I decided to begin my journey on learning more about nutrition by exploring the basics of nutrition: The food pyramid and the amount of servings of each food group that should be consumed on a daily. To learn more about this topic, I turned to Pinterest. On Pinterest, I searched "Food pyramid". Surprisingly, I had a hard time finding the standard food pyramid on Pinterest. I found food pyramids created for vegans, diabetics, paleo diets, vegetarians, weight loss but I could not find any standard food pyramids. Finally I looked up, "USDA Food Pyramid" and found the standard food pyramid. This food pyramid reminded my of the different foods in each food group and how many servings of each food group I should be consuming in a day. I made this my guide for the amount of servings I should be eating of each food group and this week I decided to track how much of each food group I eat on a daily basis. However, I felt it was going to be hard to keep track of each serving I had eaten during the day so I looked up on my apps on my iPhone to record my eating. I came across one called "FoodTrackerPro" and I am going to start using it this week to track my eating. I also started creating a Pinterest Board with items I am interested in related to nutrition. Check it out here:
There are so many topics and skills i'm interested in learning so it was hard for me to pick just one for this project. After much debating, I decided to focus on learning more about nutrition. I've always wanted to take a nutrition class but I haven't had the chance yet so I figured I could take this 20% time and turn to the internet to teach me more about nutrition. I think it would be a great alternative to taking a nutrition class. Some topics within nutrition I would like to explore are:
1. the serving amount of vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry, fish, sugars, diary, and starches that should be eaten everyday. 2.how many carbohydrates, fats, saturated fats, and fibers are a healthy amount to be consumed each day. 3. What foods are high in saturated fat? 4.What foods give us natural energy and what foods make us tired? 5. Is it better to consumer sugar or artificial sugars or a mix of both? 6. What are healthy but some what tasty alternatives to chips, candy, and cookies? I'm well aware nothing will ever replace the taste of this junk food favorites 7. What really are those ingredients that you can't pronounce found in many of the foods we eat? 8. Daily water intake After researching and educating myself on these topics, I am going to try my best to change my eating habits to reflect the knowledge I have gained. However, I do enjoy a good hamburger, ice cream, french fries, and junk food every once in a while so I'm not making any promises that I am going to eliminate these foods completely from my diet. But once I start learning about nutrition, I would like to make solid attempts everyday to eat a healthier diet. |