Food Journal Essay Examples

Introduction

My Food Journal
I have kept a food journal for the past three weeks where I have recorded the foods that I eat as well my exercise habits for this duration. This journal has then been used to calculate my calorie and nutrients intake. The motivation behind this was to identify any unfavorable nutrition and exercise habits that I needed to weed out from my lifestyle and also perhaps identify how to adjust these habits in order to lead a healthy lifestyle. The importance of proper nutrition as well as regular exercise cannot be underestimated. A balanced diet and regular physical exercise enables one to remain healthy and also play a great role in preventing one from suffering from ailments that are associated with improper feeding habits and lack of physical exercise and fitness (Goulding, 2005). Therefore, by keeping this journal, the intention was to make a summary of my eating habits and physical exercise and possibly make appropriate modifications and adjustments.

Analyzing the First Two Weeks

In terms of physical exercise, I usually get about minutes of walking in 3-5 days a week.
For my age, the recommended figures for a 2 day period would be 5000 calories, 65g fat, and 116 g of protein, 25 grams of fiber and 300 grams of carbohydrates and about 2400 grams of sodium (Guenther ET AL., 2006). When it comes to minerals, the recommendation would be 27 mg of vitamin C, 368micrograms of Vitamin A., 20 milligrams of folate, 220 milligrams of magnesium, 245 milligrams of calcium, 14.7 milligrams of zinc and 14.75 milligrams of iron (Guenther ET AL., 2006).
My BMI is 35. Based on the official BMI categorization, I would be classed into the “obese” category. Obesity is a serious health issue and this is once again one of the reasons why I need to adjust my eating habits.
Based on the recommended figures for my age, it is clear that three are significant differences in many foodstuffs. Some are either above the recommended amount; others are below while there a few where that abide by the recommended figure. There is also a great deficiency when it comes to physical exercise because the recommendation would be about 25 minutes of physical exercise every day.
My three worst dietary habits are eating a lot of junk food, not drinking enough water and not eating fruits and vegetables as required. They are bad habits because they do not contribute to a healthy body. They can have serious health effects such cardiac diseases, dehydration, lack of proper bodies and muscles and so on (Goulding, 2005).
My best three positive habits are eating a heath breakfast (a bowl of cereal of oatmeal) everyday, not skipping any meal of the day and drinking a lot of milk. All these are healthy habits as they contribute towards attaining a healthy body. A bowl of oatmeal, for example, provides me with sufficient carbohydrates for the day and also provides me with enough energy (Goulding, 2005). Milk keeps me hydrated and provides me with an adequate amount of calcium (Goulding, 2005).

Creating a new Plan

I obviously need to adjust my feeding habits and increase my rate of physical activities. The foodstuffs in routine that need to be increased include carbohydrates, sodium and fiber. Those that need to be reduced include protein and fat intake. The overall daily calorie intake also needs to be reduced seeing that it is almost 700 more than the recommended intake. Most of my mineral intake rates are sufficient, and I would not change much about them. These adjustments will move me closer towards the recommended levels and, therefore, help me to attain a better health status.
The first short term goal of improving my diet is to save money. I have realized that I can spend a lot on irrelevant foods and I want to save as much as possible for the next one year. The other short-term goal is to be healthier.
One of the long-term goals is to lose weight. I have realized that I have gained a lot of unnecessary weight what that I need to lose. My plan is to shed about 25 pounds before the end of the year. In addition, I am motivated to eat better so as to decrease the risk of contracting some nutrition associated diseases and, therefore, live a long life. I would like to be one of those people who live beyond the age of 80 years.
I need to increase my physical activity because it will also boost my weight loosing process.
For the long term, however, I want to increase my physical activity for health purposes, for example, frequent physical activity will strengthen my muscles and make me more flexible.

Modifications

I made several changes in the third week. These included increasing my daily water intake to 8 glasses per day, not eating junk food including fries and eating more vegetables and fruits. I also stayed away from foods containing too many proteins. In the third week, I also mad it my duty to utilize thirty minutes for physical activity. This included activities such as cycling and lifting weights at the gym. I plan to continue with this routine because after making these modifications I can feel enormous change in my body. I also feeling particularly good after making these conscious, healthy choices. My attitude towards life is generally better.

Summary

This exercise has been an eye opener. I have learned that I have the power to make conscious healthy choices. I have also learned that by ascribing to recommended health routines, I will not only be healthier physically but also healthier psychologically. I plan to continue keeping track of my feeding habits and physical exercise using a food journal in order to help me maintain my diet and my new routine. I believe that it will also inspire my family to eat well and in the process, health and wellness will be promoted in my family.

References

Guenther, P. M., Krebs-Smith, S. M., Reedy, J., Britten, P., Juan, W., Lino, M. & Basiotis, P. P. (2006). Healthy eating index-2005. Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion factsheet, (1).
Goulding, S. (2005). Healthy eating. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Pub.