My Nutrition Class Thread

[Doughboy]

This hopefully will be the go to thread in the Nutrition Section (hopefully someday a sticky once it becomes popular). Anyway, onto the good stuff. As only a few of you know I am in a Nutrition class. Now, I had another nutrition text-book because my mom went back to college and took a class. Anyway, I got interested and started reading. I still think the best thing to do involving a diet, is to buy a nutrition text-book, and keep a food log. ANYWAY, I can read the book for the rest of my life and I still wont completely get it. The class will give me a better understanding of it (plus another nutrition text-book) I just had my second class this past Tuesday, So I wanted to wait until we really started the good stuff (since everyone knows the first class is just a preface to what is to come). What I will do in this thread is put what we talked about during the last class. If anyone has any questions reguarding nutrition, I will do my BEST to answer them (So don't be shy). I have this class every Tuesday, so about every Wednesday, I will update this thread and be open to more questions. This is just the preface, I will start on my next post.

[Doughboy]

Ok, this was the first class where we got into the good stuff. Now, mind you the next few classes will be basic nutrition, but I have a feeling there are alot of you out there who need to know the basics. I will give out some websites also that give good nutrition info that I get from my teacher also. Anyway, lets start with a few defintions and descriptions (I will try my best to only give you guys useful stuff, like I wont give you the definition of nutrition science because it wont help you). OK, now these words or phrases that I have underlined will be words I may refer back to often, so I will put their meaning so hopefully no one will be confused.
Essential Nutrients: Food substances that
1.) Are vital to life.
2.) They cannnot be supplied by the body at all or in good quantities.
3.) Must be obtained from the diet.
Now the Essential Nutrients are also known as the Nutrient Classes Which are
1.) Carbohydrate
2.) Protein
3.) Fat
4.) Minerals
5.) Water and
6.) Vitamins.

Other terms I may refer to:
Macronutrients: Nutrients needed in large amounts (grams)
Micronutients: Nutrients needed in small amounts (less than a gram or milligram) So when you read the nutrition facts on foods anything that has a (mg) is a micro and anything with a (g) is a macro.
Now the macronutrient groups are Carbohydrates, Protein, Fat and Water.
The micronutrient groups are Minerals, Vitamins and Phytochemicals (which are non-vitamin chemicals that may have a health benefit).

[Doughboy]

Next onto Nutrients w/ Calorie Value in other words per gram of these nutrients you get a certain amount of calories.

First, Carbs which have 4 cals per gram.
Next, Protein which also have 4 cals per gram.
Last, we have Fat which has 9 cals per gram.

Another thing that provides a Calorie Value is Alcohol which has 7 cals per one gram.

Nutrient needs are based on a person's:
Physical Activity Level, Height and Weight, Gender, Age, Health status, and dietary and drug habits.
In other words WHAT WORKS FOR ONE PERSON MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU, since we all have different bodies, which is why I say keep a food log so you can see what works and what does not. To let you guys know it is normal to feel hungry every 3-4 hours so EAT, in smaller portions of course. Now, I will tell you things that define a bad or fad diet. When they say promise quick and easy cures, when the promoters use inflated language like: Scientific Breakthrough, Miraculous, or an Ancient Remedy. More things that define a bad diet are Emotional Appeals, or guarantees "No risk, Money-Back"

The 6 things that make a good diet is this:
1.) VARIETY (most important)
2.) Nutrient density
3.) Calorie control
4.) Moderation
5.) Adequacy and
6.) Balance.

Thats it for now I will post more tomorrow but let this info soak in for now. I'll be back.

[descarado]

yes professor, sir!

[Adonis]

Good work? I am a nutrition lover. As in I love nutrition or was it food....j/k

[Old_Fart2]

Good work, Dave, Keep 'em coming!

[Manfred_Man]

great reads & posts! what's on the syllabus for today?

[Doughboy]

Now in my last post I talked about the 6 things that make a good diet, they are also called the diet planning principles. Now just in case there is any confusion, I will further define these six.
1.) VARIETY: To obtain the essential nutrients (see told ya I would refer back to it) from the diet and since there is no perfect food or food group, you must have a variety to dilute out any negative health factors from any one food or food group.
2.) Nutrient density: To conserve on calories and achieve weight control, to have sources of needed nutrients in the SAFEST way have nutrient dense FOODS as opposed to supplement intake.
3.) Calorie control: This is just used for weight control.
4.) Moderation: To avoid malnutrition (bad) from both not eating enough or eating to much through portion control of single foods over food groups.
5.) Adequacy: Choosing enough of each essential nutrient to avoid deficiency disease through careful food selection.
6.) Balance: To avoid over nutrition of any food, nutrient, or food group, so EAT ALL KINDS OF FOODS.

Now, some people really don't know how many calories a day they should have, so I will make a little chart. First I will define a sedentary lifestyle and an active lifestyle.
Sedentary: A lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
Active: A lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking 3 miles a day at 3 to 4 miles per hour. NOW that does'nt mean jog or run for 3 miles everyday (even though you can) it means equivalent. I have a chart in my book too big to type here so I'll try and scan it later and put it up reguarding this.

----------------------------------------------Calorie range---------------------------------
-------------------------------Sedentary--------------------Active
Males
4-8 (years old)----------------1,400----------------------2,000
9-13-----------------------------1,800----------------------2,600
14-18---------------------------2,200-----------------------3,200
19-30---------------------------2,400-----------------------3,000
31-50---------------------------2,200 ----------------------3,000
51+------------------------------2,000----------------------2,800
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Females
4-8------------------------------1,200-----------------------1,800
9-13-----------------------------1,600-----------------------2,200
14-18---------------------------1,800-----------------------2,400
19-30---------------------------2,000-----------------------2,400
31-50---------------------------1,800-----------------------2,200
51+-----------------------------1,600-----------------------2,200

Thats it, Last thing for now is a good website:
http://mypyramid.org
This site is real nice I don't know if you guys know but there is a new food pyramid and it here, it also lets you put in your age, sex and activity level and it will make a kind of customized pyramid for you.

[Doughboy]

Man that chart was harder to do than I thought. Anyway, I wanna say to anyone who comes to this thread looking for a quick fix, or they see all the words and become afraid to read it, that's your problem. Im posting this to help people if you don't wanna read it fine, stick with your fad diets and taking stacker 2 and watch it wont do shit. Then when you are ready to learn then come back, I'll be here. I cant make anyone read anything, but you must remember one crucial thing: IT'S YOUR LIFE, NOT MINE! Well anyway, Im done with the stuff for now until next Wednesday now Im open to all comments and questions. Thanks to descarado, Adonis, Old Fart, and Manfred Man for your replies you guys don't be strangers to asking questions either

[painless2]

Can I ask questions?

[Doughboy]

Yes painless, of course. I'll answer later though when i come back.

[painless2]

I was kidding, I teach nutrition at Arizona State. I may have some clarifications along the way though. So far so good, keep it coming!

[Manfred_Man]

sadly, i don't teach nutrition... i just eat... and i eat well... and often... and balanced... and with great variety...

thanks for posting this stuff, davelacb!

[Doughboy]

Originally Posted by painless2

I was kidding, I teach nutrition at Arizona State. I may have some clarifications along the way though. So far so good, keep it coming!

Shoot painless if you teach it I don't need to be here, you can take over now. Just kidding, but seroiusly I really want your input as the days go by in this thread painless. If you wanna correct or add something go ahead. Im gonna try and give out lots of info but not the stuff that the people don't really need to know, I don't wanna bore anyone. Anyway, can we get some people other than mods to comment here or ask questions? You think its good now M. Man this is just the basics.

[painless2]

dave, you're doing great so far, and it saves me some typing and/or cut and paste from my own lecture notes. Keep it up!

[Killa_Z]

nice dave, keep em coming

[Doughboy]

Ok we did'nt talk about much this class we basically spent the whole class talking about how to read food labels. At first I was thinking nobody here needs me to tell them how to read but during the class I was surprised at how many people really did not know how to read them right. There are probably some of you here that may know how to but there might be some who don't. Alrighty lets start. Ill use this nutrition facts and ingredient list for the example as I talk about different things. This is for some kind of cheese enchilada. I'll cont. on my next post.

[Doughboy]

Now, as you guys read this I will refer back to that alot. Now, when you read the nutrition facts part it gives you the amount of fat, carbs, protein etc. in that container. Now what some people don't seem to notice is at the top it says serving size and servings per container so when you multiply those 2 together on this label that would be 2 so you double all the numbers you see on there then you get the facts for the whole box bottle etc. assuming you eat or drink the whole thing.
Now, you see the daily value percent part that tells you how much of of whatever thing written to the left you should get in a day. For instance on this label it says Total Fat 21g and to the left 32% which means 21g of fat is only 32% of the amount you should have in a day.
Now, here is a very important thing at the bottom you see in the smallest letters: Percent Daily Values are based upon a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Thats a very important thing because those percents change if you need more or less than 2,000 calories. So, like on that label IF you are on a 2,000 calorie diet you should have 68g of fat in a day give or take. Now to find out your calorie needs look at the chart I made earlier so you may need 3,000 calories and if you do all those numbers will change so instead of 68g of fat you should have 102g of fat. I should say Im not saying that you have to have 100% of the daily value just Don't go over it.

[Doughboy]

Next, Im onto another little chart I gotta make (shit) and its the:

---------------------------Food Labeling Definition Of Terms-------------------------

---------------------------Nutrient Content Claims Defintions------------------------
-----------------------"FREE"--------"LOW"-------"HIGH OR--------"GOOD SOURCE"
-------------------------------------------------------EXCELLENT --------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------SOURCE"----------------------------
Fat~~~~~~~~~.5g or less~~~3g or less
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturated Fat~~.5g or less~~~1g or less
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trans Fat~~~~~SAME AS SATURATED FAT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cholesterol~~~~2mg or less~~20mg or less
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sodium~~~~~~5mg or less~~~140mg or less
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calories~~~~~~5cals or less~~40cals or less
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar~~~~~~~.5g or less
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiber~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~5g or more~~~~~~2.5-4.9g
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The thing I find so funny is you never see AN EXCELLENT SOURCE OF FAT or carbs or sodium or calories or any of the "bad" ones.

Here are some other definitions:
Reduced- 25% lower in the nutrient than the regular (reference) food
Good Source- Contains 10-19% of the Daily Value per serving
High, Rich in, or Excellent source of- Contains 20% or more of the Daily Value per serving
More, Fortified, Added or Enriched- Contains at least 10% more than the Daily Value for protein, vitamins, minerals or fiber per serving compared to the reference food
Light or Lite- 50% less fat than the reference food or
50% less sodium than the refernce food but the food has to be low calorie and low fat.
1/3rd fewer calories than the reference food, only if the refernce food contains less than 50% calories from fat
Light in color or texture.

Im willing to take any questions anyone may have about this. I will assume that if I get no questions about this than everyone who has read it understands. Before my next class Im open to any questions at all about nutrition and I will post more info on other things in the next day or 2.

[BuffforCU]

Great thread Davelacb!! I can't believe there aren't more replies!