Nutritional Evaluation

Nancy Lapointe

NS 325

March 31, 2013

Nutrition has always been a big part of my life even prior to becoming a nurse. On a daily basis I am using nutrition in some way or another to teach my patients or learn something about myself. I usually follow the latest nutritional news because and I am a firm believer that diet is key in health and healing.NS325 has been a very useful and knowledgeable course because I can personally relate to it and can apply much of the information learned to my own life and career. The Diet Analysis project was wonderful because it gave me a first hand look at my own diet habits. My actual intakes of the different food groups were somewhat near what the "My
Pyramid" had
As for anyone not specifically higher cholesterol diets are not good as they increase the risk for heart disease and stroke. High fat diets are weight gaining diets and can be harmful to health in that they can cause type ll diabetes or adult onset diabetes. When one does not take care of themselves it is a given that the body will decline faster than those that keep active and eat healthy. The heavier and diet challenged people are the ones that we see getting joint replacements, heart surgeries and have respiratory diseases more often than those who are eating healthy and exercising. My intake of carbohydrates was 175 percent of the RDA. My daily consumption of fiber was only fifty percent of the RDA. Since I need to increase my consumption of fiber it would be worthwhile for me to eat more fruit. I will try to eat fruits that are high in fiber like apples and bananas. It would also be worthwhile for me to replace refined grains with whole grains. I will substitute whole grain or wheat bread for white bread on sandwiches. Not only are whole grains healthier but they will also keep me satisfied for longer periods of time because they digest slower. I generally try to avoid high sugar foods but I occasionally enjoy having chocolate and some ice cream. However, these can also be substituted with frozen yogurt and sugar free desert treats such as weight watchers or skinny cow. Protien can be increased