Food Journal

Contents
1. Introduction
2. Basic components of food consumption influencing a person’s health
3. Daily totals
4. Perspectives and recommendations
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
Introduction
Nowadays people are particularly concerned about the food they eat everyday and its quality. It is particularly important for well-developed countries where the problem of overeating and consumption of food of low quality resulted in the problem of obesity, which in some countries, for instance the US, has an epidemic character. Basically it is the result of several factors but the result is quite disturbing and nowadays it is obvious that it is necessary to be very careful about one’s diet and eating habits.
Naturally, on realizing the significance of the problem, it is necessary to start to look for solution immediately otherwise it will be too late. In such a situation numerous recommendations, which may be easily found in different reliable sources may be very helpful. In fact the main thing people has to know is the exact amount of substances and calories that a person needs per day. In other words everyone has to know his/her own optimum of food consumption and keep healthy diet, which would provide all essential nutrition elements a human organism needs that would provide an individual with a possibility to eat what he/she really needs to be healthy in sufficient, or in the cases of overeating moderate amount.
Basic components of food consumption influencing a person’s health
Generally speaking about human diet it is particularly important to realize that it should be balanced and adequate to human needs. At this respect it is very important to realize what constitute the products we regularly eat and what elements are useful and what are harmful for our health for the more we know about the food and its influence on our health the more effective our diet may be. Consequently it is particularly important to realize what effect each major element, which may be found in the products we eat, produce on our health.
In fact nowadays there are a lot of recommendations, which concern the diets that help people to balance their nutrition. Many of them are based on consumption of certain elements, which are concerned useful and limitation of the products, which are concerned to be harmful for human health. Among numerous diets carbohydrate diets become more and more popular and their developers estimate that they are very effective and do not threat human health.
However, not all specialists agree with this statement. First of all, it should be said that the consumption of low amount of carbohydrate in our everyday diet may have negative consequences. For instance, low carbohydrate consumption may lead to the decrease while higher to decrease of so-called glycemic index, i.e. a qualitative indicator of carbohydrate’s ability to raise blood glucose level.
Furthermore, another argument against carbohydrate restriction focuses on the purported health risk of this dietary approach. Of the three macronutrients, protein, fat and carbohydrate, it is only carbohydrate that is nonessential to the human diet. Humans can exist for extraordinarily long periods of time without carbohydrate consumption as long as essential protein and fat needs are met. It is thus perplexing why nutritional dogma ascribes so many risks to the restriction of this non-essential nutrient.
Furthermore a very important component, which we traditionally receive with food, is trans fat, which may be also called hydrogenated fat. It may be found in processed food or hydrogenated vegetable oil. These ingredients certainly contribute to the calorie content of our food, often making it unsuitable if you’re trying to lose weight. But worse than this, foods containing these ingredients also contain trans fats – and these are thought to be as harmful to heart health as saturated fat.
Ironically, it’s the processing of pure vegetable oils – a good source of heart-friendly unsaturates – that creates harmful trans fats! During manufacturing, these liquid oils have hydrogen bubbled through them in a process called hydrogenation to improve their texture, flavor and shelf life. The resulting product is a more solid fat, called hydrogenated fat or hydrogenated vegetable oil, which goes on to be used as an ingredient in many processed foods.
Another important component is omega-3 fatty acids. Essential Omega-3 Complex is a natural marine lipid concentrate, formulated with the oil of cold-water fish - sardines, mackerel, herring, and anchovies - which is the best source for omega-3 fatty acids. As a rule it is considered to be quite useful and recommended especially for people who suffer from obesity and those whose weight is higher than a norm.
Traditionally, Omega 3 fatty acids are recommended to use as an effective mean of resistance to a negative influence of trans fats or hydrogenated fats. It is recommended to eat two servings of fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids each week in order to optimize heart health. At the same time, instead of such fish diet it is possible to take fish oil capsules that could be taken by those who cannot afford eating fish regularly.
Daily totals
On having information, about the key nutrient elements influencing our health it is possible to dwell upon the daily totals as it is recommended and compare it to my current daily totals that would permit to make a forecast concerning my perspectives and recommendations as for improving my daily diet.
First of all it should be said a few words about the norm. Basically it is recommended to consume milk 3 cups equivalent, meat and beans 5.5 oz equivalent, vegetables 2.5 cups equivalent, fruits 2 cups equivalent, grains 6 oz equivalent. Such consumption should provide a human organism with all essential elements in sufficient amount and proportionally develop the functionality of a human body in the shape close to ideal.
As for my daily totals it should be said that it is quite different from recommended. First of all it should be said that the amount of some nutrients in my ration is not very big and significantly lower than it is recommended, among them may be named milk, which constitutes 0.5 cup equivalent for me daily, meat and beans - 3.1 oz equivalent, vegetables – 0.2 cup equivalent, fruits – 0.1 cup equivalent. In the same time the total consumption of other nutrients, namely grains, is significantly higher than it is recommended, i.e. 8 oz equivalents compared to 6 oz equivalents recommended.
Consequently it is evident that my daily totals are quite different from the recommendation that makes it possible to think of some corrections in my nutrition habits. On the other hand it is also important because these data indicates what points in my daily ration should be improved.
Perspectives and recommendations
On analyzing the daily totals it is possible to speak about the perspectives of my way of food consumption and its possible consequences.
It should be pointed out that such gaps that were found between the recommended daily and my daily totals make it possible to conclude that I receive insufficient amount of vegetables and fruits. It means that my organism does not receive sufficient amount of vitamins, which are essential for healthy development of a human being. The lack of vitamins may cause a number of health problems and many diseases for the organism and its immune system remains less protected from the impact of external factors. On the other hand, the increasing of vegetables and fruits consumption would lead to the increasing of the quantity of vitamins the organism could receive that would significantly improve its general state and the immune system in particular.
Furthermore, the lower level of meat and beans consumption leads to the insufficient supply of my organism with protein that is absolutely essential for both physical and mental work and they are extremely important for numerous biochemical processes.
As for the higher daily total of grains, it may have also a negative impact since it means the increased amount of carbohydrate daily consumption that, in its turn needs higher consumption of protein I lack. On analyzing my personal food consumption, and carbohydrates in particular, I would say that basically the level of carbohydrate consumption is a bit higher that is obviously not very dramatic but still disturbing fact. On studying the effect of low/high carbohydrate consumption, I came to the conclusion that it should be well balanced and adequate to human needs. In fact humans should not consume more or less than they need at the moment carbohydrates, especially, if we take into consideration that they should be naturally supported by proportional consumption of proteins and fats.
In such a situation making a forecast I should say that my current diet may have quite negative consequences for my health. First of all, along the weakened immune system because of lack of vitamins, I eat too much grain that means increased amount of carbohydrates in my organism that in a combination with low protein consumption can eventually lead to the increasing of my weight. The latter is quite a disturbing perspective since the importance of the problem of obesity is widely known and in general obesity is closely related to a number of other diseases, including cardiac and vestibule problems.
Thus, it is obvious that it is necessary to change my daily ration and pay more attention to what I eat daily. To put it more precisely it is necessary to eat more fruit and vegetables and balance the consumption of meat and beans, which should be increased, and the consumption of grains, which should be decreased. In such a way, meat and beans would partially replace the quantity of grains I used to and in the same time it will increase the amount protein that is necessary for carbohydrates received by organism with grains.
Conclusion
Thus, taking into consideration all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that it is necessary to change my diet in order to make it more balanced and adequate to the demands of my organism. Briefly more vitamins (received with vegetables and fruits) and proteins (received with meat and beans) are needed while carbohydrates (received with grains) have to be reduced but not excluded.
Finally it is necessary to say that diet is not the only source of the general health of the organism. The way of life is of a paramount importance and diet is only a part of it. At this respect physical trainings, for instance, are also very important. So, proper nutrition and physical trainings lead to good physical shape of the organism as well as it also influences intellectual abilities creating a basis for harmonious development of a personality.

Bibliography:
1. Cleveland LE, Moshfegh AJ, Albertson AM, Goldman JD. “Dietary intake of whole grains.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 19(3 Suppl):331-338, 2000.
2. Cotton PA, Subar AF, Friday JE, Cook A. “Dietary sources of nutrients among U.S. adults, 1994 to 1996.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 104:921-930, 2004.
3. Holick MF. “Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79:362-371, 2004.