Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Food Label Worksheet

What is your food product?
-Honey Roasted / Honey Bunches of Oats

1. What is the serving size?
-Serving size is about 30g or 3/4 cup

2. How many servings per container?
-Approximately 14 servings per container

3. How many calories per serving?
-Approximately 120 calories per serving (+ 160 calories from milk, since the product is a cereal)

4. How many calories are from fat?
-15g

5. What percentage of each serving’s calories comes from fat?
(Do the math yourself.)
-12.5% of calories are from fat

6. What is the total fat percentage of your food?
-5%

Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Low

7. What is the saturated fat percentage in your food?
-0%

Is this content Low/High?
-Low

8. How much of your diet should come from saturated fats?
-0% (recommended)

9. What is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats?
-Saturated fat is mainly from animal products, and contain Low Density Cholesterol-the type that clogs the veins.
Unsaturated fat is mainly from plants and oils, and contain High Density Cholesterol-the type that doesn't clog the veins.

10. What is the percentage cholesterol in your food?
-0%

11.Is that Low/Moderate/High
-Low

12. How much sodium is in your food?
-150mg is in my food

13.Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Low

14. What is the carbohydrate content of your food?
-25g

15. Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Moderate

16.What is the sugar content of your food?
-6g

17. Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Moderate

18. Why are sugars not good for you?
-Too much sugar can result in high level of blood-sugar, and this can result in obesity or certain types of illness

19. How much fiber is in your food?
-2g

20. Why is fiber good for you?
-Fiber is the agent that cleans out people's intestines. Since fibers aren't digestible, they sweep the dietary system and takes out toxins.

21. How much protein is in your food?
-2g

22. Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Low

23. What is the Vitamin A , Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron content of your food?
Vit. A-15%
Vit. C-0%
Calcium-0%
Iron-60%

24. Are these amounts adequate?
-Vitamin A-moderate
Vitamin C-low
Calcium-low
Iron- High

25. Overall, what would you say is the nutritional value of your food? Is it good for you? Why or why not?
-Eating this food with milk will be a good diet. While the food is high in iron, it has a fine calorie balance and lacks cholesterol and saturated fat. Also, it provides adequate amount of proteins, fibers, carbohydrates and other various nutrients. However, other supplementary foodstuff will be needed to supplement the lack of Vitamin c.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Nutrition Analysis

During the weekdays, I'm usually eating slightly lesser than what is being burned as calories. My food intake gives me an approximate calorie value of 2380, but my activities burn about 2700 calories. This gap between calories consumed and calories burned is compensated during weekends. In order to balance this gap, I can either reduce my physical activities (which I can't), or simply eat more nutritious food. Since option 1 is not viable, I'll have to eat more food in order to balance this ill eating habit.

Also, I'm not taking in enough vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Calcium and other nutrients. While other nutrient-intakes were sufficiently higher than what is required, these three nutrients and several others were in 40%~70% range of what was required. However, I'm taking in more than what is necessary for other nutrients, especially sodium and selenium. This indicates that I'm eating too much salt, and therefore needs to reduce my salt intake. This increases my chance of getting ailments from high blood pressure. For other nutrients, I was taking in 7%~98% more than what's necessary.

The nutrients chart shows that my diet consists of the following: 35% fat, 52% carbohydrates, 13% protein, and 0% alcohol. As for fat, 8% was saturated fat, 13% was polyunsaturated fat and 11% was monounsaturated fat. I was getting the majority of my calories from protein instead of fat, and that is relatively healthy. Large portion of nutrients (carbohydrates) came from vegetables and fruits, reflecting my somewhat healthy diet.

Typical Weekend day:
During the weekends, I'm usually eating much more than what is being burned. I am consuming approximately 3870 calories worth of food, while burning only 3000 calories. Because of such dietary shifts from weekdays to weekends, I have a constantly shifting weight, ranging from 60 to 63. In order to raise this inequality between calories consumed and burned, I'll need to exercise more or do more vigorous physical activities.

I'm still not absorbing enough calcium, vitamin A and vitamin D, but I'm taking excessive amounts of other nutrients. I still consume excessive amount of salt, and all nutrient-intakes are considerably higher. For example, I'm taking in 343% more vitamin C and approximately 150% more iron and copper than what's recommended. There was no visible cholesterol consumption, but I lack calcium by 30% of recommended amount. It is likely that I'll have calcium-deficiency related disease or illness from too much salt.

My diet consists of the following nutrients: 38% fat, 51% carbohydrate, 11% protein and 0% alcohol. 9% of fat was saturated, 16% was polyunsaturated, and 11% was monounsaturated fat. Weekend diet still had large portion of vegetables, fruits and carbohydrate, and they balance the food pyramid.

Looking at the overall food pyramid, I'm taking sufficient amount of meat, vegetable, fruit and wheat, but I'm not consuming much dairy product. Perhaps that is why I have low-consumption of calcium. Another detrimental eating habit I discovered is that I eat too much salt. High level of sodium indicates that I'm taking in excessive amount of salt, and I need to reduce my intake in order to improve my health.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

News Article related to Stress

What drives a mom to kill?
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
August 18, 2010
www.cnn.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/18/sc.mother.children.psychology/index.html?iref=allsearch#fbid=AFzda3WLuQm&wom=false

Shaquan Duley, a 29 unemployed Orangeburg (South Carolina) resident, is accused of killing her two children by suffocating them. Duley has admitted to the crimes, stating that she had suffocated her two children, strapped their corpses onto the cars and left the car to plunge into the lake. According to Duley, She and her mother had an argument regarding the state of two children, and Duley has been known to have been put under stress by her mother and the community to support for her children. As the article says, Duley was unemployed, a single mother, and received considerable stress from life.

This article shows that a build-up of stress can eventually lead to horrible outcomes, such as a mother killing her own children. According to the article, many mothers who murder their own children are usually in neglected, low-income classes in which they are easier to get pressured. Duley was living with her mother, and because both were unemployed, they lacked the means to support their family. Constantly being told that she wasn't taking care of her children, Duley was stressed to a level that she wanted to get rid of her children and free herself, and that's when she carried the murder out. Duley is regretting what she has done, but being sad won't bring back her already-dead children.

This article was shocking to me because I personally think that parents prioritize their children first, but this article contradicted me. All parents feel love for their children, and the incidence proved to me that stress is something far more deadly than what I had thought of earlier. Stress and depression can trigger even the most loving parents to make the wrong decision, and despite the fact that I've never been so stressed as to think of killing other people, this article made me feel that I should find effective methods to deal with stress.