Current Eating Habits

Currently I am doing my best to try to have a pretty healthy diet. I do not weigh each and every thing or measure it out precisely for the amounts that I should be eating, but my general diet revolves around a meal plan that includes:

Two servings of meats each day

Four servings of dairy

Two servings of vegetables

Two servings of fruits

Three servings of carbohydrates

At least 32 ounces of water

In addition, through snacks I consume an additional 200-400 grams of sugars

While on the face of it this would appear to be quite healthy and show I am trying to provide my diet with nutrients as much as possible, it is entirely possible that often I miss part or that I am not getting enough activity each day outside of my regular daily program that will allow me to burn off all of the calories that I am taking in.

Nutritional Recommendations

The first thing the mypyramid.gov website did was take me to a special page that informed me I was overweight for my height and that I needed to take additional action to reduce my weight. At a minimum, I need to lose 11 pounds to be at an acceptable weight for my age and height. With that in mind I asked the website to provide me with a food plan that would maintain my current weight:

and a second plan to try to reduce my weight to the healthier weight the charts suggest:

Notice that the changes are slight, but they reduce the daily calorie intake by 200 and they also reduce my intake of everything except fruits, milk and oils. It also reduces extras in fats and sugars by 25 calories a day. Both plans call for at least 30 minutes of additional exercise each day throughout the week.

Most of the other details between the plans are not changed, and there is no guideline as to how long it should take to shed the excess weight the website says I carry. I would need to revise my eating and adjust to meet the standards and be sure of my exercise to make sure that this can be done, all while weighing myself regularly to see if additional adjustments need to be made.

How to implement healthy eating plan

Starting with meats, I will need to make sure that I vary them, and that they include much more fish, poultry, and certain cuts of pork. For additional protein, I can add nuts, beans, or seeds to the diet plan.

Milk needs to be low fat or fat-free, but I can have yogurts, cheeses, or regular milk.

Fruit servings are probably best if I am having actual fruit and not trying to get the servings through juices, which contain added sugars.

Twenty-one cups of vegetables seems like a lot of food each week. This is probably to replace many of the other foods that I would have in larger servings and to keep me feeling full. It probably also is to help encourage digestion and to help me keep up my energy with natural sugars instead of the energy boosts from sugars and oils.

Making sure the grains I eat are whole grains also seems like it is to help me feel fuller each day, replacing larger amounts of proteins with grains that will help me digest the proteins.

Of most importance is to set aside the minimum number of minutes a day for physical activity. If I fall behind on that I will find myself still gaining weight back even if I am eating reduced calories.

Most importantly, I will need to actually measure my servings of things. You can easily assume you are having enough of something, when in fact you are having too much. If a serving is 8 ounces, I need to actually measure that amount. It is especially easy to miscalculate the size of servings of liquids and meats without measuring them.

Measuring the servings will also allow me to increase the size of the amount of vegetables I eat to get up to the recommended amount.

While there are simple tricks that can be used to estimate portion sizes that can be done when out for dinner or with friends someplace, like making sure half of the plate is fruits and vegetables and the other half is meat and carbohydrates separated equally, it is only this accurate measuring and judging that will make sure I am not ingesting too many calories a day.

Besides that, the smartest thing someone has suggested to me is a food journal, a way to keep track of what you have each meal so that you can look back and see which things you liked the best, which ones helped you feel better, which ones provided more energy and which made you feel full and bloated. For them it also meant they did not accidentally have extra servings of something later in the day when they had eaten all they should have for the day earlier and just forgotten about it.

Nutrients currently in diet

Nutrient rich foods

The meats provide me with protein, fat, B1, B2, folic acid, B12, iron, zinc, and magnesium. It is best to try to bake, broil, roast or microwave these after trimming off all possible fats. Make sure excess fat is drained off after cooking.

Milk products provide proteins, fats, B2, B12, Vitamins A and D, calcium, zinc and magnesium. Lower-fat products reduce the fat while keeping the protein and calcium quality high. Always choose something with lower milk fat or butter fat percentage when purchasing something.

Fruits and Vegetables provide carbohydrates, fiber, B1, folic acid, vitamins A & C, iron and magnesium. Dark green and orange vegetables and fruits are higher in vitamin A and folic acid.

Grains provide protein, carbohydrates, fibers, B1, B2, niacin, folic acid, iron, zinc and magnesium. Whole grains are higher in starch and fiber, enriched foods are recommended because of the vitamins and minerals added to them.

Of these, proteins are important for building and repairing the body tissues and producing antibodies. Carbohydrates supply energy and help the body use fats. Fats supply energy and help the body absorb some vitamins. B1 (Thiamin) releases the energy from the carbohydrates and promotes growth and appetite. B2 maintains healthy skin and eyes and helps the nervous system release energy to body cells. Niacin helps maintain the nervous system and digestive tract. Folic Acid builds red blood cells. B12 helps form red blood cells and maintains nerve and gastrointestinal tissue. Vitamin C helps your teeth, gums, and blood vessel walls. Vitamin A is important for bone and tooth development. Vitamin D enhances calcium and phosphorus use to maintain healthy bones and teeth. Iron helps form hemoglobin for oxygen transport. Fiber comes in two types – insoluble, which promotes regularity and reduces the risk of colon irregularities and is mainly in whole grains; and soluble, to reduce cholesterol levels and controls blood sugar, found in some fruits and vegetables, and pasta. (Know Your Nutrients)

In addition, a nutrient for my body from my diet is water, which helps transport nutrients and waste products into and out of cells, helps all digestive, absorption, circulatory, and excretory functions, helps the body absorb water-soluble vitamins, and is needed to maintain proper body temperature. The old story that you need eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day are probably inaccurate, but for most people, in most situations, there is nothing wrong with more water, especially if you find yourself if an extremely hot or cold situation where you can dehydrate quickly and without warning. (Nutrition Infocenter)

Nutrient lacking foods

The two main things lacking nutrients in my diet right now are the sugars and fats I ingest during the day. Sugars come mainly from snacks that do not fit in the grain, fruit, vegetable, or milk product ranges. While some fats are needed for the body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, there is probably more in my daily diet than is needed, and that is probably the case for almost every person in the United States. These two categories are specifically mentioned in the lower right corner of the pyramids I had the website make for me.

REFERENCES

Know Your Nutrients. Retrieved 1/20/10. know_your_nutrients.htm.

Mypyramid.gov. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 1/20/10.

Nutrition Infocenter. “The Four Basic Nutrients” Retrieved 1/19/10.