Download Sample Final Analysis Paper

Sample Final Analysis Paper
I am just a typical 20 year old college student, so busy with trying to work and also do
homework that I have little to no time to think about the foods that I eat. A lot of days I am just
happy to have the time to just grab a quick bite to eat, whether it’s between classes or in my mad
rush to make it to work on time. However, after taking Nutrition this semester I have found it a
very important to take the time to make healthier choices when it comes to my diet.
The biggest way to check and see if your dietary needs are being met is measure the
amount of energy that you are taking in and see if it is equal to the amount of energy that you are
putting out. According to the MyPyramidPlan I should consume 2200 calories per day and the
Estimation of Energy Expenditure concluded that I need 2161 calories per day. On average I
consume 2025 calories per day.
After recording everything that I ate for 5 days on nutritiondata.com it gave me a few
insights as to my nutrition status. First, let’s talk about carbohydrates the recommended intakes
should take up 50-60% of your day’s total kcals. On average of the five days my carbohydrates
were 52% which is good. Then, there is fat which should be no more than 30% of total kcals. My
fat intake on average is 30% which is right at the level it should be. Proteins should make up 1015% of kcals and on average my intake is 17% which is a little bit too high. If I continue to
intake this percentage of proteins daily it may cause me to develop Osteoporosis due to me
losing a lot of calcium in my urine due to the deamination process that proteins must go through
in order to be digested. In addition to Osteoporosis an excess of protein cause kidney stones and
may even cause colon cancer. My fiber consumption is rather low on average I get 13 grams a
day when I should get 30. Over time the lack of fiber may cause me to develop several things
such as: diverticulitis, and an increased risk of heart disease and cancer.
In the Perspectives in Nutrition textbook it states that RDA recommends a certain intake
of vitamins per day and are as follows: Vitamin A 700-900 mg, Vitamin D 200-400 IU, Vitamin
E 15 mg, Vitamin K 90-120 mg, Thiamin 1.1 mg, Riboflavin 1.1mg, Niacin 14 mg, Pantothenic
acid 5 mg, Biotin 30 mg, Vitamin B-6 1.3 mg, Folate 400mg, Vitamin B-12 2.4 mg, Vitamin C
75mg +, Choline 425 mg. Of the entire list of vitamins mine were within in the optimal range
except for Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Folate, Vitamin B-12, Pantothenic acid, and choline.
The main concerns with these deficiencies in my diet include: Lack of VitaminE causes
degeneration of sensory neurons, eating plant oils helps greatly. Vitamin K deficiency leads to
hemorrhage and fractures it can be fixed by eating more green vegetables, Lack of Folate and
Vitamin B-12 lead to anemia these can helped also by eating green vegetables and fortified ready
to eat breakfast cereals, Lack of Pantothenic acid can causes weakness, fatigue, muscle weakness
and GI tract disturbances this problem can be helped with a widely varied diet. All in all my
Vitamin status is fair but needs some work to make more balanced.
There are also several minerals that are important to keeping a healthy diet and these
include: Iron, Zinc, Copper, Selenium, Iodide, Fluoride, Chromium, Manganese, and
Molybdenum. Of all the minerals my levels are on track except for copper, Selenium and
Fluoride. The main problem with low copper levels it can lead to anemia. Eating liver, nuts or
cocoa beans will raise my copper levels back up to normal range. Selenium deficiency can cause
muscle pain, and muscle weakness this can be prevented by eating meats and seafood. Fluoride
is not much of a worry to me since I drink many glasses of fluoridated water per day.
Other important factors to measure are cholesterol and blood sugar when accessing
health. Recommended cholesterol is 200 mg/dl when your levels are 200-239 your risk is
moderate and when it gets over 240mg/dl you at high risk of heart disease. Blood sugar in the
fasting range is 70-110 mg/dl and Non fasting range is 140 mg/dl or less. I was glad when I was
tested for both factors at the Texas A &M Health day my Cholesterol was 157 and my blood
sugar for non fasting was 109 which is excellent.
The most entertaining subject in nutrition was Bailey’s The Ultimate Fit or Fat book
because it explained how to become fit and give you a down to earth guide for maintaining a
healthy weight. The first thing that I had to do was calculate my % body fat. I did this by taking
measurement of my hips, thigh, and calf with a cloth tape measure and then plugging them into
this equation…. Hips+(.80 x thigh) – (2 x calf) – wrist = % body so my equation was 36.5 + (.80
x 21.5) – (2 x 12) -6 = 23.7 %. This calculation of my % body composition is too high because a
female should have a % body composition of 22%. However the TANITA body composition
analysis at the health fair gave me the calculation of 19.4% body fat. The next measurement you
find is your lbs. of fat using the calculation (total weight) x ( % body fat) = lbs. of fat and my
calculation looks like this….(114) x (.231) = 26.22 lbs. of fat. The body mass analysis came up
with a fat mass of 22 lbs. which is quite a bit less due to the fact that it’s calculations are more
accurate. After you find out your fat mass you then need to find your lean lbs. using this
calculation (total weight – lbs. of fat = lean body mass). My calculations came out like this (114 26.22) = 87.78 of lean. Once again the analysis was different from the equation being 92. The
last and final equation to do is to find your ideal body weight by….I’ll let you guess….. using
another calculation…haha. (lbs. of lean / .78) = correct weight to be 22% fat. My final
calculation came out like this…. (87.78 / .78) = 112.5 lbs.
In short I was very happy to find out that I am in as good shape as I am. After taking this
class it has made me rethink the food that I eat. I stray away from trans fatty foods altogether. I
need to be very careful about my weight in the future because throughout my high school years I
ran almost every day and stayed in great shape and now that I am not on the Track or Cross
Country team it is easy to become demotivated to exercise. It is also nice to know that I only
have to run at a pace to where I can still talk for a matter of 15 minutes on most days and cross
train several times a week to stay in shape. This class has taught me a lot and I have enjoyed it
very much!