Nutrition Final Paper Essay

Question 1 (3 pts): Clients will often approach the RD, bewildered as to how to select, plan, and prepare a healthy diet for themselves or their families. Using yourself as an example, discuss the six basic principles of diet planning and how they apply to your dietary intake. Answer 1: Preparing and eating health meals for me and my family can be difficult with our busy schedule, but it starts with a plan. Using the 6 principles of diet planning I start with adequacy. I accomplish this by writing out a grocery list of all the things my family will need for the week. I also shop weekly because we prefer fresh fruit and vegetables. Next, I make sure we have an even balance of foods. I write out meal plans for the week to make sure my family has an even items of food and also a variety of foods. This can be very challenging with young picky kids, because my son would just eat fruit and oatmeal all day long if I let him. Variety is really hard in the Parker home because of the limited food choices do to my husband intolerance to red meats and dairy products. I also struggle because my favorite food list consists of about 10 different kinds of foods. We don’t really have problems with the nutrient density because we only eat lean proteins such as fish, turkey, and chicken. My husband cannot tolerate fatty food so we don’t fry, and we enjoy a fixed variety of fruits and vegetables. I do not pay attention to calorie content unless it is a prepackaged food you heat up or add water to, but I do make sure what I’m putting into my families bodies is enough to keep them going for the day. Moderation is the last of the principles and a big one in my house. When cooking we do not add extra salt for taste nor do we consume foods with high trans fat, saturated fat,or cholesterol. Water is also the most consumed beverage. Soda has no home in my pantry, but we do elect for juices that are not made from concentrate. Question 2 (2 pts): Discuss the key recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 and differentiate these guidelines from the Canadian Guidelines for Healthy Eating. Do you have a preference as to which one you would use with clients? Answer 2: The dietary guidelines for Americans in 2010 have 4 main points. Starting with balancing calories to manage weight. With in this section it talks about how to maintain calorie control,intake,and balance. Also, is talks about physical activity and keeping active to maintain a healthy weight. In the Canadian guidelines it has in own section for keeping active and doing it in accordance to your body weight, but it really doesn’t touch on calorie balance or intake. Next, the American guidelines touches on foods to reduce from your diet. Focuses limiting sodium, saturated, mono and poly saturated,cholesterol ,trans fats,added sugars,refined grains,and alcohol. Whereas Canadian guidelines really just focus a lot on salt intake, alcohol, and caffeine. Next American guidelines talks about food to increase. Included in this list is fruits, vegetables, fat free dairy, lean proteins, seafood, and foods that have more vitamins within them. The Canadian guidelines emphasis consuming a variety of complex carbs and foods from the earth. Also, incorporating low fat dairy products as part of a daly routine. Although, both will guide the average person to a healthier lifestyle I would refer my clients to the American guidelines because it goes in to more depth of how to live healthier. Question 3 (3 pts): MyPyramid is a popular graphic source for nutrition information. In fact, it is so popular that it has been duplicated as a graphic for exercise information, vegetarian diets, etc. Given its popularity, it would appear that MyPyramid is the best pictorial to teach consumers nutritional information. Would you agree or disagree? Why? After you have stated your own personal argument, consider the other perspective and discuss why someone would take this perspective. Answer 3: I believe MyPyramid is a great way to teach consumers nutritional information, but I disagree that’s it is the best way. The people who need these guidelines the most are most likely ones who do not take the time to get on the Internet and use the tools that MyPyramid has to offer. I don’t think it properly educates people on the right food choices in each group. Education on nutrient density is a lacking component when using MyPyramid. I also believe that the MyPyramid is lacking in teaching balance of healthy foods. It seems like they stress certain foods more than others and thus creating unhealthy habits for individuals not properly understanding their nutrition needs. Question 4 (3 pts) : Food manufacturing and technology continue to grow in sophistication. While one can certainly debate about the pros and cons of such growth, there is no doubt that consumers are often confused about the different labels given to the different types of processed foods! (a) In a few sentences, describe each of the following: fortified, refined, enriched, whole grain, and textured vegetable protein. (b) What are your thoughts on how these types of foods fit into the diet of the American consumer? Question 4 a) Refined foods are highly processed that have been stripped of their original nutrient content such as white flour and white pasta. Enriched foods add vitamins and minerals to replace the ones lost in the refining process. Fortified foods add vitamins and nutrients in addition to the ones found before the refining process. Question 5 (3 pts): To fully gain command of their dietary intake, consumers should know how to read food labels. Many find reading food labels very confusing. Why do you personally believe that consumers find food labels hard to read? Describe how you, if you were an RD, would educate your client on reading a food label. What do you think would be your priority point of education for your client? Question 6 (5 pts): As noted in your readings, describing a vegetarian diet is somewhat like describing a typical American diet; there are many varieties. Please describe the types of vegetarian diets one might come into contact with and provide a short synopsis on the food plan that would be followed. Question 7 (3 pts): Discuss the rationale why consumers/clients select to pursue a vegetarian dietary plan as well as the health benefits of following a vegetarian diet. Question 8 (3 pts): Discuss nutrients that an RD should be careful to assess for and discuss with a client pursuing a vegetarian program to ensure that their dietary plan allows for sufficient quantities of that nutrient.