Healthy Eating Plan

1.     Assignment: Healthy Eating Plan

·         Due Date: Day 7 [post to the Individual forum]

·         Visit http://www.mypyramid.gov and click on MyPyramid Plan in the subject listings.

·         Answer the questions listed and then click on Submit for your customized food pyramid.

·         Create a healthy eating plan for yourself using your personal recommendations from the Web site.

·         Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper in APA format outlining your healthy eating plan. You must discuss the following:

o    Your current eating habits as documented in the Food Diary CheckPoint

o    Your nutritional recommendations based on your customized food pyramid results

o    How you intend to implement your healthy eating plan in your daily life

·         List the various classes of nutrients currently in your diet and their functions, as well as any nutrient-rich foods and nutrient-lacking foods you consume.

·         Post your paper as an attachment.

                        I have in recent months altered my diet and food intake to a more healthy digestion of foods.  I chose this class in order to learn more about nutrition so I can add even healthier eating.  I would like to talk about my diet before my change and compare it to the changes I have already incorporated instead of what I am doing now and trying to change it again. 

            My breakfast usually consisted of sausage biscuits, sausage gravy with biscuits, bagels with a lot of cream cheese, or pancakes on weekday mornings.  Generally whatever they had in the cafeteria at work.  This I had on a regular basis.  Weekends I had a big family breakfast with honey butter biscuits, maple bacon, corned beef hash and fried eggs.  Lunches usually are sandwiches when at home or we grab fast food to go.   At work, whatever they might be serving in the cafeteria which could be pizza, fried mozzarella sticks, burgers, or french fries.  Dinners were a meat with rice or noodles and even if vegetables were cooked, I didn’t eat them.  There were also usually late night snacks since I am always up pretty late with insomnia and would get hungry again.  That usually meant chips with sour cream dip and sometimes cheese salsa if I had it.  Sometimes it would be ice cream if I had it, sometimes both ice cream after dinner then chips later as a midnight snack. This diet was never a problem until I turned thirty. 

            Me turning thirty came with our move to the Midwest, this is significant because cost of living is less than in the city.  This allowed more money to buy food, and junk food.  I have learned that my weight is not just because of the food I eat but also my attitude about food.  I always ate everything I made because we never knew where our next meal would come from.  Now we do not have to worry about that, but I am still finishing my plate or eating three meals even if I am not hungry because I still have that in the back of my mind.  It became clear that I first needed to adjust my thinking if I really wanted to make a change.

            This became the first change I made to my diet, to simply eat less during meals.  I now eat around half to three quarters my normal intake at dinner time.  The next change I made was to cut out the frequency of late night salty snacks.   If I feel I need to eat I will eat some ramean noodles, or a bowl of cereal.  These two simple changes have reduced my frequent heartburn tremendously.  The next change I made was when I learned from a friend about alkaline based systems versus acidic based systems.  This brought into my diet the change that has helped the most.  I learned of powder superfood from the Amazing Grass website.  This powder can be added to almost anything and just one serving of the green superfood, includes the antioxidant power of seven servings of fruits and vegetables. (amazinggrass.com, 2008) I drink this powder every morning now with sixteen ounces of milk.  The nutrient chart below shows all ingredients in this powder and how many milligrams of each blend per serving.  Just one serving is only thirty calories with only five calories from fat.  It contains no sugar, cholesterol, and only four grams total carbohydrates. 

Amazing Grass Green Food Blend		5329 mg
Organic Wheat Grass	Contains natural vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes. Also highly alkalizing and will help detoxify the body.
Organic Barley Grass	Contains enzymes, especially superoxide dismutase (SOD), a major detoxifying enzyme that helps maintain healthy joints.
Organic Alfalfa	Contains eight essential amino acids, is a rich source of vitamin B12, natural fluoride and chlorophyll.
Organic Spirulina	Is highly alkalizing
Organic Cracked Cell Chlorella	Contains high concentrations of chlorophyll, nucleic acids, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidant carotenes, and vitamins and minerals, especially zinc.
Organic Spinach	Is a good source of folate (folic acid) and loaded with antioxidants that combat free radical damage to the body's cells.
Organic Broccoli	Is a good source of iron and folic acid. Broccoli is one of the richest sources of anti-oxidants and contains sulforaphane, which is believed to help maintain optimal health
Antioxidant Blend		1162 mg
Sambazon Organic Pure Acai. (Ah-sigh-ee)	Contains more anti-oxidants and healthy omega fats, proteins and dietary fiber. Excellent source of vitamin A from Beta Carotene.
Organic Maca (Lepidium meyenii)	Contains calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and iron, and contains trace minerals, including zinc, iodine, copper, selenium, bismuth, manganese and silica, as well as B vitamins.
Organic Carrot	Is an excellent source of vitamin A from Beta Carotene.
Organic Beet	Is a high source of lycopene and lutein, and contains betaine,
Raspberry	Contains photochemicals and antioxidants
Rose Hips	Is high in vitamin C.
Pineapple	Contains digestive enzymes, and high in vitamin C
Green Tea 40%	Helps boost immune function and supports liver health. Also contains catechins
Acerola Cherry	Is high in vitamin C
Essential Fatty Acid Fiber Blend		635 mg
Organic Flax Seed Powder	Contains alpha linolenic acid (ALA), lignans, and Omega-3 oils
Apple Pectin Fiber	Slows absorption into the bloodstream. chelates toxins, binding the bile salts
Pre & Pro Biotic Blend		405 mg
FOS from Chicory Root (Fructo-oligosaccharides)	FOS are considered prebiotic, particularly Bifidus.
Probiotics– L Acidophilus:	Contains beneficial bacteria
Digestive Enzyme Blend	Contains enzymes
Alpha and Beta Amylase, Protease, Lactase, Lipase, Cellulase	Breaks down carbohydrates, breaks down and hydrolyzes proteins, breaks down lipids (fats) breaks down lactose, breaks down cellulose.
Energizing Herb Blend		62 mg
Siberian Eleuthero Root	Offers therapeutic benefits and increased energy.
Peppermint Powder	Contains a muscle relaxant, particularly useful in the digestive tract

            The changes this has made were subtle but powerful.  I do not suffer any more insomnia, I fall sleep faster, sleep better, my knees do not hurt going up or down stairs, I feel fuller faster when I eat, and I am more awake during the day.   And, since the rest of my family did not take to the powder milk substitute added to their diet, I found ways of incorporating more vegetables into our dinners.  I buy bags of fresh baby spinach leaves, fresh broccoli, and fresh carrots.  I find these three items are easy to work into any noodle or rice dish I might cook with dinner.  My kids eat their noodles or rice and they get the vegetables also.  I find also, if I buy them then I am thinking about them being in the refrigerator and how can I mix them into dinner because I have to use them before they go bad. 

            Then I learned about iodine, iodine deficiency, and how that can affect weight gain.  I then researched the food that has the highest iodine content and came up with a way to incorporate that into my daily diet.  The foods high in iodine, besides kelp which is highest, are strawberries, milk, yogurt and hard boiled eggs. (WHF, 2009)  These most affected my breakfast and lunch which now consists of for breakfast I eat either whole grain cereal with two percent milk, or yogurt and strawberries.  I eat something small for lunch, small salad, soup or sandwich.     

            My pyramid plan indicated a need for six ounces of grains, two and a half cups vegetables, two cups fruit, three cups milk, and five and a half ounces meat and beans.  The plan also indicated to limit my oils to six teaspoons per day and extras such as solid fats and sugars to 265 calories per day.  According to the chart and my daily intake with my new diet in place it seems I am still eating too many extras.   My calorie count seems fine as well as my oil intake.  I am getting enough grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat & beans, thanks to my amazing grass formula, but find I am still ingesting too many extras which are solid fats, added sugars or alcohol. 

            It appears as though I am consuming over one third of my allotted extra calories from the two percent milk that I have with my cereal and green superfood powder.  I can fix this by moving to skim milk.  This will eliminate those extra calories and allow me to keep under my 265 allotted calories per day.    

            This last change, I think, will complete my adjusted meal plan for the future. 

References

Amazing Grass (2009) “Whole Food Ingredients – Green Superfood “ retrieved from        www.amazinggrass.com on Feb 2010

WHF (2008) “Iodine” retrieved from www.whfoods.com on Feb 2010