By: Kris Sollid, RD   Date: 4/12/10

For the past thirty years, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) have joined forces every five years in publishing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  In the effort to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce risk of chronic disease, these two government agencies recruit our nation’s brightest nutrition and public health professionals to compile a report for which the eventual Dietary Guidelines are based.  This panel of experts is otherwise known as the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), and this week (April 13-14, 2010) they are scheduled to convene for the fifth time in preparation for the much anticipated release of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  

While the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is always an extremely helpful and impressive document, such high level thinking can sometimes get lost in translation as it trickles down to consumers.  With that in mind, before we head into the next half-decade of dietary decisions, let’s clarify a key, but abstract concept introduced in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans; discretionary calories. 

At first glance, the term appears perplexing.  I thought a calorie was a calorie was a calorie?  Was a new type of calorie recently discovered that I should be made aware of?  While we’re at it, what does discretion even mean…and how is it relevant to diet?  I wondered all of these things myself, so I did some investigating. 

Defining Discretion & Applying it to Calories

According to Merriam-Webster, discretion can be defined as the “ability to make responsible decisions”.  Whether we’re cognizant of it or not, we all make decisions regarding food.  But just how many can one actually make in 24 hours?  Research from Brian Wansink at the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University suggests we make over 226 food-related decisions per day!  If we’re really making that many decisions every day about food, then perhaps it would behoove us to be responsible about them.

Now that we’ve defined discretion, let’s look at the ever confusing calorie.  Calories are units of energy that can be stored or spent by the body.  Think of your body as a bank account for calories; when savings exceed spending, gains occur. Conversely, when spending exceeds savings, loss occurs.  Much like money, calories play a significant role in balancing your energy budget, yet few people know exactly how many calories they spend in a typical day.  Imagine trying to balance your budget without knowing exactly how much you spend, it’s pretty tough to do right?  Regardless of personal goals to gain, lose, or stabilize your weight, it’s imperative to become familiar with the number of calories your body spends during a day’s work. 

Identifying the number of calories required for weight maintenance is central to the DGAC’s concept of discretionary calories.  In fact, your discretionary calories depend on it.  In the words of Dr. Theresa Nicklas (2005 DGAC alum), “It [discretionary calories] is the difference between your total energy requirement and the energy (calories) you consume to meet nutrient requirements.”  In other words, the calories necessary to meet your body’s nutrient needs can be separate from those required to maintain weight depending on the nutrient density of your food. Unfortunately, many of us exhaust our potential discretionary calories before meeting our nutrient needs by consuming foods of minimal nutritional value. 

Is that right, discretionary calories are not inherently available? The truth is, not all of us are lucky enough to have them.  Perhaps therein lies the confusion; why is one person “allowed” them, while another is not?  The reality is it has more to do with lifestyle than luck.  Discretionary calories can be created through diet and lifestyle modifications.  Here are two ways to increase yours:

1) Choose more nutrient dense foods

 By opting for more nutrient-dense foods, you can meet your nutrient needs in fewer calories.

o For example, while one cup of whole or skim milk contains similar calcium, vitamin D, and protein profiles, they significantly differ in total fat (8 vs. 0) and calorie content (150 vs. 80).  Because whole milk is less nutrient-dense, choosing whole milk over skim imparts 70 discretionary calories.

2) Increase your physical activity

 As physical activity increases, so do your discretionary and total calorie allotments.

Bottom line - not all food is consumed for specific nutrient needs, and that’s ok.  Remember, every food can fit in a healthy diet, just so long as you are simultaneously meeting your caloric and nutrient needs. 

What are some substitutions you’ve made to your diet that leave room for a tasty treat now and then?