A dietary menu planning system. The dietary menu planning system receives personal characteristics and food preferences for an individual. The personal characteristics includes a desired physiological rate of change for the individual. Based on the physiological rate of change and other personal characteristics, a set of dietary constraints is developed for the individual. A dietary menu plan is created for the individual including food items selected by the individual and with quantities determined to maximize the food preferences of the individual while satisfying the dietary constraints. The creation of the dietary menu plan includes applying an optimization function to maximize the food preferences. The dietary menu planning system is implemented as a stand-alone application for a computer or as a networked-system, for example, as a fee-for-service basis through the Internet.