Pahola Tene

SCI-120-02

The Advantage of Taking Nutrition

There are so many nutrition lessons I learned in this course that I would never forget.

There were so many different topics with so much material, but when it related to me I was able

to remember it easier. Not only do these lessons teach me how to maintain a healthy diet, but it

also helps me inform others too.

This course taught me how to read and interpret the food labels in order to have a healthy

diet. I personally never look at nutrition labels, but I realized how important it was. I learned that

I need to reduce my intake of sodium and total fats especially trans fat. In order to check that it’s

low in those categories it should be less than 5% for the percent daily value. I need to avoid my

sodium intake because I always add so much salt on my foods already and in processed food the

sodium levels are higher. Trans fat would lead me to having atherosclerosis, which is not good. I

now look at the ingredient list and I never knew that the first ingredient listed was the one that is

most dense on the food product. I now try to avoid sugar being listed first because having less

sugar can reduce my risk for developing diabetes and hyperglycemia. I drink a lot of ice tea that

has added sugar and when I found out how bad it was I starting to drink orange juice and now I

get vitamin C rather than sugar.

I learned what type of foods to consume to avoid some disorders or diseases. I hated fish

and when I found out that fish has omega-3 and helps maintain the health of blood vessels it

made me think twice. My grandpa had a problem with his blood vessels getting too narrow

restricting his blood to flow normally. I told him to eat more fish because that will help him

reduce the risk of having a stroke and since he also had high blood pressure it would help slightly

lower it. When he went to Ecuador he did not eat any fish anymore and his blood started to not

flow properly and he had to come back for surgery. I also told my family to buy nuts because

they are so good for hearth health. I now rather munch on nuts when I need a snack rather than

chips or cookies. I told my grandpa that just by having some or a little of these two foods can

help his health.

I never quite paid attention to the different vitamins and minerals there are because they

seemed to complicating to understand. When I learned what each one does it changed my life

completely and it became my favorite chapter. I now can eat a food and know what vitamin or

mineral I’m consuming. Since I’m lactose intolerant I learned to mix some yogurt with fruits to

get both my mineral calcium and vitamin C, that way I do not feel so bloated. My sister had

anemia and I told her to drink orange juice because it helps absorb iron because of the Vitamin C

in the juice. I also learned that by having a lot of Beta-carotene it could lower risk of cataracts. I

recently went to the ophthalmologist and he said that my grandparents had the beginning of

cataracts, but they are 66 years old and my uncle already had it, but he is only 30. I noticed that

my grandparents ate a lot of plant type of foods such as carrots, peppers, and many vegetables,

which is a source of beta-carotene. I told my family to cook more of these types of foods and

now I try to eat it too so it would reduce my risk for developing cataracts too soon.

Overall, I learned that there are many different varieties of foods if any allergies are

present. That eating a broccoli with butter is not bad if that helps you eat more vegetables. The

most important nutrition information I take with me is that even by just eating small amounts of

a nutritious food can help your overall health.