a) Compare your intake with the recommendations from Eating well with Canada’s Food Guide and comment on the overall adequacy of your diet. When comparing the Canada’s Food Guide recommendations with the overall status of my diet, I can infer that the amount of food that I have ingested over the three days have not been within the proposed range of health eating guidance. For the first food group, meat and alternatives, the recommended servings for individuals that are teens/adults is 2 servings, whereas the serving amount in my diet is 0. 7 servings per day.
The milk and alternatives group recommended 2 servings per day, but on the other hand my diet consists of 1. 67 servings of this group per day. The grain product group servings proposes between 6-7 servings per day, when in comparison my diet contained 2. 67 servings of grains per day. Finally, the fruits and vegetables group states that 7-8 servings should be consumed daily, whereas my diet consists of 5. 67 servings per day.
The comparison between the proposed servings of the Canadian Food Guide compared to the average of the three day analysis of my diet, the overall adequacy of my diet can clearly depict that I am not within the recommended daily servings and thus falling short on getting a healthy diet for my age. b) Explain why differences may exist between your intake and Health Canada’s recommendations. Comment on whether the 3 day history reflects your ‘usual’ or ‘real’ intake.
Are there any behaviours that you could alter in order to better meet the recommendations? Explain. The differences that have been calculated between Canada’s Food Guide and my daily food consumption has a long range of differences. The differences between the recommended and my intake for meat and alternatives, milk and alternatives, grain products and vegetables and fruits were 1. 32 servings/day, 0. 33 servings/day, 3. 33 servings/day and 1. 33 servings/day respectively.
When viewing these results, my initial thought was that I was consuming low amounts of every food group until I put into perspective my physical attributes. These physical attributes are primarily my height as well as my physical activity level. The entries I had recorded is my real intake however it does not represent my usual intake as my food is normally home-cooked by my mother. To better my intake of the recommended servings, I should think about a healthy diet by preparing and cooking my own meals in order to choose between methods of cooking (ex. aking French fries instead of frying).
For my grain product servings, I could step away from white grain and try to choose more whole grains options (ex. brown rice instead of white rice) as this type of grain is not processed thus being more healthier and providing my body with more vitamins, minerals, nutrients, fiber, protein and more than white grain. c) What are the possible health implications that may occur as a result of these differences? You may need to reference your text book if citing information as evidence.
When consuming less than the regular average of the food groups can cause possible health implications. One of the main essential molecules that is commonly known to derive from meats and alternatives is protein. Protein are large molecules found in all cells of living organisms and is the most integral part of the human body as it provides energy, nutrient transport and other important functions that the body relies on (Thompson 186). By consuming primarily the meat and alternatives, we are taking in the needed amino acids to make our proteins (Thompson 187).
Other nutrients and vitamins that we have difficulty to obtain when not consuming enough meat and alternatives is iron, zinc and vitamin B12 (Thompson 208). Iron deficiency occurs when the body cannot perform the function of transporting oxygen as well as building amino acids and hormones (Thompson 208). Deficiency in zinc can cause less production of DNA and RNA, can weaken the immune system as well as slow down growth period (Thompson 208). Vitamin B12 deficiency also causes less production of DNA synthesis as well as less growth and protection of nerve fibres (Thompson 208).
For milk and alternatives, the primary nutrient that is present is calcium and this nutrient is the most widespread nutrient in the body, with over ninety-nine percent of it belonging to bones and one percent belonging to blood and soft tissues (Thompson 292). When not consuming enough milk and alternatives, the health issue of calcium deficiency can occur and this can take a toll on the most important roles and function of the human body’s health (Thompson 292).
The low level of calcium in blood causes the parathyroid gland to make the parathyroid hormone (PTH) which in turn stimulates osteoclasts which in turn breaks down bone material and causes the release of calcium into the bloodstream (Thompson 292). The breakdown of bone material is what causes poor bone density as well as brittle and weaker bones. d) Comment on how useful a 3 day food record is as a tool for assessing dietary intake and analyzing an individual’s nutritional status.
Comment on 2 pros and 2 cons when using Canada’s Food Guide. The three day food record is a great assessment tool for identifying your good habits and your bad habits. This allows you to track every ingredient in every meal and snack, which it in itself is an eye-opener because as a busy individual you do not necessarily have the time to breakdown meals into its most basic components. From breaking down your food into its basic components, you can see in which food group you are consuming the most from and which food group you are not.
This helps breakdown the amount of protein, fats and carbohydrates that you’re consuming. Since the food record organizes the food groups that you have eaten, you will be able to view the food groups that you have been lacking. Overall it helps an individual create and maintain a healthy diet that will keep then on track. When using the Canada’s Food Guide, it shows examples of the serving sizes as well as stating how much servings from each food group is considered healthy in a day.
For example, on the recommended number of meat and alternatives is the daily serving of 2 for females and on the suggested serving examples it shows illustrations of non-vegetarian options such as, cooked fish/poultry as well as vegetarian options of cooked legumes and tofu. The Canadian Food Guide also has a very important section dedicated towards physical activity. The advice for physical activity is divided into three stages, the first stage being children, the second being women of childbearing age and the third stage being men and women over fifty years of age.
This “encourages people to think about their activity levels in addition to their food intakes” (Thompson 55). The Canadian Food Guide unfortunately cannot help individuals who eat cultural foods, for example, a family from India who chooses to eat vegetarian curries with either rice or roti. The Canadian Food Guide is enclosed around the typical Canadian family and does not consider other ethnical backgrounds. Another negative to the Canadian Food Guide is that calorie count is not included in the food guide.
Canada’s Food Guide does states the number of servings that an individual should have of a specific food group, however the serving may have a lot of calories. For example, a twenty year old male adult decides to follow Canada’s Food Guide and realizes that they are not consuming enough food from the milk and alternatives group, so what they decide to do is to have the recommended 2 servings by eating cheese. Everyday this individual eats cheese so he can have the servings from the food group. However, but the end of the month he has gained weight.
The issue with this is that the servings were counted, but the calories of the food was not. Basically, just because the servings may be equal to the food guide, the amount of calories may vary. Question #2 a) Address three Canadian Social Determinants of Health in relation to how they impact your ability to meet the recommendations outlined in Canada’s Food Guide. Explain. The first Canadian Social Determinants of Health that affects my ability to meet the recommendations stated in Canada’s Food Guide is income and social status.
Families with lower incomes tend to eat less unhealthy foods that those with either middle or high incomes. This is the same case in my personal life, while growing up my family’s income is roughly around $35,000 per year since only my father works and most of the money is used to pay bills, buy medications and pay for gas. In order to save money, my mother would buy fast food at least twice a week in order to save money.
The habit of eating fast food is still something that I choose to do because it is convenient and also a habit that has been part of my life since my childhood. This topic is correlated with the second social determinants of health which is health child development. Health child development describes the importance to provide a proper path to follow because it is the path they are most likely to follow for the rest of their lives. For some, a healthy food diet was always set since he/she was a child but others this is not the case.
My childhood was rarely filled with healthy foods, and unfortunately this habit is still paving my life choices. The choice of eating healthy was always a difficult task to do because the primary reason of cost, it always seemed so convenient for me to buy food already prepared and cooked. It was also too time consuming for me to spend on fresh produce even when I had the chance to change my habits, all because it was very integrated into my choices of food ever since my childhood.
