Controlling intake of foods and beverages calorie intake is essential to the achievement of calorie balance (Ferry, 2011). Comprehending calorie requirements, having knowledge of food calorie sources, as well as recognizing the link between foods and beverages as well as the high/low body weight, are all essential concepts when constructing an eating plan which enhances calorie balance and management of individual weights.
Nutritional intake, as well as hydration with respect to human body, is a very important element in the enhancement of mental and physical well-being. Whilst mild dehydration and nutritional deficiencies can cause adverse effects, both mentally and physically, severe dehydration rate is capable of inducing impaired survival capability, and eventually death (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2007). According to Nicastro et al. (2010), among the elderly, dehydration and nutritional deficiencies are believed to alter many essential physical and mental elements. It is therefore important that humans take fluids regularly to maintain their body balance. Similar results have been recorded amongst children and teenagers (Ferry, 2011).
The need for fluids and general nutrition varies among humans depending on age and the size of body size. Other factors which affect body fluid requirements include perspiration levels, food habits, and other environmental aspects (Manz, 2007). Given the extensive interindividual variability, it is difficult to come up with generalized recommendations as to the exact level of fluid intake an individual may require. Food, as well as beverage, affects the daily nutritional intake of an individual.
A common element of health often evaluated is the Body Mass Index, commonly referred to by its abbreviation, BMI. BMI is simply defined as the ratio of body weight to an individual’s height. It is a standard tool for assisting an individual to manage their weights and their body fat amounts. The normal range recommended for BMI is between 18 and 25 (Ferry, 2011). The larger the values are the closer one moves to become overweight. In essence, an adult who has a BMI value of 27 is considered overweight, while 30 and above is considered alarming. Based on the information obtained for this research, the following are documented for the calculation of BMI.
Height = 5ft 2 inches
Weight = 118 lbs.
BMI = 21.6
The obtained BMI falls within the desirable range of 18-25, which implies that the evaluation gives a healthy verdict. In essence, the value obtained is within range and lowers susceptibility to excessive body fats, non-muscular, and hence makes people less vulnerable to risky health conditions like heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and stroke, among others. BMI better predicts risk to diseases as compared to solely weight. For athletes whose BMI is often high due to increased masculinity as well as pregnant women who have their BMI out of range, it is not an appropriate measure of how healthy they are. The question one may ask is how important BMI is.
BMI is an indicator of an individual’s well-being with regard to health, except in unique circumstances like the ones earlier mentioned. High BMI makes individuals susceptible to many health challenges including high blood pressure, heart diseases, diabetes and osteoarthritis, among others. Based on this, individuals can plan on whether to gain further weight or lose weight via nutritionally healthy means.
The Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) comprises dual value sets of goals for nutritional intake. These are the Reference Dietary Allowances (RDA) and the Adequate Intakes (AI) (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2007). The RDA shows the mean daily nutrient amount considered adequate in order to satisfy the requirements of a healthy person. AI’s are much more temporary as compared to RDA’s.
Dietary planning involves making use of the DRIs to put in place goals on what to take with regard to food and beverages. Dietary planning usually takes place on various levels and refers to making plans for meals as well as other foods which make an individual healthy. The DRI requirements are illustrated in the table below:
The general achievement, with DRI as the benchmark differs greatly. While some DRI goals are achieved, some are not and even fall way short below the desirable levels. With regard to energy requirements, only proteins exceed the set requirements at 138%. The kilocalories on the other hand hit 75% of the targeted amount, which is considered okay. However, carbohydrates and fats fall within the set DRI levels.
Carbohydrates, fibers, fats, as well as alcohol, are often not incorporated amongst the Recommended Dietary Allowances given the fact that diets which provide proteins, vitamins, and minerals are certain to avail adequate carbohydrates and most probably, more than adequate fat. However, there still exist guidelines with regard to dietary fibers as well as alcohol. This implies that excessive consumption of the same are likely to interfere with dietary planning for the body. The results, however, indicate that carbs, protein, fats and alcohol consumption, all fall within the recommended levels which are 57%, 17%, 29%, and 0% respectively. These are reflected in the graph below: However, they fail to reach the maximum recommended levels. Increasing consumption of these elements is likely to increase the calorie intake to meet the desired levels.
A reduced carbohydrate diet begins when a reduced intake of carp makes the body burn glycogen to produce energy (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2007). When the body burns glycogen, it produces water resulting in loss of weight by an individual. A heavily restrained carb diet is capable of making the body to burn fat in a metabolic process known as ketosis whereby ketones build up with the individual’s bloodstream. This causes a desirable effect by physical removal of the body’s fat but retaining the muscle tissues during the process. However, plenty of ketones can result in various undesirable symptoms including nausea, bad breath, and failure of the human kidney as well as gout.
The results from the dietary analysis showed that the average calorie intake falls below the calorie expenditure. The expenditure is set at 1866 kCal, far above the intake of 1408 kCal, amounting to a deficit of 457kCal. This implies that there is need to adjust calorie intake to meet the needs of the body. Failure to such would imply that the body will have to use body fats resulting loss of weight an in appropriate changes in BMI. In day 3 however, calorie consumption is larger than the body’s requirements. While the body required 1723 kCal, 1178 kCal is taken in, a figure which is commendable and good for health.
Nutrition is basically based on characterization of foods, definition of metabolic pathways, and on identification of interactions between foods and metabolism. The dietary arrangement of foods, as well as cultural diversity, to a greater extent defines the health of individuals, their growth as well as overall development (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2007). Risky acts like alcohol consumption, inactivity, and tobacco consumption also contribute to an individual’s health deterioration. These aspects occur in social, cultural, political, as well as economic environments. When nutrition and lifestyle is poorly planned, all the undesirable things begin to occur, wounds don’t heal, people lose muscle as well as weight, among many others
Nutrition as is applicable to daily life covers what individual take to maintain their body health conditions, whether positively or negatively. Lifestyle on the other hand covers the activities that in individuals engage in and often affect their health. They are important in determine the levels of different kinds of foodstuff that an individual needs to take to keep up their body’s functioning effectively (Ferry, 2011). Nutrition nurtures human bodies and enhances individual’s ability to stay healthy and function in a manner they are intended to. Nutrition applies to the ability of individuals to offer their body with all the foods it requires including vitamins and minerals in order to facilitate their daily life activities.
In conclusion, it is important to mention that while in most instances, the nutritional requirements have been successfully met; there are various areas where the desirable DRI has not been achieved. This implies a need to adjust lifestyle to suit the nutritional plan and requirements to reach the desirable levels. For instance, sodium consumption far exceeds the desired limits while dietary fiber consumption falls below the desirable limits. Generally, the intake recorded in this case fell lower than the desired DRI in a number of areas. Of most fundamental concern is the fact that calorie intake fell below the calorie requirements implying that the body consumed more than it received. This basically translates to a loss of weight is actually undesirable considering that the BMI is already at its best. However, a slight loss or a slight increase will still retain the BMI within the desirable range but only on short-term basis.
References
Ferry M. (2011). Strategies for ensuring good nutrition among in the elderly. Nutr Rev. 63:S22–S29.
McArdle, W.D., Katch, F.I. & Katch, V.L. (2007). Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance. J. Nutr.12 (2), pp. 345-367.
Nicastro, H. L. et. al. (2010). Nutritional planning and management among adolescents. European Journal of Nutrition, 8(3), 234-241.