Monday, September 21, 2015

Nutrition Analysis





While I was monitoring my diet, I found that while I thought that I was eating a lot of extra food, I actually am not eating such a balanced diet as I thought I was. I realized that while I am eating more fruit on weekdays, I am not eating a lot of fruit on the weekends and I eat less vegetables during the week than I do on the weekend. Diet monitoring has helped me see how much I actually need to eat and will help me improve my diet in the future.
Not only have I learned from the diet monitoring, I have also learned a lot from the Falcon Market. During the market as I was examining various nutrition labels, I realized that foods that I originally thought were healthy, weren't that healthy. I learned that hydrogenous oil can be just as bad for the body as trans fat, and that if the amount of trans fat in a product was lower that a gram, then companies don't have to put it down in the nutrition label. Examples of such products include peanut butter, where the nutrition label states that it has hydrogenous oil and lots of sugar. If peanut butter was really healthy, then the main ingredient would be peanuts, not sugar! 
After I realized that some of these foods weren't as healthy as I thought they were, I decided to improve my diet. 
To do this, I could try to eat more vegetables, especially when they are in season because I do not really eat them as much as I should, especially on week days. I can also continue to monitor my diet and try to balance it out more by eating more nutrient-rich foods from all five categories on the food pyramid. What I found from the days when I was monitoring my food was that I have been so paranoid about overeating, that I haven't actually been eating enough of all the food groups and I usually have a deficiency of all five nutrients. I should be consuming about 2000 calories a day according to the super tracker, but in reality I am usually eating about 800 calories each day that I was tracking my food. To help improve my eating mentality, I have started exercising more so that I feel better about eating more food in a balanced diet, and as an added bonus, the exercise helps keep my body in good shape.
If I had the opportunity to coach someone on proper health and nutrition, I would tell them to try and make sure they eat nutrient-rich foods from all five of the main food groups every day. I would also tell them to make sure they exercise daily in order to burn off extra empty calories so the body doesn't have as much unhealthy fat. Lastly, I would suggest that people eat foods such as kale, broccoli, strawberries, and other seasonal fruits and vegetables when they are in season. Seasonal foods generally are cheaper and more fresh when they are bought in season so that the consumer receives more nutrients for a lower price.

No comments:

Post a Comment