Three-day Diet Analysis. own diet to see if I m providing myself with the proper nutrients. I ve done the diet analysis

Transcription

1 Bornstein 1 Sari Bornstein April 13, 2009 Fdnt 10, MW 1:30-3 Three-day Diet Analysis Nutrition has always been an interest to me, especially when I am able to analyze my own diet to see if I m providing myself with the proper nutrients. I ve done the diet analysis before in a sports nutrition class during my first semester at the JC. My results then were quite similar to my results to this diet analysis project. When I filled out my profile on the diet analysis program, I stated that I wanted to lose about two pounds per week. I didn t think much of it, but based on that information, the computer lowers your calories and everything else in order to have the correct needs for that weight loss. I do want to lose weight, but it is more towards maintaining my weight. I would like to lose a couple pounds and get into better shape, but I didn t realize that my caloric intakes would have to be so low if I wanted to lose two pounds each week. And I realized that is too much for me. Then I changed my profile to not losing weight, but rather maintaining my weight. This changed my whole bar graph report. My caloric needs went from 1372 to I didn t look at it closely, but 1372 calories per day for someone my weight and height would be too little calories per day is more realistic, but still seems like a lot of calories per day for someone my size to maintain weight. I would think at that many calories per day, I might gain a little weight. My average caloric intake was 1780 calories. I remember when I did the diet analysis a long time ago, my calorie intake was around 1500 calories. I think I do eat a lot, however, I eat a lot of foods with fewer calories, such as salads and vegetables and fruits. Sometimes, I think of

2 Bornstein 2 myself as not a normal eater because, like most people who eat chips, pretzels and high starchy snacks, I m a person who loves to snack on raw broccoli, carrots, dried fruit, apples, almonds and walnuts. As a kid, whenever I had the munchies, I would take out a Costco-size bag of carrots and munch on them for hours. I would eat so many carrots that my skin had an orange tint to it. In high school, I was always known as the carrot and pea girl because I d always have a plastic sandwich bag full of carrots and sugar snap peas along with my V8 juice. Since I fill my diet with so many low-calorie foods, this could be why my calories are so low, even though I feel like I eat a lot of food. This could also be why my fiber intake was almost up to my DRI goal, which not many people meet their fiber DRI. My intake of fiber was about 26 grams and my DRI goal was 33 grams. I think I get in more fiber than most people, especially around the time when I was keeping track of my food for the diet analysis project. Lately, I have been trying to eat more fiber because I have been having digestion issues. For the last few months, my stomach has had this on/off period of working properly and not working properly. I ve had severe stomach pains, constipation and diarrhea, and I have no idea what the cause of it could be. But to help with these issues, I have increased my fiber, which has helped a lot, but it hasn t cured the problem completely. My family is huge on vitamins, so right now I am taking this vitamin called Wow, and its supposed to be a healthy, natural way to internally cleanse the colon, improve digestion and remove toxins from the body. In addition, it s full of natural herbs that are also healthy. My parents have used it and it has worked miracles for them. Also, my family isn t really big on over-the-counter medicines, so instead we use vitamins to aid with the prevention of sickness because it s more natural. I think it s amazing what some vitamins can do. So far Wow has been working for my digestion problems.

3 Bornstein 3 When looking at my bar graph report, it really surprised me that I eat a lot of protein and fat, but not enough carbohydrates. I actually thought the opposite. Considering that my cousins are living with us from Israel and that we have to eat somewhat Kosher, we don t eat a lot of meat because it s hard to find Kosher meats. Because of this, most of my protein comes from cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, nuts, and beans. My only source of meat is chicken that we have about once a week. I used to be a huge red meat person and I still am. I miss the nice, big, juicy steaks that we used to have all the time. Once in awhile I can t resist and I go out to Cattleman s or the Steakhouse to get beef ribs. My mouth waters with just the thought of them. I think the whole reason why my fats are so high is because of the cheeses, the mayonnaise in my tuna sandwiches, the eggs, nuts, avocado and oils that I use for salad dressing. I had no idea that I was almost double my fat intake. However, I try to stick to more of the healthier fats in olive oil, avocado and nuts; therefore, I would think that the amount of fat that I eat isn t completely bad. I think I get a lot of benefit from it as well. About my intake of carbohydrates, I found it very strange that I wasn t meeting up to my DRI of carbohydrates because I feel that I always eat carbohydrates. There are carbohydrates in almost everything: the vegetables, the fruits, the whole grain bread and everything in between. I was surprised that my amounts of carbohydrates, fats and proteins were at opposite levels than I thought. Other vitamins and nutrients that I was low on were monounsaturated fats, vitamin B1, B3, B6, B12, vitamin D, E, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc. It doesn t surprise me that I am so low of many vitamins because of my lack of red meats and low intake of milk products and eggs. Vitamins D is low because of my low intake of fortified vitamin D milk. However I think I get plenty of vitamin D because I get enough sun every day to make up for my

4 Bornstein 4 low amounts of vitamin D. For vitamin E, I think my intake was so low because I was eating the right foods, just not enough of those foods or I didn t have enough variety. Most of my vitamin E came from carrots, salad dressing, avocado, almonds, bell peppers, and peanut butter, but some of these foods didn t contain nearly enough vitamin E to make a huge difference in my total amount of vitamin E. Vitamin E is found in many oils, nuts, avocados, and tomatoes. Since I eat a lot of oils, and tomatoes and avocadoes are one of my many favorite foods, I am surprised my Vitamin E intake wasn t higher. I think I wasn t eating large enough amounts to provide me with the daily proper nutrients. I think my main problem with being so low in many vitamins and minerals is because of my lack of red meats and poultry. If I ate more red meat, poultry and fish, I would be getting greater amounts of the B vitamins, vitamin D and E, and iron, zinc, potassium, and phosphorus. I think by adding more meat and fish to my diet would definitely help me with getting more of the nutrients my body needs. However, I am not too concerned because every day I take a multivitamin with all kinds of vitamins and minerals. It has everything such as vitamin A, C, D, E, K, all the B vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, selenium and other vitamins and minerals. I know the multi-vitamin is a good brand because in the last nutrient class I was in, we tested to see how well they dissolved in our stomachs by placing them in vinegar. The vitamin I brought (the Kirkland brand) compared to other multi-vitamins was one of the only brands that dissolved. So in a way I think that my low intake of vitamins from solely my food intake is okay because I get the remaining nutrients from my daily multi-vitamin. One thing I think I need to change about my diet is my amount of salt intake. I think its part of my inborn habit to always eat salty foods. I never add extra salt to my foods, but I eat naturally salty foods, such as pretzels, pickles and sauerkraut. My whole family knows me as the

5 Bornstein 5 pickle girl because I ve always eaten pickles. Salty foods have never bothered me, but I should be drinking extra water if I m eating a lot of salty foods. I did reach my DRI goal of about 97% for my daily intake of water. So if I m eating these salty foods, at least I am getting close to enough water to balance out the salt so I don t become dehydrated. For my personal education, I researched the health benefits of sauerkraut because I ve been hearing compelling evidence that it has many positive benefits to our health. One, sauerkraut has phytochemicals, which are created during the fermentation process that helps boost the immune system from the common cold, skin problems, weight gain and tainted blood. Two, sauerkraut helps as a cancer fighter because the fermentation of the cabbage produces a chemical called isothiocynates, which prevents cancer growth particularly in the breast, colon, lung and liver (Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry). Three, sauerkraut is a digestive aid because it protects the balance of good bacteria in the intestinal tract. Sauerkraut is one of the few foods that contains the bacterium Lactobacilli plantarum, which helps in increasing the amount of antibodies that fight infectious diseases such as E.coli and salmonella. It s supposed to cure an upset stomach and constipation. Also, the fermentation process increases the nutrient value in the cabbage, especially vitamin C. And fourth, sauerkraut acts as a flu fighter because of the good bacteria from the fermentation process. Even though sauerkraut has over 100 mg of sodium per tablespoon, I think the health benefits could overpower the drawback of having too much salt as long as the intake of sauerkraut is limited daily. Another thing I looked at was the actual food content of each day. I noticed that one day I wouldn t have very much food (under 1350 calories) and the next day I would have almost 2500 calories. Plus, the days that I decided to keep track of my food were a mixture of days when I was working compared to being at home all day or out most of the day. So it was interesting to

6 Bornstein 6 see the foods I ate based on where I m at, the people I m around and what I m doing that day. The days where I was out or at a friend s house, I noticed I ate less and the days I was at home, I ate more but ate healthier foods. Sometimes I would only have two meals and a snack and other days it seemed like I was having almost six meals. It was very interesting to see the diversity in my eating style. Overall, I think I eat very healthy, however I think I need to cutback on a few nutrients such as salt and protein and eat more of certain foods that contain certain vitamins. Furthermore, I think I eat a variety of foods to get most of my needed nutrients, even though I may not being meeting my DRI for most nutrients. One thing I would like to change in my diet is increasing the amount of exercise I do in a week. I think that is key to staying healthy and fit. I ve always ate healthy, even as a little kid when my favorite vegetable were brussel sprouts. However, I think that if I add more exercise I would feel better physically and I ll feel better knowing my body is healthier. One reason I ve always been healthy is because I ve grown up with both of my parents being overweight. My dad has diabetes and my mom used to have hypothyroid. It s not really a family history to be overweight and have diabetes or a thyroid problem, however my family is the kind of family that if we don t watch what we eat, we will easily gain more and more pounds. So I ve mostly stayed on the other side of the spectrum and have watched what I eat, but not religiously, in order to maintain the weight I m at. Therefore, I think its important to make any dietary changes to better my diet, but I also feel like I am at a healthy weight so if I just work on maintaining my weight, getting exercise and eating a variety of foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy and meat products, I will still be a healthy person that is happy with herself.