Food Exchange Diet Planner, is a desktop tool to create and test balanced diet plans based on the food exchange scheme. Food Exchange Diet Planner can be used by food professionals and knowledgeable individuals to create individualized meal plans that outline the number of servings from each food group for each meal.
The "food exchange scheme"
In the 1950s, the American Diabetes Association, in conjunction with the U.S. Public Health Service, introduced the "food exchange scheme". This allowed diabetic people to swap between foods of similar nutritional value. So, for example, if wishing to have more than normal carbohydrates for dessert, one could cut back on potatoes in his/her first course.
Since then, the food exchange scheme has become a very popular tool for dieticians and nutrition specialists due to both its accuracy and its convenience. It has been widely used not only for diabetic people but also for general purpose and weight management diets.
The "food exchange scheme" categorizes foods into food groups such as fruits, starches, proteins and vegetables. Each group includes appropriate serving sizes for each food in it, so that one serving of any food in this group is considered "equal" to one serving of any other food in the same group. For example, one may change one slice of bread with three quarters of a cup of cold cereal. Both of these foods belong to the "starch" group and have the same nutritional value. One starch serving contains approximately 80 calories of energy and composes of 15 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of protein and trace fat.
The first step towards creating a diet plan based on the food exchange scheme, is to create an individualized meal plan that outlines the number of servings from each food group for each meal.
This is where 100dof's food exchange diet planner comes to help!
Operation of the program
To create a dietary plan using the "food exchange diet planner" (this program), one needs to follow three steps:
(a) Define the average daily energy requirements of the person that the user wants to create the diet for. The energy is defined in terms of calories and can also be suggested by the program based on the person's age, height, weight and activity level.
(b) Define the percentages of the three macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein and fat) that the diet should consist of. The user can either define the three percentages by himself/herself or choose a predefined set of percentages for various diet types (e.g. balanced diet, zone diet, mediterranean diet, etc).
(c) Define the preference for the daily number of servings for three food groups (diary, fruits and vegetables). This piece of information can be defined to reflect the personal preferences of the person that the user creates the diet for and can also be chosen from a set of predefined diet types.
Based on the above information, the program will then calculate the daily number of serving for the other food groups so that all given constrains are kept.
Features
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Very simple to setup and run.
A powerfull tool to create balanced diet plans.
Based on the food exchange scheme.
Computes the number of servings from each food group for each meal.
includes energy calculator to estimate daily energy needs.
Screenshots
Click on the thumbnail for a full-sized image.
Changelog
Check out the changelog below for the latest changes and stay tuned for the future updates!
Download/Install the latest version (v1.2)
In order to install Food Exchange Diet Planner on your system, you have two options: Automatic installation (setup wizard) and manual installation (zip file).
Automatic Installation (recommended method)
In order automatically setup Food Exchange Diet Planner (with the setup wizard) follow the instructions below:
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Download 100dof_foodexchangedietplanner_setup.exe and save it in a temporary folder, or your desktop.
Run 100dof_foodexchangedietplanner_setup.exe to start the setup wizard.
Select the desired installation settings, and click 'install' to start installation.
You will be prompted to read/accept the program's licence agreement and also to provide installation options. You may accept the default settings or change them as you wish.
In addition to the automatic installation procedure described above, all necessary files are also offered in the form of a zip file that you can download and decompress in a convenient place in your hard disk. If you wish you can also make a shortcuts in your startup menu and/or your desktop/
Testimonials/Awards
The software of 100dof is listed in all popular download sites. It has been reviewed by the editors of some very popular blogs and it has been awarded with numerous "five-star" and "best-software" awards. But, above all, our software has very satified users, something that we are very proud of. Check here what our users have to say.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Please note that "Food Exchange Diet Planner" (this software tool) is a software utility which may contain errors. Additionally, the provided results may not be appropriate for all people. NO ONE SHOULD USE THIS PROGRAM TO CREATE A DIET WITHOUT HAVING THE OUTPUT OF THE PROGRAM VERIFIED BY A PROFECIONAL DIETICIAN.
Further to the above, Food Exchange Diet Planner is freeware. The author, of this software accepts no responsibility for damages resulting from the use of this product and makes no warranty or representation, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This software is provided "AS IS", and you, its user, assume all risks when using it.
Contact and feedback
Please, feel free to send comments and feedback at the following email address:
xmpalt[at]100dof[dot]com
Alternatively, you can use our contact form.