Healthy eating plan comparison Essay Example

Healthy eating plan comparison Essay Example Healthy eating plan comparison Paper Healthy eating plan comparison Paper The Healthy Eating Plan paper has enabled me to look into healthy choices of food thereby providing me with the essential nutrients in their required amounts. Though it is difficult to come across any changes at this stage as dietary modification to fit in lifestyle takes time, it can be said that dietary modification does not take place overnight. In order to develop a consistent practice to eat foods based on the recommended dietary allowance, one should learn the importance of developing such a habit followed by incorporating those habits into the lifestyle. Obesity is truly the main concern with regards to diet today as we eat little of fresh foods and more of processed foods. It is difficult to make choices from all kinds of food and have them all in a day. Therefore, the wisest thing, which I believe is to slowly incorporate all the foods from the food pyramid, one by one. My nutritional habits, since the Healthy Eating Plan paper have not changed much. It is a bit difficult for me to proceed for milk products everyday if I am having grains and beans (as well as meats) the following day. I believe the major reason for this is the satiety value of these foods. Over the period of three days of nutritional tracking of the foods that I had consumed, I believe I have consumed fewer quantities of it compared to what is needed to be consumed. It is an alarming issue but it can be resolved slowly through regular nutritional monitoring. This would include making healthy food choices and avoiding processed foods as much as possible. To be rational in the understanding of making the right choices of food, it is essential to follow the food pyramid. Although I did try my best to eat from each food group, I lacked in some way or the other as I believe there should be a more fluent plan that enables the people to eat healthy foods easily. For instance, I had milk products only on the first day of my nutritional tracking. The rest two days were without any milk products. This meant almost no calcium for two days, which I believe is not good as well. After a research into how I can make my diet have varied foods, I have found the following below very effective in devising my plan for healthy eating habits and proceed in the right direction, â€Å"Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. Try picking from the rainbow of colors available to maximize variety. Eat non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli or green beans with meals. Choose whole grain foods over processed grain products. Try brown rice with your stir fry or whole wheat spaghetti with your favorite pasta sauce. Include dried beans (like kidney or pinto beans) and lentils into your meals. Include fish in your meals 2-3 times a week† (American Diabetes Association, n.d.). Therefore, such a plan devised above will help me make the healthiest food choices. I believe that being aware of healthy eating issues helps in slow development of nutritional eating habit that would consist of foods specified in the right amounts and as mentioned in the Recommended Dietary Allowance. The main reason as to why I have not been able to change much of my dietary habits over the past three days of tracking has been mainly due to the monotonous foods I had in my diet. This made my diet boring. Creativity is the essence of making anything interesting and therefore, varied foods with a varied sense of consuming them (such as proper garnishing through herbs and choosing foods of different colors and tastes) does help one to move towards a healthy diet. It is interesting to note how we are responsible for our own behaviors towards food. We decide what we want to eat and what we don’t and therefore, there is no forcing business involved in it. Through the Healthy Eating Plan, I have become a regular consumer of beans, fruits and vegetables that are high sources of fiber and nutrients. The need for milk products is also essential that I believe would also become a regular habit if I only make my diet more interesting by adding more varied foods to it. I have started my initiative to look out for healthy foods and thus, psychologically, I have prepared myself to consume healthy foods thereby making the right food choices. A healthy eating plan is much more beneficial if it excludes or keeps processed foods to a minimum. This would help induce healthy eating habits with minimum efforts therefore helping the individual shift towards a healthy lifestyle that is free from health ailments such as obesity, cardiovascular risks as well as diabetes. Framing a healthy eating plan that would incorporate the healthy foods on a weekly basis rather than on a daily basis is less strenuous compared to developing a diet that would include foods to be consumed on a daily basis. Mostly, heart-healthy diets work for everyone as it is delicious and varied in nature. Keeping fats and cholesterols to a minimum helps to a great extent and enriching the diet with fruits, vegetables, grains and lean meats helps keep the heart and the body healthy (American Heart Association, 2007). We need to have awareness for making healthy food choices as obesity; cardiovascular diseases as well as diabetes statistics shoot straight to a red mark (the danger zone). The choices have been immense these days as we shift towards an era that demands a healthy heart and a healthy body that fits within the BMI range. We don’t need saturated fats but we need the essential fatty acids that would keep the heart healthy. We don’t need processed sugar that is found in processed foods but rather fruits that would help keep diabetes at bay. We don’t need an extreme sedentary lifestyle with fast foods but a lifestyle that incorporates healthy food with a healthy exercise. This is to keep obesity at bay. Obesity accounts for a large proportion of diseases that result from a extreme sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy food choices that includes heart risks, diabetes, high blood pressure, gall bladder problems and even several kinds of cancers (Anne Collins, 2007). We need more fiber, more exercise, more fruits and more vegetables. We don’t even consume a quarter of the RDA nutrients required for us on a daily basis and our diets high in carbohydrates have led us to such a ruin. In USA alone, 58 million people have been found to be overweight with another 40 million who are obese and another 3 million who are morbidly obese (Anne Collins, 2007). The need for making healthy food choices is evident from the statistics outlined above. We don’t need fast foods but foods that help us build our bodies such as milk, fruits, vegetables, grains and lean meats (which should be cooked in a healthy manner as well). What we do need is a healthy lifestyle, not based on processed foods but healthy foods because a healthy body incorporates a healthy mind and a healthy mind comes from making healthy food choices†¦ REFERENCES: American Diabetes Association (n.d.). Making Healthy food choices. Retrieved online on the 16th of July, 2007 at diabetes.org/nutrition-and-recipes/nutrition/healthyfoodchoices.jsp American Heart Association (2007). Make Healthy Food Choices. Retrieved online on the 16th of July, 2007 at americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=537 Anne Collins (2007). Obesity Statistics. Retrieved online on the 16th of July, 2007 at annecollins.com/obesity/statistics-obesity.htm