You Are What You Eat

People's health is determined basically by what they eat. That is because food upholds nutrients so either people are healthy and likely to have a life with no significant problems, or have risk of disease is influenced by food. Also, it determines how you look, because if you eat a lot of food that has high amount of fat or carbohydrates, you will look chubbier. If you eat food that has high fiber but low fat, you will not be as chubby and be actually healthy. If you want to improve on yourself because you are what you it, you should look at food labels which helps to choose right food for you and be a better "you" by making healthy decisions. You will make better daily nutritional choices and try to take an ideal nutrition, for example 2,000 calories a day from food. It will be better for you to choose food with high amount of vitamin and fiber, and avoid one with too much sodium and fat. I am in fact what I eat because I avoid food with high fat, because I know it will lead to obesity. However, I'm not too skinny either because I take quite a large amount of carbohydrates and also sugary food. Thus I have stated in my analysis before that I will try to reduce the amount of carbohydrates. Also, I am trying to not skip meals which I sometimes do, because I've researched and learned that if I skip it, my blood sugar levels drop and propels me toward high-sugar food to quell my cravings. As I found out from analysis as well that I take too high amount of sodium as well, I am trying to not put in additional salt in my food, such as soup. In addition, Food Inc we watched a few days ago proves the point that you are what you eat. It described how chicken breasts got bigger and tomatoes and other vegetables were genetically engineered for own profits, and as a result, more than 70,000 Americans fell ill and obesity level intensified, in addition to adult diabetes. This clearly shows they were what they ate, even though it was not from their desire. The society itself is also making us become what we eat. Thus, not only we need to make healthy decisions by such as looking at food labels and be aware to take not too low or too high amount of calories each day, but also government itself has to influence us in a way that we become healthy because of better food choices that will not malfunction our health. We are what we eat, and that is why we need to be extremely aware of what we eat.

Food Inc Reflection

The industrial production of meat that was closely examined in this documentary enraged me as the way they turned the animals into food seemed inhumane. Also, the way they did it looked "unsustainable" in terms of long term effect. When they talked about industrial production of grains, especially corns, and how it related to workers' rights as well in regards to immigrated Mexican workers, it seemed like a serious issue. It was scary and interesting that the industrialized production affects not only our health and environment, but also the general workers' rights and the economy.

Fitday

Weekday (Day 1)

 

Weekend (Day 2)

ANALYSIS Based on the above-stated items, you will now need to make a detailed assessment of how you did with your eating and activity. You DO NOT need to just answer the questions, but write a few paragraphs about your diet and exercise habits. In doing so, please make sure that you include the information given the the following questions/statements.

1. Nutrients (including fats) from the nutrients pie chart on FitDayFor the first day (weekday), I consumed least fat as it was 42.1 grams, 374 calories, and 21%. Carbohydrates took the most part with 263.2 grams, 1,057 calories, which was 59%. Protein was 91.2 grams, 365 calories and 20%.  This trend was similar for the the second day (weekend), as I had least fat and most carbohydrates. Fat was 59.6 grams, which was 532 calories, 19% of all. I resulted to have most carbohydrates, as it was 474.8 grams with 1894 calories and 67%. Protein I consumed was 96.4 grams, 388 calories, and 14%.  This general trend suggested that my diet is concentrated on carbohydrates with much sugary product, but still fat consumed overall is not too much.

3. Identify three nutrients that you consumed close to 100% of RDAFor the first day, Vitamin B, Iron, and Magnesium were close to 100% of RDA.
For the second day, Calcium, Magnesium, and Fiber were close to 100% of RDA. 

4. Identify three nutrients that you either over-consumed (far above 100%) or under consumed (very low) irregularities you might have (too high or too low) For the first day, Carbohydrates and Selenium were over consumed and Vitamin D was under consumed.For the second day, Carbohydrates and Selenium were over consumed and Vitamin D was under consumed.Therefore the nutrients over consumed or under consumed seemed to be consistent in both days.

5. Use the internet to research what the nutrients in #3 and #4 and identify the following:
a. What the nutrient does for the body (what is its function?)

There are many types in Vitamin B itself. Vitamin B6 helps the body break down protein from foods we eat. It also helps the nervous system send messages to and from the brain. Vitamin B12 helps the body break down and use fuel from food. It also helps the body make blood and it helps the brain and spinal cord function correctly. Vitamin B3 helps the body grow and repair nerve and skin cells. It also helps the body keep cholesterol levels normal. Vitamin B2 helps the body effectively use the other B vitamins. It also helps the body make new cells, grow and use the fuel in carbohydrates. Vitamin B1 helps the body break down carbohydrates, keep the heart working properly and maintain the nervous system.Iron helps the blood transport oxygen from the lungs to the tissue cells where it is needed. This makes sense, when you consider that iron is well known to rust easily. Rusting is the process of oxidation, or the absorbing of oxygen. Our cell physiology knows how to make use of this property of iron.

Magnesium regulates the absorption of calcium and is involved in the structural integrity of bones and teeth. If it is deficient in the bones, the bones may be dense but have poor trabecular integrity and thus be brittle. It also regulates the contractility of the heart muscle and has a relaxing effect on smooth muscle. It may be helpful in relaxing the smooth muscle of the bronchioles (improving asthma) and the arterioles (lowering blood pressure). It may relax uterine tissue (decreasing the cramping of dysmenorrhea). Also, Magnesium decreases coagulation and acts as a calcium channel blocker. Thus, it helps the heart to pump more effectively. 

Calcium strengthens bones and teeth, making it so they do not break or fracture easily.It also helps in the muscle contraction and the transmission of the nerve signal in the form of action. 

Fiber keeps the digestive system healthy and functioning properly. It helps flush out toxins from our body that could cause toxin build up and can lead to diseases like haemorrage. Lack of fibre will give a very painful experience when you are trying to pass motion. 

Carbohydrates give energy to all the cells in our body and they fuel the basal metabolic rate (the rate at which we use energy at rest) and activity levels. Carbs also produce glucose which gives you that quick spurt of energy but the cells do not use all of the glucose so it reserves some and stores it in your liver and muscles as glycogen. Once there is enough in reserve the rest turns to fat.

Selenium protects blood cells from certain damaging chemicals. It helps our system produce antibodies (a structure of molecules that binds to the surface of a virus and prevents it from damaging your body). Also, it helps keep the pancreas and heart functioning properly. Furthermore, it makes our tissues elastic (stops our skin from stretching apart). 

Vitamin D maintains Calcium and phosphorous levels in the blood stream. Vitamin D assists in the absorption of these important nutrients during digestion. This role in calcium and phosphorous absorption makes vitamin D an important part of bone growth and maintenance and liver and kidney health. Vitamin D also contributes to the function on the thyroid gland and the immune system.


b. What foods you can find the nutrient in?
Vitamin B: Vegetables, fruits

Iron: Cereals, barley, rice flakes, soybean, mint, broccoli, sea vegetables, watermelon, raisins, fish, and red meats

Magnesium: Black beans, broccoli, nuts, soy milk, spinach, tofu, whole grain cereal, and whole wheat bread

Calcium: Dried herbs, cheese, sesame seeds, tofu, almonds, flax seeds, yogurt, and mustard

Fiber: rich foods include fruits, vegetables, lentils, peas, beans, oats, barley, oatmeal, potatoes, dried fruit, soya milk and soya products. 

Carbohydrates: Sugary cereals, hard candies, dried fruits, low fat crackers, rice cakes, potato chips, flour, cakes, cookies, jams, potatoes, sweet pickles, and pizzas

Selenium: Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, fish, shellfish, meat, poultry, eggs, mushrooms, grains, and onions

Vitamin D: Cod liver oil, oysters, caviar, fortified soy products, salami, ham, sausages, fortified dairy products


c. What are the long-term concerns of over or under consumption of this nutrient

Vitamin B: allergic reactions, blood clots, itching and diarrhea (over consumption)

Iron: Anaemia (under consumption)

Magnesium: if you have too little magnesium in your body, you will have high blood pressure, fatigue, diabetes, headaches, spasms, but if you have too much magnesium in your body you will be decreased in concentration, decreased rate of breathing, muscles and generalized weakness and sometime coma. 

Calcium: Osteoporosis (under consumption)

Fiber: development of diverticulosis, a condition that causes small pouches in the colon to bulge outward and swell (under consumption)

Carbohydrates: diabetes, weight gain due to overproduction of insulin in the bloodstream (over consumption)

Selenium: Abnormality of heart muscle (under consumption)

Vitamin D: Osteoporosis, muscle or bone pain, increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and frequent bone breakage (under consumption)


d. What adjustments, if any, you will need to make to your diet in order to reach a healthy point of consumption for this nutrientTo reach a healthy point of consumption for carbohydrates, I should eat less sugar by avoiding too much candies, cookies, and pizzas. Also, to reduce Selenium, I should not eat too much fish, meat, eggs and have a balanced meal. On the other hand, to consume more Vitamin D, I will eat more fortified dairy products but still try to not over consume those. 

6-8. Identify long term concerns that you will need to be aware of (e.g. a high fat diet would result in higher risk of heart attack) and how you might alter your lifestyle and choices to be more healthy in the future. In your analysis identify ways that your exercise and diet might affect you in the future. In particular, what "health concerns" do you have for your future? What changes would you have to make in your lifestyle to become more healthy? How easy/difficult would these changes be for you and why? 

The long term concerns I will need to be aware of are diabetes, weight gain, abnormality of heart muscle, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis. Among those, diabetes and weight gain are to be mostly concerned about since my diet mainly relies on carbohydrates. To make my lifestyle become more healthy, I should eat less carbohydrates and avoid sugary products and keep exercising regularly to not gain weight and have an increased chance of diabetes. It will be difficult for me to make a change in which is to reduce the amount of carbohydrates I take, because I like to eat pizzas and rice cakes. And most importantly, I love to eat products made out of flour which makes a high consumption of carbohydrates. Nevertheless, I should try my best to reduce the amount and try to eat other nutrients that are under consumed instead.

9. Finally, identify any problem areas that you felt might have given a not-so-good idea of your actual diet and exercise patterns. What there a problem with the program's database in terms of information input? Was the diet and exercise indicative of your normal weekday lifestyle choices? Note any problems in your blog.

The problem areas that I felt might have given a not-so-good idea of my actual diet is that even though I tried to reduce as much fat as I could to balance my diet, the amount of flour I consumed actually made it unbalanced and increased the percentage of carbohydrate intake, which is not necessarily good. And in terms of my exercise, my weekday and weekend patterns differ too greatly, which is very not balanced. On weekends, I do more activities such as exercise because I have free time and thus burn more calories and the amount of activities is greater than the lifestyle ones. However, during weekdays, I do not really have time to do more extra exercise, which I have to work on from now on. At least for 30 minutes, I'll try to do skipping rope or some stretching to make sure my lifestyle is healthy. Thus, there was no problem with the program's database in terms of information input because the exercise pattern was indeed indicative of my normal weekday lifestyle choices. But for diet, the food list was not exactly correct since there were not all korean food, I had to put in vegetables/ingredients that were included in that food. The fact that it was America-based did not make it really accurate. Nevertheless, I could find out the general food pattern in my life and what I need to work on, such as reducing the amount of carbohydrates. I'll try to look at the food label more and be conscious, and avoid sugary food. 

A Letter to Bada :P

binge drinking

transmitted diseases

alcohol poisoning


Dear Bada
Hi Bada, this is your mom. :D
You are 10 years old right now and I love watching you grow in such an adorable manner.
And I thought, I should write a letter to you about how dangerous stuff like smoking and drinking can turn you into a totally different person.
When you become a certain age, you must have an awareness of how to control yourself over the dosage of, or the amount of using alcohol and tobacco. You are the one who's going to be in charge of restriction and regulation so that you know when to stop, because it's not like I'm going to be restricting or regulating you all the time even when you are fully grown up. For example, if you overdose alcohol, you will be intoxicated, which basically means you will lose control of your behavior and numerous negative consequences will follow, like hangover which gives you a very severe headache. You also don't want to be drunk driving and cause serious problems, do you? As you can see, this will not only harm you, but also harm other people around you. I want you to be a person who acts as a role model to others and be beneficial, not the one who influences others in a harmful manner. Do you understand? :)
And there is one more thing I warn you to stay away from. It's the drugs. Once you get addiction over drugs, it will be really hard to rehabilitate and get back to a normal life and you will be eventually losing tolerance. Some drugs are very stimulant that raise levels of nervous activity in the body, such as heroine, so they can be very dangerous. Also, some drugs are hallucinogens that cause hallucinations, like LSD. You might think drugs give you ecstasy, like an overwhelming excitement, but it's only for that very short period of time. As most of the drugs are depressant, they actually make you to be more depressed afterwards, so it brings a negative effect.
So Bada, please always have what I just said in your mind and behave well as you live your own life.
I love you!!

The most dangerous drug

I think alcohol is the most dangerous drug because first of all, it's the most accessible one and thus is available to the largest number of people. In addition, there are actually many people who die from too much drinking alcohol or suddenly pass away because it doesn't fit their body system.

COCAINE

1. What is the definition of this drug classification (characteristics)
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive central nervous system stimulant that is snorted, injected, or smoked. Crack is cocaine hydrochloride powder that has been processed to form a rock crystal that is then usually smoked. It is classified as a stimulant drug


2. What are a few examples of drug that come under this classification
Crack, Speed, and Ecstasy are all examples of stimulants


3. Short-term effects of that drug.
Cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric and energetic, but also increases body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate.


4. Long-term effects of that drug. Be sure to include physiological effects on the body.
Users risk heart attacks, respiratory failure, strokes, seizures, abdominal pain, heart irregularities, increased blood pressure, low sex drive, insomnia, depression and nausea. In rare cases, sudden death can occur on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly afterwards due to heart or lung failure.


5.  Street names for that drug.
Coke, snow, flake, blow


6.  Pictures of what that drug looks like.

7. How that drug is taken.
Snorted, injected, or smoked


8.  Statistics related to that drug (example: % of teenagers using in 2008)
In 2009, 4.8 million Americans age 12 and older had abused cocaine in any form and 1.0 million had abused crack at least once in the year prior to being surveyed. Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration Web Site). The NIDA-funded 2010 Monitoring the Future Study showed that 1.6% of 8th graders, 2.2% of 10th graders, and 2.9% of 12th graders had abused cocaine in any form and 1.0% of 8th graders, 1.0% of 10th graders, and 1.4% of 12th graders had abused crack at least once in the year prior to being surveyed. Source: Monitoring the FutureExternal link, please review our disclaimer. (University of Michigan Web Site).


9. An interesting/fun fact about the drug.
The soft drink Coca-Cola originally contained an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per serving, which combined with caffeine to create the drink’s powerful stimulating effects. While cocaine was officially removed from the drink’s ingredients in 1903, a cocaine-free version of the coca leaf is still used as a flavor additive in the soda.


10. Overall analysis (in your own words) related to how dangerous you think this drug is. What are the dangers of this particular drug? In your analysis include what you think are the reasons a government would make this drug illegal (under some or all circumstances).
 I think this drug is really dangerous because Cocaine actually numbs any human tissue that it contacts with and speeds up a person's nervous system. Cocaine's dangers are that it can cause deaths, and it can prove lethal through great dosage, or through the long term bodily abuse that occurs during cocaine addiction. It causes numerous physical problems like strokes, seizures, and respiratory and blood pressure problems, in addition to some mental problems like depression and insomnia. I think the reasons a government would make this drug illegal are that Cocaine is highly addictive and thus can provoke catastrophes in a society with effects on people. Also, this drug can prove fatal at any time which can harm a large number of population.

11. If you used additional sources than the NIDA link, you need to cite your sources appropriately.
http://www.infobarrel.com/10_Facts_about_Cocaine#ixzz1qrWhOUJ8

http://www.choosehelp.com/addictions/cocaine-addiction/why-is-cocaine-so-dangerous
http://www.ceida.net.au/stimulants/http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/07/09_cocaine.html
q=blowing+coke&num=10&um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbnid=U-HNhZnt_9z5VM:&imgrefurl=http://idiotyouth.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/swedish-teens-trade-energy-drinks-for-cocaine/&docid=Pv93sGzDLVgJ1M&imgurl=http://idiotyouth.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/article-1081882-0435fe090000044d-578_468x377.jpg&w=468&h=377&ei=IUh5T4WDFI7yrQevpLzDDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=231&vpy=4&dur=498&hovh=201&hovw=250&tx=113&ty=74&sig=100405966372215839042&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=169&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:

Cry For Help

 The big picture of this movie is that many students are suffering from depression and the intense depression leads to suicides at a teen age. Personally, I think it is a serious issue and everyone deserves to be happy when he or she is a teenager, and therefore surrounding people should be aware and be conscious of depressing-looking people. There is a "Take program" mentioned in DVD and I think it is a good program since it takes care of students before they think of suicides. And also the counseling programs in those schools showed how they gathered students around and made them share their stories and make sure they feel there are people who can help or are the same as them. I think it will be effective in ISKL if there are students who feel depressed, because it is beneficial in a way that it prevents students from making any inappropriate decisions. Even though all the students look really happy and look like enjoying their lives to me in our school, it is possible that they are concealing their real feelings just to themselves just like DVD mentioned. So I think the counseling program in both school and online as shown in DVD will be beneficial at ISKL. Furthermore, it will be beneficial in Ampang or whole Malaysia since it can take care of all the students not only in ISKL.