nutritional recommendations across the lifespan – from pregnancy to childhood, and from adolescence to adulthood

Recommended for Pregnant Women

"Consume 8 to 12 ounces of seafood per week from a variety of seafood types.

Due to their methyl mercury content, limit white (albacore) tuna to 6 ounces per week and do not eat the following four types of fish: tilefish, shark, swordfish, and king mackerel.

If pregnant, take an iron supplement as recommended by an obstetrician or other health care provider " (Dietary Guidelines for American's). During pregnancy, what you eat, your baby eats. Making sure that you’re eating a healthy balanced diet and getting the essential nutrients to help support the growth and development of the baby. During pregnancy, your diet should be rich in nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, healthy fat, vitamins and minerals. Your body needs folic acid and iron, so in addition to a healthy diet, taking prenatal vitamins is really essential for your baby’s health.

Babies and children grow at a very fast pace, and so making sure they are getting proper nutrition is really important as well. Not only physically, but their nervous system is also growing rapidly, children need Vitamin D, Vitamin C, iron, protein, and fruits and vegetables.

It’s important for adolescence to make sure they’re getting enough calcium for building strong bones. The majority of bone formation happens during adolescence, so making sure that they are getting an adequate amount of calcium is essential to their health. Adolescents generally have a higher metabolism, and are usually pretty active. Making sure that they are getting proper nutrition is important to keep up with how physical they are.
Also, teaching children and adolescents how to eat a healthy diet is really important because it is creating eating habits that they will continue to have throughout their life, it’s teaching them what to eat and how to eat, and if they don’t know how to get proper nutrition they can face obesity, malnutrition, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. 

References 

Dietary Guidelines for American's. (2010). Retrieved on December 17, 2012 from http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-PolicyDocument.htm

how fats, proteins, and carbs are digested and absorbed in the body, and describe the benefits from a dietary perspective. What are the good fats, bad fats, etc.? Why is fiber so beneficial

The digestive process starts with chewing up the food so that it can be swallowed. Once your food is in your stomach, the acid breaks up the food, and from there they enter the small intestine and then are broken down into amino acids. Your body absorbs the nutrients it needs from the food, and whatever it doesn’t use passes through as stool and is disposed of in the bathroom! "Once the intestine's contents are emulsified, fat-spletting enzymes act on triglycerides to split fatty acids from their glycerol backbone." (Sizer & Whitney). Good fats are those that are unsaturated fats, which can be found in fish, nuts, and avocado, and eating the good fats lowers your bad cholesterol and  raises your good cholesterol. Bad fats are unsaturated fats, and guess what! It raises your bad cholesterol and decreases your good cholesterol. They can be found in processed foods, and meats that are high in fat, as well as dairy.

Fiber is beneficial because it not only helps with digestion, but can reduce heart disease. You can absorb fiber from plant foods as well as carbohydrates that are enriched with fiber such as whole grain or whole wheat breads. 

References

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2011). Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (12th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

the characteristics of a healthy diet, and the challenge associated with choosing the right foods

Many people go to extremes to get healthy, or lose weight. Many people see diet as a temporary fix, they will go off on an extreme diet, get to where they want to be, and then go back to the lifestyle they use to live. It is also known as crash dieting, it is extremely harmful to your health, and it doesn’t last! You may get to where you want to be, but unless you stick with healthy habits, you’re going to end up right where you were in the first place, unhealthy and unhappy.

 There are all kinds of diets out there, where you can’t eat carbohydrates, or no eating meats, or you can only drink lemonade mixed with cayenne pepper. All of these diets people do to give them the body or the health that they want. But being healthy isn’t something you can do every now and then. Being healthy is a lifestyle choice that should be done every day, not for short periods of time. Going without carbohydrates could be done for a few weeks or a few months, but not many people would last doing diets like that for the remainder of their lives. Being healthy doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. You can have something salty or sweet, depending on your preference, every now and then. If you eat things in moderation, it wont make you gain 10 lbs in a week if you have one piece of cake at your child’s birthday party! But if you allow that in your diet on a regular basis, you will probably be able to tell from your waist size.

Planning a nutritious diet can be very challenging, due to the majority of foods in the grocery stores are processed mixtures and many contain artificial ingredients. Sticking to as much of a whole foods diet as possible is really important.
What are whole foods?

“Whole foods are milk and milk products; meats and similar foods such fish and poultry; vegetables, including dried beans and peas; fruits; and grains. These foods are generally considered to form the basis of a nutritious diet. They are also called basic foods”. (Sizer & Whitney). Choosing the right foods can be hard, because there are so many other choices that are so much faster, cheaper, and more convenient.

There are many factors that drive us to crave certain foods. It is also hard because get together’s among family and friends often revolve around food, and lots of it. It usually isn’t the most nutritious and American’s really have a problem with portion control. Whether it be holidays, sporting events, birthdays, back yard barbeques, etc, there is probably going to be food there. Also, the convenience of unhealthy foods are everywhere. Fast food restaurants are everywhere, and when you’re on the go, it can really be easy to just swing in and grab some food. Time management is really important to try and avoid these challenges you may face, because these foods often times provide very little nutrition, excess calories, saturated fats, and overly processed foods that are not good for our bodies. 

References 

Sizer, F.S., Whitney, E. (2012). Nutrition: Concepts & Controversies. (12^th Ed.). California:
            Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.