, harmful chemicals may cause damage to your gastrointestinal tracts such as denaturing cell receptors or cell lines, etc. Thus, both limited or excessive use of chemicals or adulterated foodstuffs for the short or long term would deprive you both financially and Healthwise.
7.
DGAs:
Incorporate Healthy Fats
+ Healthy fats are plentiful in many whole foods, such as meats, poultry, eggs, omega-3–rich seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives, and avocados.
+ When cooking with or adding fats to meals, prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil. Other options can include butter
or beef tallow.
+ In general, saturated fat consumption should not exceed 10% of total daily calories. Significantly limiting highly processed foods will help meet this goal. More high-quality research is needed to determine which types of dietary fats best support long-term health. (Page 5)
LNO:
It is observed that people are worried about consuming fats or oils. So, they discard cooked oils from curries. It’s also quite common to see people using newspapers to reduce/soak oil from paratha or other fried items in Bangladesh. What is happening? They are promoting contaminated food consumption because of panicking oils. But required or limited amounts of fats or oils are not as harmful as expected. So, it is better to reduce the amount of both oil and paratha or other fried items. As a result, healthy eating will be promoted through safe foods.
8.
DGAs:
Focus on Whole Grains
+ Prioritize fiber-rich whole grains. (Page 4)
LNO:
It may be an alternative way to decorate as well as enrich cake or pastry by inserting layers of mashed and colored vegetables and fruits which are locally available, and cheap while preparing those. It would help one to add fiber and sweetness (10 tips for healthier baking – Heart Matters magazine – BHF). It would also help people to have more nutritious pastries or cakes containing more vitamins, minerals, fibers, and phytochemicals. Moreover, decorating with natural coloring compounds may reduce the necessity of artificial colors which are chemicals in nature. As a result, consumption of chemicals also may be reduced. Thus, the nutritional quality and safety of pastries or cakes will be improved. As a result, acceptance levels would be increased.
Adopt the following approaches singly or together gradually by making short, mid, and long-term plans. Some of them will prevent while some will relieve constipation problems. So, let’s try using nutritional approaches to get these dual benefits.
- Try to modify your diet (changing the contents of both foods and beverages).
- Avoid monotonous foods consuming regularly. Make it diversified by including foods from diverse groups of foods.
- Get enough fiber regularly by increasing the consumption of fiber-containing foods.
- Regularly drink plenty of liquids with or without fiber-containing food to improve the constipation prevention function of fiber.
- Develop a habit of being physically active to increase your physical activity.
Try to change the foods, beverages, and activities that are available and suitable to you. Do not force yourself to buy any recommended foods you cannot afford long-term. Mostly, you must like the food, and beverages and enjoy the changes in physical activities to prevent constipation more effectively.
Fiber, water, and physical activity are the three leading players.
Frequent consumption of liquid or semi-solid food will help.
Frequent consumption of solid foods without fiber and liquid for a long time may worsen the situation.
(Nutritional Approaches To Prevent Constipation-Feel Relax And Comfort | Learn Nutrition Online)
9.
DGAs:
Individuals with Chronic Disease
+ Following the Dietary Guidelines can help prevent the onset or slow the rate of progression of chronic disease, especially cardiovascular disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. If you have a chronic disease, talk with your health care professional to see if you need to adapt the Dietary Guidelines to meet your specific needs.
+ Individuals with certain chronic diseases may experience improved health outcomes when following a lower carbohydrate diet. Work with your health care professional to identify and adopt a diet that is appropriate for you and your health condition.
(Page 10)
LNO:
Being a diseased person, one needs to avoid specific foods or nutrients as per the suggestion of his or her dietitian or nutritionist.
For a normal healthy person, the basic principle of weight management is the balance between energy intake and expenditure.
If you have any disease, please consult with your doctor, dietician, or nutritionist before adopting a new lifestyle modification by simple walking. Then adjust according to their recommendations. You also need to be monitored regularly.
(Walk More, Eat More! | Learn Nutrition Online)
How?
First, you need to consult with your doctor to discuss your drug or medicine history. It is very much essential to adjust or revise the list as per the requirements or recommendations received from the doctor(s).
Sometimes, it is noticed or evaluated that some of the drugs or medicines consumed regularly are proven unessential or ineffective. The ultimate result is a waste of money that could be used for fulfilling other requirements. These may result from infrequent visits or consultations with the doctors or the unavailability of health care services to the patients.
So, it is very much recommended to take advice from a doctor or dietitian, or nutritionist for each step of dietary modification along with regular monitoring and modifications of diet followed.
(Are You Going To Be Nutritionally Vulnerable By Following The Keto Diet? | Learn Nutrition Online)
So, it is better to look for safe alternatives for effective and sustainable weight management approaches by reducing appetite as well as increasing nausea, satiety, and satiation by available options.
So, let’s avoid or use sparingly (according to the recommendation of your doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist) apple cider vinegar. Do not follow the general recommendations regarding buying it that may be harmful to you or your family members. It would also help you to save some money on unnecessary products daily. This would create an opportunity for you to buy healthy foods.
(A Big Concern: Is It Safe Or Unsafe To Use Apple Cider Vinegar Regularly? | Learn Nutrition Online)
It is not as simple as thought to design personal food intake patterns, with or without the help of experts such as dietitians, and nutritionists, using existing knowledge available. Sometimes, an individual may be misguided.
To make it simple, for the mass people, information needs to be updated, available, accessible easily, and regularly at low or no cost. At the same time, the availability and accessibility of experts such as nutritionists, dietitians, and trained personnel should need to be increased in different government and non-government sectors. In addition, false or misleading information must be restricted, deleted, or removed by authorized organizations for the greater welfare of human beings.
These would help you to assess the nutritional status properly by your doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist. As a result, proper advice and counseling could be given. Thus, effective, and efficient motivation and management are possible to control excess body weight gain. You should follow this advice.
In addition, you may motivate yourself with the help of your caregivers to make changes and adopt the following practices yourself by taking the help of standard dietary guidelines such as food MyPlate (MyPlate | U.S. Department of Agriculture).
10.
DGAs:
Added Sugar
+ To help identify sources of added sugars, look for ingredients that include the word “sugar” or “syrup” or end in “-ose.” + Added sugars may appear on ingredient labels under many different names, including high-fructose corn syrup, agave syrup, corn syrup, rice syrup, fructose, glucose, dextrose, sucrose, cane sugar, beet sugar, turbinado sugar, maltose, lactose, fruit juice concentrate, honey, and molasses. Examples of non-nutritive sweeteners include aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, xylitol, and acesulfame K.
+ Some foods and drinks, such as fruits and plain milk, have naturally occurring sugars. The sugars in these foods are not considered added sugars. (Page 5)
LNO:
Hidden (Invisible) Nutrients:
It’s difficult and sometimes impossible to estimate compared to visible parts. So, more methods are needed for the assessment of hidden or invisible nutrients. It is important for all or particularly for diseased people. These would help us to achieve and maintain our nutritional status and health.
To measure the consumption of both visible and invisible (hidden) nutrients we need to update food composition regularly. In addition, modern technology needs to be introduced and implemented for the assessment of the content. Thus, improved, and easy-to-follow food coding or labeling systems may be available and accessible for mass people.
11.
DGAs:
Adolescence (11–18 Years)
+ Encourage adolescents to become active participants in food shopping and cooking so they learn how to make healthy food choices for life. (Page 8)
LNO:
So, to address overweight and obesity problems among all, especially children, we need to create a supportive environment to adopt and maintain healthy eating practices. For example, family mealtimes, no digital device while eating, food dairy for kids, healthy kids’ food corners at different settings such as restaurants, playgrounds, schools, etc., family funs or games or activities for physical activity and burning calories, discount, and gifts for eating whole healthy foods served as well as not wasting foods, gifts for having fruits and vegetables in meals, etc. are some of the common or new interventions we may implement.
On the other hand, many distractions such as the availability of unhealthy foods at home and other places need to be decreased gradually. Here family members and other caregivers have the primary responsibilities. They need to restrict or curtail the availability of unhealthy foods at home or while going outside. At the same time as a team, we need to evaluate and criticize ourselves before criticizing our kids considering both reward and punishment approaches. As a result, we may have healthy, active, and happy kids who will determine our future.
(Kids’ Overweight And Obesity Problems. Are You Blaming Your Kids? | Learn Nutrition Online)
At household levels:
In the case of households, household food, and nutrition security are easily manageable compared to groups, community, national, and international levels. Here, the allocation of time in different family activities may help family members to eat food together and share caring. It helps them to consume more homemade and family foods. Thus, developing healthy eating habits that influence test buds as well. As a result, short- and long-term development is promoted.
In addition, the psychological and moods of each member may be changed a lot due to the reduction of stress levels of individuals while staying and sharing thoughts and meals together. This helps them to overcome communication gaps among themselves as well as concentrate on individual needs and the importance of the family. This would help not only household food and food and nutrition security but also the nutritional security of individuals who are nutritionally vulnerable such as children and the elderly. These also reduce the need for old or childcare homes in modern days.
Nowadays, we are very much anxious about the nutritional status of our kids who are very much exposed to digital devices. Obesity and overweight are increasing gradually. So, focusing attention on food items consumed as well as reducing exposure to distracting objects is very much needed to develop healthy food habits and choices among children and other family members. In addition, sharing attitudes may develop among kids.
So, to improve individual and family food and nutritional profile as well as food intake environment sharing food items instead of having whole may be a good option for different settings. Let’s try to build and maintain proper nutritional status by cooperating with each other in different settings like an office, a school, travel time, social gatherings, etc.
(Sharing Meals: May Be A Practical Option To Maintain Individual Weight | Learn Nutrition Online)
Pastries or cakes are extremely popular food items. It is usually considered an energy-dense food due to having more carbohydrates, fat, egg, sugars, creams, etc. It is frequently considered a snack and dessert due to its availability. Moreover, it is liked by people of all age groups, particularly children. So, if one is exposed to an environment where pastry or cakes are easily available and accessible to him or her then there is a fair chance that he or she would be vulnerable to being malnourished and suffering from different diseases. So, manipulation of his or her selected foods is necessary to help him or her to be nourished and healthy.
Homemade as well as commercial foods, like pastries or cakes enriched with vegetables and or fruits, may be prepared and sold at a lower cost. There is also the option to modify the taste based on individual taste and liking. The most important thing is that the composition could be changed following different energy requirements or disease conditions of an individual such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, etc.
It is very tough to change the habits of an individual in a brief time. Taste, culture, availability, accessibility, price, etc. influence personal food choices and intake. In addition, a lot of people, especially kids, are noticed as not interested or unwilling to consume foods like fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, they are very much interested in having sweets items like cakes and pastries, etc. A simple step may make his or her diet healthy to enjoy meals.
12.
DGAs:
This crisis is the result of poor policy choices; inadequate nutrition research; and a lack of coordination across federal, state, local, and private partners.
Together, we can shift our food system away from chronic disease and toward nutrient density, nourishment, resilience, and long-term health.
America’s future depends on what we grow, what we serve, and what we choose to eat. (Page 2)
LNO:
Every food or nutrient intake guideline may have some limitations based on the sources of data used such as sample studied, geographical locations, study designs. food prepared, tools used to analyzed food composition data, reliability and availability of updated data, etc. (1). Still, we need to try for making the best use of all or existing evidence-based data, recommendations and guidelines for extracting the benefits (cost-benefit; cost-effectiveness). These would make our food or nutrients intake activities or pattern more effective and sustainable for achieving normal and healthy life of individual and groups (2,3,4,5). One important and key aspect that we need to focus here is the raising flow and circulation of false, fabricate or non-evidence-based data and information both in print and online media. These are mainly misguiding people’s food and nutrient intake patterns as well as making the process of implementing the recommendations and guidelines difficult and ineffective. So, we need to adopt coordinated and appropriate preventing and controlling measures locally, nationally and globally.
These may figure out some alternative options that may help choosing healthy eating or healthy diet (14,15,16) of individual or groups irrespective of education levels, set-ups and environments, and other factors exposed to (17,18,19,20,21,22,23).
Let’s bargain for modifying or replacing your existing diet for the betterment of your health and nutritional status(9,10). So, transit your learning of the basics of nutrition from authentic sources into practices with or without the health of nutrition and food science personnel as needed or available (11).
Normal person, have no disease, is commonly guided to achieve and maintain proper health and nutritional status by consuming food or nutrients form diversified groups of foods as per recommendations. If some levels of discrepancies arise between recommendations and evidence-based data, then we need to focus on that issue and address it properly to narrow down the gaps to covey the right messages to the users of the data or guidelines. Failure to do that may be harmful for many of them for having hidden or unseen consequences such as food related stress while choosing and consuming foods, inappropriate caring practices by care givers, less or misuse of food or nutrients, less or excess intake of both healthy and unhealthy foods, etc.
Here we may take the opportunity to discuss few important and highly discussed or concerned food related evidence and guidelines. Thus, we may identify the conflicts, if any, to maximize the acceptability, effectiveness, sustainability and utilization of both evidence and guidelines.
Let’s make some small or big but very important changes in each scientific approaches to adjust or adapt existing or ongoing activities. These may promote or reduce or nullify food or nutrient mediated positive or negative effects on health and nutritional status of individual(s).
*(Continuing…)
*Featured image credit goes to https://www.pexels.com
If you are interested to learn more about my other articles, please visit following link: Learn Nutrition Online | Nutrition For A Healthy And Happy Life