Food Exchange

 What is food exchange?

 The word exchange refers to the food items on each list which may be substituted with any other food item on the same list. One exchange is approximately equal to another in carbohydrate, calories, protein and fat within each food list.

The exchange system can simplify meal planning and ensure a consistent, nutritionally balanced diet, while it adds variety in one's diet because exchanges in the same group can be eaten interchangeably.

Many people with diabetes use a food-balancing program called the exchange meal plan to guide what they eat each day. For this meal plan, foods are divided into six groups: starch, fruit, milk, fat, vegetable, and meat.

Food Exchange List (FEL) is a user friendly tool which was developed to help individuals to aid healthy eating habits and follow a specific diet plan. This may be a helpful supplementary strategy when helping patients prevent or manage non-communicable diseases that are affected by diet especially those with diabetes.Food exchange lists allow health professionals to generate healthy eating plans adapted to individual or population needs. The objective of this study was to develop the first food exchange list based on the macronutrients and energy provided by the various food groups of the Ecuadorian diet.



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