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.