Many people experience many complications with their health, myself included had my own set backs. During the summer of 2018, I was diagnosed with Hepatitis A, something which was very unfamiliar in my family history. Symptoms started to appear while I was with my sister at the hospital after her knee injury. Before being diagnosed, my eating habits began to change, losing crazy amount of weight and spent most of my day sleeping from being fatigued. After taking all precautious possible, to prevent getting Hepatitis, this has become a surprise to me. Hepatitis A involves multiple side effects, one of the most dire consequences that comes with this disease is loss of appetite, which effected my eating habits tremendously. Meanwhile, I have been trying to improve my eating habits. Adjustments to my diet includes eating salads, a good amount of protein, and most importantly cutting out fast foods. It was difficult to do while balancing an after school job, studying, and becoming a full time student. Following the change of my diet, I am on the path to incorporating physical activity into my day.
Throughout the day, my eating habits decreased tremendously. After logging in the food that I have consumed for three days, the results came as a shock to me. Prior to reviewing what I had been consuming throughout the day, I would not have thought about how many kilocalories, proteins, carbohydrates, and other nutrients that were actually consumed until it was logged in. In light of viewing every single food consumed, each respective foods’ ingredients, and the nutrients supplemented by each food, I was surprised to see the amount of nutrients I was deficient in and to what degree I was deficient. The same can be said about the foods and nutrients I had in excess. The protein deficit displayed in my nutrition summary was an eye opener. With protein values that met less than seventy-five percent of the set goal, it is obvious this is critical complication of my diet. My sodium and cholesterol excess was especially shocking to me as I have been making a significant effort in trying to stray away from foods high in sodium, carbohydrates and especially sugar. I consume large amount of eggs throughout the week, having the knowledge that it is healthy for oneself, provided that it is consumed in appropriate amounts. It was not until after I had analyzed the Diet Record Report, that I realized the nutrient breakdown of eggs. It was disappointing, having now been informed on the drawbacks of my diet.
During the beginning of the semester, we discussed in class about how much one should consume X amount of protein, carbohydrates, fat and alcohol. As stated by the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges, an average adult percentage of calories should range between 10-35% for protein, 20-35% for fat, and 45-65% for carbohydrates. Based on my results, I have fallen within the range for all three of these nutrient groups. My diet for the three days consisted of large amount of sugar, which contributed to my carbohydrate levels, since sugar is a form of carbohydrate. The body converts sugar into glucose, which becomes a source of energy that one must need to get throughout their day-to-day life. Understanding this principle was necessary in order to complete the Metabolism assignment. This assignment consisted of recording what I had eaten over a 24-hour period, and calculating the amount of energy consumed. Comparing what I had consumed in that day, with the three days which were recorded in Nutritionist Pro, was appalling. Looking back at the Metabolism assignment, I consumed approximately 910 kilocalories in a day. However, looking at this assignment, about 1,311 kilocalories were consumed each day for three days.
While taking a look at MyPlate analysis, I would not have considered that I went above the recommended portion of protein that should be consumed by 0.5oz. MyPlate analysis also brought to my attention a lack of included fruits and vegetables which were not in my diet. I can adjust for this by including two cups of fruits and three cups of vegetables, as suggested by MyPlate to improve my diet. These fruits can include strawberries, bananas, grapes, and other fruits. Kale, carrots, lettuce, and broccoli are a few vegetables that I could incorporate into my diet, in order to follow the requirements of a healthy diet. A portion of the kilocalories that I had consumed all together included 362 empty calories. Empty calories are foods which contain unhealthy types of fats and sugars added and have little to no nutritional value. Empty sugar calories include cake, cookies, candy, soft drinks, and other sweet desserts. Under the fat category, margarine, oils and shortening would all be considered to be an empty calorie. According to my diet recall form, the empty calories in my diet consisted of green tea and Biscoff cookies. We tend not to pay attention to what we put into our bodies, which is a huge issue to our health. If we do not pay attention to it now, especially to the empty calories we consume, it can affect us in the long run.
After doing this assignment, I have learned that I need to make significant changes to my diet, including adding dairy and eating more fruits and vegetables. I grew up not liking milk, yogurt, and cheese and it has been a major flaw in my life. Before eating any foods, I happen to find myself being very picky as to what may be in it, and once I know that dairy may be in it, I tend to isolate myself from consuming it. During the summer, my diet consisted of a plethora of fruit and vegetables. There is a wider variety of fruits throughout the summer that I enjoy eating than during the winter, which often results in my fruit intake to decrease during the tempter drop. Being busy with school and work made me rely on eating fast food about three times a week. In order for me to change my eating habits, I am required to make my own food and have it ready for the following day, in order to prevent myself from purchasing outside food that wont improve reaching the goal of achieving a health diet. My Hepatitis A diagnosis resulted in a low point in my life, which had a severe negative impact on my eating habits. One of the common symptoms is loss of appetite, which affected me in the long run and affected my weight. I have lost a substantial amount of weight as a result of not having the appetite to eat anything. Prior to my Hepatitis A diagnosis, I would drink a significant amount of soda and eat snacks rather than eating a proper meal. However, I have now removed all types of soda from my diet and have begun to make larger portion meals that would fill me up, in order to prevent me from snacking on small amounts of food throughout my day.
I have learned a great deal of information from doing this assignment and attending the classroom lectures. Having the mindset of not eating too much in order to get the body that I wanted, was an unhealthy mindset to live by. The lack of not eating food in order to reach the “goal weight” that one wants, should not be done by not consuming the required calories. What should be paid attention to is the food being consumed and how it will benefit one’s health. One thing that was brought to my attention when we were learning about carbohydrates, fats, and protein in class, was that we are used to acknowledging carbohydrates as the “enemy,” when in reality we need carbohydrates to help provide energy for our bodies. I also learned that you can never be “too careful” with what is being put into your body. Take me for example, I would pay special attention to what I was putting into my body to prevent getting disease or sickness. Nonetheless, I ended up getting “sick”from eating contaminated food thinking “it was okay to eat.” Without the knowledge that I would contract something bad out of it that would effect my health. I need to learn to use MyPlate more efficiently and include physical activity into my daily routine to have a better and healthy lifestyle.