Is Diet A Healthy Diet?

This article was to examine how the US government uses dietary guidelines for Americans and how the guidelines were supposed to help us eat and stay healthy. Diet and chronic diseases are sometimes connected. For example, it is proven that nutrient deficiency disease like scurvy can be cured by consuming the lost nutrients. However, it is also shown that some nutrient exposure can cause chronic illness such as energy, fats, sodium dietary fiber, and food exposures, etc. making it difficult to set dietary guidelines. In addition to some nutrient causing chronic diseases, nondietary factors such as stress, lack of exercise, smoking and other environmental factors are linked to causing chronic illnesses (Slavin, 2012).

Throughout the Dietary Guideline for Americans, 2010, emphasizes are fixed on concerns about American’s health. In this day and age, the American people as a nation are experiencing a pandemic of overweight and obesity which is linked to poor diet and lack of physical activity resulting in illness that can become terminal. Unfortunately, this has affected many of our love ones first hand. However, such problems can be corrected through developing better eating habits and lifestyles. Following the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 is a start. It is significant in aiding Americans to live longer and healthier lives.

Over the past few decades, deficiencies of essential nutrients have drastically diminished, many infectious diseases have been reduced, and most of the U.S. population can now foresee a long and productive life. In the meantime, rates of chronic diseases hefty portion of which are identified with poor quality diet and physical activity has increased. About half of all American grown-up have one or more preventable, diet-related chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes, and overweight and obesity.

Michael Pollan says in his argument that the western diet is chiefly to blame for a majority of health deceases, he says “the scientist who blame our health problems on defiances of these micronutrients are not the same scientist who see sugar-soaked diet leading to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart deceases, and cancer” (421) Due to all this negative impact to our health Pollan says that the food industry needs new theories to better redesign processed food and the medical community to make new drugs to beget deceases.

The overconsumption of inappropriate foods containing trans-fats and large serving portions has caused many to become obese hence developing heart disease, and diabetes among other preventable disease. Currently over 500 million of the world population is obese and one and half billion people in the world are overweigh”. Every year about 2.5 million deaths are related to obesity (WHO) and children seem to be the most affected. Furthermore, obesity has continued to increase and currently there are more obese people in the world than underweight. Amazingly, the United States a country with ample resources has the higher rate of obese

The American health efficiency won 't be achieved through the increased consumption of fast foods, the American population should adopt better-eating habits and exercise approaches to ensure a healthy environment. Poor health habits are the leading causes of premature death among children and adults as indicated by WHO (2009). These habits increase the chance of health risks especially in cancer, heart diseases, and excessive weight gain. Fast foods consumption and lack of efficient physical activities inhibit the body 's performance by increasing or decreasing necessary nutrients to levels the body cannot operate efficiently.

Today in the Western Hemisphere, many chronic health problems result from bad eating habits. There are a mix of people who are over-nourished, malnourished, or both. We eat chemically altered, high-fat toxic foods that do not provide a sufficient amount of essential vitamins and

The statement made earlier in this paper, “high levels of dietary cholesterol is the leading cause of heart disease and obesity” is troubling. Primarily due to what a statement of such simplicity represents. If dietary choices were so simple obesity and heart disease would not have gone unchecked for a generation of American’s who increased their consumption of both sugar, and unsaturated fats. Indeed, strict scientific review, and contextualized in-depth analysis are the only way to tease out accurate understandings in helping people make more informed decisions about what they

The United States has progressed from a rural, agricultural nation to an urbanized industrial one in just the last two centuries. Through this the transformation of the American lifestyles have changed drastically. Other countries focus on eating well, excercise, and taking enough time to eat and enjoying what they are eating. One lifestyle that many Americans have adapted to is the Western Diet, but today around the world the Western Diet is not viewed as the most nutritious or beneficial diet for humans. The nutritional patterns of high-fat and cholesterol, high protein, high sugar, and excessive salt intake, as well as the excessive consumption of processed fast foods has collectively defined the Western Diet. Even though this type of

As seen during the eighteenth century, the presence of excess body fat was envied and very rare; seen only in kings, the rich, and the wealthy as a sign of power and prosperity. Once food shortage was no longer relevant, the 20th century re-assessed this “sign of power” as a sign of ill health, and was then documented in medical practices as the chronic disease known as obesity. As we look at the roots of obesity today, causes of the disease cannot be attributed to a single origin. However, there are many daily influences that justify our nations expanding waistlines; the most obvious being an unhealthy diet. The role of food in our society has altered the way Americans perceive nutrition. Meal times are advertised as social events; an instance of mindless eating, with little awareness on stopping when you’re full, and overeating as a result. Portion sizes are much larger than nutritionally necessary, and lack in substantial protein, causing you to

According to World Health report 2002, “non communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for almost 60% of the 56 million deaths annually and 47% of the global burden of disease.” The main causes of NCDs are unhealthy diet and physical inactivity (WHA, 2004). Although there are other significant contributing factors as well like tobacco and alcohol use but unhealthy food and inactivity are relatively more common risks due to increased trends of sedentary lifestyle and junk food consumption. Moreover very less attention has been given in preventing this rapidly penetrating risk factors of unhealthy diet and lack of exercise in communities. Majority of NCDs are closely related to diet like high blood pressure, high concentrations of cholesterol in the blood, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity. Factors that increase the risks of NCDs include elevated consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt. (WHA, 2004).

With concerns of our day to day living we do not have enough time and budget to be choosy of the type of food or the nutritional value of it, what we think of nowadays is just to have something to satisfy our hunger without considering the nutrients that our body needs each day. When we hear diet nowadays often we see it as losing weight by means of controlling food intake, but the truth is diet could also mean eating nutritious foods to supplement our body’s needs of nutrients and the type of foods that we are going to consume.

Our life is something that is so precious. Every choice we make impacts our life wether it be physically or mentally. When we choose to make poor life choices, it will reflect on us as individuals. Poor choices in what we consumed or how active we are will lead to a life that can lead to an early death. Obesity is an epidemic health problem that has been one of the leading causes to death. The disease itself causes sever health conditions as well as mental health issues.no one wants to become obese, but in today’s society we have been given the perfect recipe that will land us in a fight for our life. Obesity is not something that simply happens, but a lifetime of poor choices. We must discover the source of obesity and attack the health issue from the primary leading factors. We start with the source in order to help improve the lives of people everywhere who are battling this disease, as well as those who are predisposed to a higher chance of developing it.

If one continually eats unhealthy foods, they can quickly become overweight. Moreover, this has become such a recurring problem in America that according to the National Institutes of Health, compulsive eating has led to obesity for approximately 35.7% of Americans. This number represents over one-third of the entire U.S population and will continue to grow unless it is addressed. In addition, it is critical that Americans learn to moderate their junk food intake to prevent the contraction of serious health issues. Sweenie states that, “Food high in salt, sugar, fat or calories and low nutrient content...provide suboptimal nutrition with excessive fat, sugar, or sodium per kcal. Such poor diets can slow growth, promote obesity; sow the seeds of diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac problems, and osteoporosis.” These are exceptionally serious diseases that can often result in a severely hindered lifestyle or even death. In order to avoid these exceptionally undesirable outcomes, one must always remain aware of their daily junk food consumption. In Kirkey’s article, Paul Kenny, an associate professor at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, states that, "It's incumbent upon people to make sure that they're more respectful and aware of what they're eating. Just be aware that there are dangers and risks associated. Enjoy (high-fat) food, but make sure it's occasionally and

In the United State, the number one leading death, according to the CDC (2015) is heart disease than followed by cancer. Heart disease can be prevented with a well-controlled diet and exercise. Nurses, it will be beneficial to educate the patient about the benefits a patient can gain from a Mediterranean diet. The world heart federation (n.d) believes that patient diet is one of the key things they can change that will impact cardiovascular risk factors. A comparison was made by the World Heart Federation between a diet low in saturated fats, with plenty of vegetables and fresh fruit which is a typically Mediterranean diet and a typical diet. The typical diet looked at someone living in the developed world like the United States. The comparison showed that there is a 73% reduction in the risk of new major cardiac events (n.d). A person typically diets consist of high intakes of saturated fats like cheese, animal products, and trans fats found in cakes, cookies, and fast food which cause a rise in cholesterol levels in the blood. As nurses, we can educate our patient about healthy fats found in a Mediterranean diet, such as unsaturated fats, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated which are more beneficial for the healthy heart. So recommending them consuming more