The Importance Of A Healthy Diet

Introduction:
Freshman year of college is a turning point in most young adult’s lives. They are moving away from home and living on their own or with peers. Tammy Smith, an incoming freshman is concerned about what her diet will be like while living in a dorm. She has heard that a lot of females in college will develop eating disorders because of their poor diet and possible weight gain from lack of exercise. Tammy started to do research on the internet and stumbled across “Healthy Eating: A Practical Guide” published by Concordia University. In the guide, it has guidelines and tips for college students to eat healthy while on a budget, and a chart for the amount of each food group that a female needs to eat to have a healthy diet. While doing

Sizer (2013, p.8) explains that “When you eat food, then, you are providing your body with energy and minerals. Furthermore, some of the nutrients are essential nutrients, meaning that if you do not ingest them, you will develop deficiencies: the body cannot make these nutrients for themselves.” The authors go over what good and bad foods are, from saturated fats and unsaturated fats to the difference between an adequate diet and a balanced diet. Sizer (2013, p.11) defines adequate as “The dietary characteristics of providing all the essential nutrients, fiber, and energy in amounts of sufficient to maintain healthy and body weight.” Sizer (2013, p. 11) defines balance as “The dietary characteristic of providing food of a number of proportion to each other, such that foods rich in some nutrients do not crowd out the diet foods that are rich in other nutrients.” From reading this Tammy understood the differences between having her body function properly and having her body get the correct proportion of

She realized that she had enough supplies to last the semester, so she decided to spend the money on healthy food since she was not sure what the cafeteria was going to offer. Tammy decided to listen to the article written by Concordia on what foods not to eat. “it suggests limiting foods that are high in calories, fat, sugar or salt (sodium) such as cakes and pastries, chocolate and candies, cookies and granola bars, doughnuts and muffins, ice cream and frozen desserts, French fries, potato chips, salty snacks, alcohol, fruit flavored drinks, soft drinks, sports and energy drinks, and sweetened hot or cold drinks” (Concordia, p.6). After knowing what not to eat, Tammy wanted to know the correct proportions of what to eat for her age group. She looked in her book for lifestyle and age group for women 19-25 years of age. According to Sizer (2013, p.45) “Sedentary women 19-25 years old should get 2 cups of fruit, 2 and a half cups of vegetables, 6 Oz of grains, 5 and a half Oz of protein, 3 cups of milk, 6 tablespoons of oils and 258 calories of fats and sugars.” By getting the range of nutrients from the different food groups is how one is to obtain a balanced