The paper reflects on the author's journey with food and nutrition, detailing a shift from a sugar-heavy diet to a more plant-based approach influenced by health concerns, particularly acne. Through a 3-day food record assignment, the author discovered imbalances in macronutrient intake and identified areas for improvement, such as increasing vitamin D, zinc, iron, and magnesium. The experience in the nutrition class has been transformative, enhancing the author's understanding of food's biological impact and reigniting a passion for cooking.
The paper reflects on the author's journey with food and nutrition, detailing a shift from a sugar-heavy diet to a more plant-based approach influenced by health concerns, particularly acne. Through a 3-day food record assignment, the author discovered imbalances in macronutrient intake and identified areas for improvement, such as increasing vitamin D, zinc, iron, and magnesium. The experience in the nutrition class has been transformative, enhancing the author's understanding of food's biological impact and reigniting a passion for cooking.
The paper reflects on the author's journey with food and nutrition, detailing a shift from a sugar-heavy diet to a more plant-based approach influenced by health concerns, particularly acne. Through a 3-day food record assignment, the author discovered imbalances in macronutrient intake and identified areas for improvement, such as increasing vitamin D, zinc, iron, and magnesium. The experience in the nutrition class has been transformative, enhancing the author's understanding of food's biological impact and reigniting a passion for cooking.
The paper reflects on the author's journey with food and nutrition, detailing a shift from a sugar-heavy diet to a more plant-based approach influenced by health concerns, particularly acne. Through a 3-day food record assignment, the author discovered imbalances in macronutrient intake and identified areas for improvement, such as increasing vitamin D, zinc, iron, and magnesium. The experience in the nutrition class has been transformative, enhancing the author's understanding of food's biological impact and reigniting a passion for cooking.
NUTR 210 Professor Haisch 11/26/24 3 Day Food Record Final Paper
Introduction Ever since I was a child, I’ve had quite the sweet tooth. I could eat entire bags of candy, cookies, or a pint of ice cream in one sitting. I loved to bake, and would make cookies, cakes, or pastries regularly. Eventually, I started to notice that I really didn’t feel too good when I ate so much processed and/or sugary foods, especially because I would fill up on it so it was probably a large part of my diet. By the time I was 11, I was using the internet to research what is healthier to eat, and stumbled upon plant-based diets. I had always liked fruits and vegetables, but I began incorporating more into my diet as I learned more about how important plants are. My brothers would scoff at my tofu meals, but I was determined to step away from my family’s diet which would typically always contain lots of animal products. This all changed, however, once I reached 16. At that point I began to pick up several habits that are harmful to health, and suddenly stopped caring about my health or longevity the same. I lifted weights, but wasn’t mindful of what I put into my body and didn’t put much care into how I fueled those workouts. I didn’t begin to care about my health again until this past year, when I began developing acne that was more severe than anything I had experienced before. I tried many topical remedies and nothing did anything, so I began to research underlying causes, and learned that unhealthy lifestyles or imbalanced hormones (which can be caused by unhealthy lifestyles) can dramatically contribute to skin health. I attempted to research nutrition on the internet, in hopes of finding a natural “cure” to my problem, but I began to realize it really was a complicated topic, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. It was difficult to trust what was real. Once I made the choice to go back to school after a gap year, I decided to take this nutrition class, and it has been life changing for me. Before the 3-day food record assignments, I had never recorded my micronutrient and macronutrient intakes before, so it was interesting to see how my diet matches up to the recommendations. I would like to implement the information I learned from it by incorporating more of the food items that are rich sources of the vitamins and minerals that I am habitually lacking.
Factors Affecting Food/Beverage Choices
If I’m being honest, for both of my food records, I recorded on my particularly “good” days of eating where I had the time, energy, and motivation to cook and eat healthy foods. The records definitely don’t reflect what I eat every single day, but they incorporate all of the main foods I typically eat. On days where I am unmotivated to cook, I have a hard time wanting to eat at all, because pretty much all of the food I keep around the house requires at least a bit of effort to prepare, and I don’t prefer to go out to eat very much after having worked in food service for awhile. It was interesting to see my ratio of macros, and was surprising to see how high my protein intake is in comparison to the dietary intake reccomendations, while my carbohydrate intake came out low, as I feel like I eat decent amount of fruits, vegetables, rice, and whole grains, so I would expect to get adequate carbohydrates from that. I think I still have the idea in my head that I should be eating copious amounts of protein, as that is the information I’ve seen that has circulaed the internet the most. It seems like everywhere I look are recipes for meals boasting 30-50 grams of protein. Meanwhile, my recommended protein intake is between 45-50 grams of protein for the entire day. Keeping this in mind, I think I will stop thinking about protein intake altogether, and just focus on having a wide variety of foods in my diet, because it seems like protein intake is simply not something of concern for me.
My Diet vs. Recommended Targets
According to the information from my 3-day food records, my diet is high in fat and protein, but low in carbohydrates compared to the recommended percentage of my diet. I consumed 3.75 grams of omega-3s, and 6.73 grams of omega-6s. I consume just below my recommended caloric intake. My folate intake was a bit low on my first food record, but I surpassed the recommended intake on my second food record, which I am proud of. My levels of vitamin D appear to be relatively low coming from food sources, in addition to my zinc, iron, and magnesium levels. I will increase my vitamin D intake by consuming mushrooms at least a few times a week, which I can expose to sunlight to maximize the benefits. Additionally, I can expose myself to adequate sunlight. I will also aim to increase my consumption of cashews, kidney beans, and pumpkin seeds in order to increase my intake of zinc, iron, and magnesium. My dietary fiber intake surpassed recommended levels slightly, and my added sugar and saturated fat consumption were lower than the reccomended maximum. My calcium intake was within target.
Exercise My exercise routine typically consisted of moderate cardio 3 times per week, in which I would run up and down sand dunes. Additionally, I liked to strength train with weights in my garage gym. I typically like to stretch in the morning to gently wake up, or sometimes in the evening to help circulate my body before sleep. The part of my exercise routine that is struggling, however, is proper warm ups and cool downs. When I was younger, I took advantage of the fact that I hardly could notice the difference in my performance whether I warmed up or not. However, as I have aged a little bit, my body definitely has begun to notice how uncomfortable it feels to begin exercising without properly warming up my body. I had also had the notion that cooling down was unnecessary, and an accessory move. But after incorporating a cool down into my routine, I felt so much better after the workout. I would like to hold myself to incorporating 5 minute gentle warm up and cool down exercises and stretches in order to prevent injury and improve overall performance.
Short Term and Long Term Health Impact
If I continue to consume inadequate levels of magnesium, I’m at risk for poor sleep and hypertension. Continued lack of iron could lead to iron deficiency anemia, while a lack of zinc could impact my immune system negatively, while also causing potential gastrointestinal and reproductive issues. Additionally, a lack of zinc could contribute to poor skin health, and can increase inflammation and acne. The role that zinc has in skin health is important to know, and I now wonder if my plant based diet that is rather low in zinc could be contributing to or potentially even causing my acne.
Conclusion Other than my own level of motivation, one of the biggest factors that influence my food and beverage choices are what company I choose to spend my time with. None of my close friends or family especially like healthy foods, and typically don’t choose their food based on healthfulness. I can see how the standard American diet is perpetuated culturally, and it’s difficult to socialize without having to give up on my desire to make health-promoting choices. Yet, it seems sad to miss out on being a part of the group just for the sake of sticking to healthy foods, even though it’s what makes me feel physically and mentally better. I think that’s why the sense of community is so crucial in the longevity of the folks who live in “Blue Zones”, and I imagine that the quality and interests of the community align well, allowing those communities to positively influence each other to pursue a purpose in life, garden, financially support one another, and live healthy lifestyles. In my 3 day food record, I was surprised at how difficult it was to reach the 2,000 Calorie mark, and I now wonder what my typical caloric intake is when the days that I’m unmotivated to eat are taken into account. I was also surprised at how high my fat intake is, as I didn’t really think about how quickly oil adds up to the tally, especially when stacked on top of other rich food sources of fats such as avocados and peanut butter. I was also surprised at my lack of carbohydrate intake, as I used to practically eat an all carb diet. Finally, I mean it when I say that this class has been life changing. I truly believe that everyone should take this class so that all of the fad diets and misinformation could come to an end, because there would be agreed upon basics to health and wellness. For me, understanding the biological processes behind how the body uses and processes food was crucial in changing my entire view of food for the better. In addition, I finally feel confident in my knowledge about nutrition, which has taken away the guessing game of trying to distinguish facts from misinformation. Although my interest in nutrition began with an attempt to better understand female hormones, health, and how it connects to skin health, it has blossomed into much more than that. Even my passion for cooking was reignited by taking this class, reminding me how important and lovely food is. My skin still isn’t clear, but implementing what I’ve learned from this class has improved it significantly. I am no longer insecure about my acne, but I am grateful for it because it pushed me to take care of my health.
The Relationship Between Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Knowledge With The Nutritional Status of Bajo Tribe Pregnant Women in Duruka District, Muna Regency
