Nutrition

Week 7
There is a lot of debate over whether or not vitamin and mineral supplements are necessary. Based on what you have learned when is it necessary to take a supplement? Be specific and back up your answers.

There are many reasons why person takes supplements but in some cases is not necessary and that con drive them to have a serious problem. In my personal opinion the reason why a person need to consume supplements is because they don’t have time to eat healthy or because they are starting a new diet so they cannot eat certain kind of food and those supplements can provide what they need for their life.

Week 8
Childhood overweight and obesity in America. Overweight and obese children generally become overweight or obese adults with many health complications. Name 2 ways that could help decrease childhood obesity in America and 2 reasons why you think childhood obesity is on the rise. Explain your answer.

The first thing that I would do to help to decrease the obesity in the United States is to provide to the children a better education about eating healthier. My second suggestion is to improve the food of the cafeterias in all the schools in the US or at least improve the quality and quantity of healthy products on them. In my personal point of view I can see that one of the most important reasons that children are getting obese is because they spend plenty of their time in front of the T.V, computer or video games. Moreover, other important reason why children are getting obese is because of the excess consumption of fats.

Week 9
Vegetarianism during pregnancy. There are many women who follow a vegetarian diet during pregnancy. How can a woman meet her increased nutrient needs during pregnancy? Support your answer with references.

Those diets can restrict the consumption of some vitamins or minerals that can be indispensable for the baby. Therefore, the women need to be aware of the dangers that the diets present. In that case I would recommend consuming some kind of supplements (specially natural supplements) so they can provide all the nutrients that the baby needs during the pregnancy

http://www.vrg.org/family/adatranscript.htm

Week 10
Supplements and the elderly. The elderly are at higher risk than any other age group for being coaxed into purchasing supplements that they do not need. I want you to locate a website that is trying to sell something unnecessary to the elderly and tell me why it is bogus. Support your answer with references.

According with the research about the needs of elder people I found this website that provides tons of supplements for everything and in my personal opinion I’m sure that all of them are not even close to the real necessities that those people needs. For example, pills for blood pressure, longevity, and bones health.

http://www.seniorlifehealth.com/productcart/pc/viewcategories.asp

Diet Analysis Paper My diet consists of a high caloric intake. I exercise when I have time, but I noticed that most of my calories come from carbohydrates. I want to lose weight, and I know I can’t lose weight unless I cut back on my carbohydrates. I need to pay attention on my portion sizes. I never realized how many carbohydrates I was consuming. Also, this was the week where I fast foods a couple of times. This week was really busy week doing homework, and getting back to normal so I just went for fast food without thinking about my diet.
Last week I did a little research about my eating habits. In the last 3 days my DRI average was 3,494; 139.67 g of protein; 125.34g of fat; 47.34gm of monounsaturated fat; 37.77gm of saturated fat; 27.34gm polyunsaturated fat; 23.9gm of linolenic (omega 6); 2.77gm of alpha linoleic (omega 3); 458.34g of carbohydrates; 20g of fiber and 5451.67g of sodium; 573.34mg of cholesterol. For vitamins and minerals I took in 312mg of vitamin A; 161.43mg of vitamin C; 7.5mg of vitamin E; 2.57mg vitamin B6; 8.27mg vitamin B12; Thiamin 1.73mg; riboflavin 2.13mg; Folate 478; 29.5mg of niacin; 712mg of calcium; 1503gm of phosphorus; 344.57mg of Magnesium; 21.53mg of iron and 18.43mg of zinc; 150.57 mcg selenium; 4034.33mg of potassium.
I consumed an average of 139.67 g of protein, which is 558.68 calories. It is twice of my recommended amount, 15.9% of my total calories come from protein, as I said this is 2.5 more than what my recommended intakes says. The bad part of the diet about last week is that most of my proteins come from animals; as we learned in this class this protein is not good in excess for humans. Analyzing last week diet I should try to consume more vegetables as I did when I was living in my home city. Where I eat what my mother cooks. One option that comes to my mind to minims my protein consumption is eat small portions.
According to Fat Breakdown Report, it showed up that my consumption of saturated fats are pretty high even though is not recommended because of the amount of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Another mistake that I’m doing is eating until I cannot eat anymore. I consume an average of125.34g of total fat, which is 1128.06 calories of total fat. This is 32.28% of my total calories. I usually eat: beans which are good in magnesium, thiamin, legumes which contain Folate, tomatoes, peppers are good in Vitamin C, avocados good in biotin, nuts good in Vitamin E and iron, beef is good in iron, eggs good in riboflavin, cheese good in Vitamin B12, chicken in Vitamin B6, which are good for the minerals and vitamins that my body needs. As you can see I’m trying to stick with a Hispanic diet but I should cut back on the candy bars and the sodas that I consumed. However, I should focus more about what I’m eating since I started taking this class. Moreover, I know that having overweight it can have many deathly consequences such; type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol. All of these diseases I can lower the risks by losing weight. Improving my diet will result in losing weight and at the same time and lowering all these risks. The only thing I have not figure out is working out because the diet is not going to do it all I have to do some kind of exorcise, but I do not have time right now.
My DG recommendations: * 3 cups of milk * Half cup of fruit * 1 cup of vegetables
My total fat breakdown total fat over 13%, saturated fat over 4%, cholesterol over 800 mg, and sodium over 5000mg of my DRI.
In order for me to loose weigh I have to go back to my old routine, working out 4 times a week 1 hour to 1 ½ each day, cut my food in general eat more vegetables, and fruit. My routine was go to the school in the morning, eat 2 meals there (breakfast and lunch) after school go to the gym for one hour do cardio exercises and for thirty minutes do some weights. This routine was 3 to 4 times a week.
According to the Food Guide Pyramid, carbohydrates are my primary nutrient source. I received my carbohydrates primarily from rice, spaghetti, and egg rolls. Even so, as the intake indicates, I can be consuming more amounts of carbohydrates
During this time doing this project I came with the conclusion that my average in each category is above the standards and my intake calories is 130% as consequences is not good for my health and my lifestyle.
On the other hand, the category that I have some problems is fiber; it generally stayed around 75%. Also my Vitamin E was significantly lacking, and that average around 35%. The vegetables I tend to eat are broccoli, carrots, and from time to time I eat cauliflower. So, I was at 1.5 cups of vegetables compared to the recommended intake of 4 cups. One thing I will consider eating smaller portions of meat, and will substitute the various vegetables that I mentioned above as an alternative. I also need to cut back on discretionary calories such as peanut butter, cream cheese and ice cream. I mainly consume discretionary calories because of their convenience, but I can easily substitute fruit for unhealthy snacks. I am sure my daily consumption of fiber is low, so I need to increase my consumption by eating more fruits that are high in fiber like apples and bananas, broccoli, carrots, corn, legumes potatoes. By doing this I will low the risks on diseases like diabetes, heart disease, constipation, diverticulosis, hemorrhoids. I will substitute whole grain or wheat bread for white bread on sandwiches. Not only are whole grains healthier but they will also keep me satisfied for longer periods of time because they digest slower. I will try to avoid high sugar foods like coke and ice cream. However, these can also be substituted for orange juice with pulp and yogurt.
Another thing that I can easily do to decrease my consumption of saturated fats is to choose dairy products with lower fat contents such skim milk, 1% cottage cheese, fish, (salmon, tuna, tilapia) legumes, (baked beans, peanuts, walnuts, almonds) avocados and olive oil. I consume more omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids than recommended but I have no intention of reducing my intake of these "healthy fats".
As you can tell, I felt that this diet analysis opened my eyes and made me realize that I do not know what I am really doing to my body. Things are so much different after you find out the facts. I never knew I was consuming that much cholesterol and I have been eating like this for most of my life. So I am now realizing that knowledge will be the key to a healthier lifestyle. The information I have received from this class is priceless. The Diet Analysis project has taught me a lot about my own eating habits and has inspired me to modify them for a healthier lifestyle. Probably the biggest change I will make after having done this project is to increase my intake of vegetables and fruits. Fruits and vegetables will provide more fiber in my diet (something I am lacking). I will also try to limit my fat intake, especially saturated fats from animal sources.

What I learn in this course?

After been for the last 3 years visiting my nutritionist in Mexico, finally I can understand many things that she tried to explain and I didn’t understand. Actually this course was very interesting and I really learn a lot of things. There are some points that this class really took my attention and are already changing my life such as the amount of calories that the alcohol has, how to reduce the cholesterol and the analysis of the diet. In my personal opinion, I’m sure that this class is going to take my lifestyle and my diet to another level. I just want to thank you for all the time and effort that you Ms Dobbins put in this class.