Nutrition

Author's Note: I wrote this report because I have realized that people have been complaining about their weight lately, but they aren't doing anything about it. Some try to work out, but they don't focus on what they're actually putting into their body, and this can have more of an affect on people than some think. By writing this, I wanted to accomplish writing a report with a very focused voice. I also wanted to try not to refer to the reader or the previous writing.

Lately, nutrition is being thrown to the side. People want to get stronger, look better, and be able to fit into that one outfit, but it seems like no one wants to take that one extra step by eating better. If you aren't willing to pay attention to what's going in you, a workout won't always cut it.

Many Americans think that they have the nutrition smarts, thinking that they can just go out and eat a Big Mac with a side of french fries and a large chocolate shake.2364 calories and 96 grams of fat from those foods are going into your body. On a 2000-calorie diet, you could be going almost 400 calories over in only one meal. Staying within this range is actually very simple, but not if you eat these types of foods on a regular basis.

Realizing how much fat you are consuming is actually quite a simple task, and there are many different ways to perform it. If you bought an item from the grocery store, you can simply glance at the nutrition facts. In the picture to the left, you will see how many grams of fat, circled in red, and how many calories, circled in blue, are in one Nabisco Oreo® cookie.

There are five different food groups that each food is specified into: dairy, fruit, vegetable, protein, and grains. Each should be about equal, but not quite. You are supposed to have the most of vegetables, grains, then protein, fruit, and finally, dairy. Shown to the right is the most current food “pyramid”. It is now shaped like a plate to better show the different food groups and portion sizes. 

Many people wonder whether calories are either good or bad for you, but honestly, it’s both. Calories are simply energy. Most people get the feeling that calories are unhealthy because a lot of people choose poorly and eat too many of them. But, if you lose most of the calories that you eat daily, you are dealing with calories perfectly fine. Each person should consume about 2,000 calories per day, but this also depends on your body weight and size. The average teenage girl should eat about 1,800 calories daily, while the average teenage boy should eat around 2,200. So depending on your size and weight, that is around how many calories you should consume each day.

Myths about fats are everywhere. Some people think that trying to avoid it helps you lose weight, but that is incorrect. Each person needs to balance out the different kinds of fat that they consume: monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat (good fats) and saturated and trans fats (bad fats). Here are examples of foods that contain the following kinds of fat:

Monounsaturated Fats:

• Olive Oil
• Canola Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Nuts
• Peanut Butter
• Avocados

Polyunsaturated Fats:

• Soybean Oil
• Corn Oil
• Walnuts
• Tofu
• Soymilk

Saturated Fats:

• High-fat cuts of meat (beef, pork, lamb)
• Chicken with skin
• Butter
• Cheese
• Lard

Trans Fats:

• Packaged snack foods
• Stick margarine
• Fried Foods
• Candy Bars
• Vegetable Shortening

Good fats help you with your cholesterol, heart, and overall health. The bad fats, on the other hand, increase your cholesterol and the risk of disease throughout your body. But, a good balance between the four types of fats will lead to a healthy diet.