Blog Post 5: "Diets, like clothes, should be tailored to you" -Joan Rivers
Taking Contemporary Nutrition in college has definitely opened my eyes to the choices I make when consuming food. One key element that is very significant to me, which has placed a impact on my health is learning what dieting really is. Dieting is when a individual restricts themselves to small portions of food or special kinds of food to lose weight or maintain weight. When someone instantly hears that someone is taking on a diet they think that they want to lose weight, but as for myself I want to maintain my weight and also consume the right foods. Just because my BMI tells me that I am not over weight doesn't mean that I am in shape. If I ran up a flight of stairs nine times out of ten I would be breathing heavily. I have designed a diet that is tailored for me and no one else. I have created this diet based off of my family history and just by taking accountability by recognizing the foods I've eaten in the last 3 months (since I came back to college).
Before I came to college and was living at home while in high school, I would rarely eat at fast food restaurants. My mom is a stay at home parent and would always make food from home, what made this situation more unique is that she would make her dishes from scratch. I would know what I was eating. In addition to that, there was always a different vegetable on my plate. It is safe to say that my mother nine times out of ten followed the "MyPlate" template without even knowing it. However, as soon as I got to college and was always on the run, I never really got the chance to sit down prepare food and cook. I was always grabbing fried foods to go from the pub at my school, or ordering take out from fast food restaurants. I started to see my body changing. I'm not ashamed to even mention that I saw myself getting a little stomach and was developing "love handles" I was definitely not happy. I decided to go to choosemyplate.gov and type in my age, my weight, my height, and how active I am on a day-today bases. The site was able to calculate what my daily food plan should be in order for me to lose some weight, but try to maintain it as well. I didn't want to necessarily lose much weight, just tone myself up and in the midst of it all lose maybe 10 pounds. Nothing too crazy. My food plan stated: consume 8 ounces of grains, 3 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit, 3 cups of dairy, and 6 1/2 ounces of protein foods". As for my grains, I should be "making half my grains whole and aim for at least 4 ounces of whole grains a day. I must vary my veggies and aim for these amounts each week: Dark green veggies = 2 cups Red & orange veggies = 6 cups Beans & peas = 2 cups Starchy veggies = 6 cups Other veggies = 5 cups". As for fruits, I must "eat a variety of fruit and choose whole or cut-up fruits more often than fruit juice". "I should be getting my calcium-rich foods by drink fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk, for the same amount of calcium and other nutrients as whole milk, but less fat and calories. I also should select fat-free or low-fat yogurt and cheese, or try calcium-fortiļ¬ed soy products. One milk in particular that I enjoy to drink is Almond Milk, but ever since I was a little girl I was always a milk lover. " Lastly, I need to go lean with protein. Twice a week, make seafood the protein on your plate. I must vary my protein routine and choose beans, peas, nuts, and seeds more often. Most importantly I should be keeping meat and poultry portions small and lean.
Aside from the food, I should also be active. There must be a balance between food and physical activity. I need to be active for at least 150 minutes a week. Knowing my limits of fats, sugars and sodium helps greatly as well. My oil consumption should be 7 teaspoons a day. I need to limit my calories from solid fats and added sugars to 330 calories a day, as well as reducing sodium intake to less than 2300 mg a day. These decisions were based off of a 2400 calorie diet. As difficult as it may seem to stick to this diet, its about slowly adjusting myself to this. I cant automatically switch up my diet, I must be realistic and set up goals for myself. Most importantly once I see results I have to stick to this type of dieting and keeping myself aware. As for my family history, I do not have any family history of any health problems to my knowledge, but even though this is the case it is my diet that will determine my health risks or when will benefit me in the long run. This diet isn't going to necessarily keep me from the foods I love to eat, its all about potion control and being in control of my actions in general. I was never a big late night snack eater, nor sugar and sweet eater all the time. When I would eat cake and ice cream it is usually on special occasions. My problem that I should be concerned about is consuming mostly fried foods, which isn't healthy. The oils and grease can take a toll on my body. I feel this diet that was presented to me is beneficially to reaching my goals and is sustainable with my lifestyle and tastes. However, in order to do this I must learn how to budget my money in order to buy the healthy foods and taking the time out my day to prepare myself for the foods I will be cooking throughout the week.
By knowing my limits of fats, sugars, and sodium the changes will affect my life by lowering my chances of getting diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke.
