Nutrition Analysis

Friday, September 18th, 2015

Tuesday, September 18th, 2015

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

          In Anatomy, we learned about nutrition and the different ways that it can affect your health. One of the ways that we learned about it was by tracking our own diets and comparing them to what they should be at. Above is the data that I collected for my diet in three days. This data was tracked using SuperTracker, which is sponsored by the USDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  My data fluctuated a bit because of the events of that day. I was under my projected caloric need, which was 1800 calories, for all 3 days I monitored my diet. On Tuesday, I ended up skipping breakfast and lunch since I was running late to school in the morning, and helping a friend on her project during lunch. For a snack once I got home, I had a piece of toast, which is why my refined grains for that day exceeds the amount recommended, as did my sodium. On Wednesday, I tried to cut back on the amount of sodium I was eating, and made it under the recommended 2300mg limit, instead getting 1800mg. However, I then exceeded the empty calorie limit by eating 341 empty calories instead of 161 empty calories.  On Friday, I did not actively monitor my sodium levels, and I exceeded them. I also ended up exceeding the empty calorie limit once again. 

In order to improve my diet, I believe that I should cut back on empty calories and sodium, and focus more on fruits and vegetables. I also believe that I should eat more protein to bring it to at least the level that it was on Wednesday. I think that Wednesday was my most balanced day, since I kept under the sodium limit, although I exceeded the empty calorie one. If I added more vegetables and dairy to my diet, I believe that it would become more balanced without causing a deficiency in any of the groups. 

In class, we also completed an activity called Falcon Market, where we explored the different foods available to us. It was surprising how many brands and types of food evaded listing trans fat explicitly on their ingredient list. If a food has less than 1 gram of trans fat, they do not have to list it in the nutrition box. However, it still must be on the ingredient list, but companies avidly try to hide this by using synonyms for trans fat, such as : "partially hydrogenated, "hydrogenated" and "leavening" . It was also surprising to learn how much healthier I could be eating when eating at fast-food restaurants. For example, at McDonald's I usually order a McChicken, but after comparing nutrition facts, I realized that a healthier option to order would be a regular hamburger. The same went for my drinks at Starbucks. My two favorite drinks: the Mocha Frappuccino and Pumpkin Spice Latter were overloaded with sugar, which I had previously been aware of, but I never thought that it would have as much added sugar as it did have. 

If I had the opportunity and coach someone on proper health and nutrition, I would start by making sure that they were getting adequate nutrients from each of the food groups, since a deficiency or excess in one may lead to future health problems. I would encourage them to also get exercise throughout the week, and to cut back or actively monitor their empty calories and sodium intake, since foods all around us today are packed with them, and those levels can quickly get out of hand.