# Nutrition

## October 5th, 2020

-   So, you should've been doing the "food record" assignment - anything standing out? What changed?
    -   Most people had some extra calories/worse eating habits on the weekend
    -   Some people noticed that they ate worse when they were busier, maybe because they tended to go for fast-food when they felt too busy/stressed to make something
        -   Maybe you can solve that by doing batch-cooking, and storing nutritious
    -   ~50% of people are deficient in Fiber, Calcium, or Vitamin-D - many are in Omega-3 fatty acids, too
    -   Based on your analysis, what do you do to improve your diet? What do you need to add more of? What do you need to cut out?

-   In Chapter 5 of the book, there's a table showing how much of each food you should eat for each category

-   Some definitions:
    -   HUNGER is a physiological NEED for food, with our brain telling us we need to seek certain foods or nutrients; some signs of this might be rumbling stomachs, irritability, etc.
    -   APPETITE is a psychological desire to eat even when we aren't truly hungry; this might come from good-tasting foods, boredom, stress, habits ("you'll eat something at lunch even if you're not too hungry"), cultural reasons, etc.
        -   Social reasons for eating food, too, are HUGE - you invite some friends over, watch a movie, and eat while it's going on
    -   NUTRITION is not just food, but is the science of how foods nourish us and affect our health
        -   This is all about balance, moderation, and variety, and plays a BIG role in reducing 4 of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes

-   There are 6 essential classes of nutrients:
    -   CARBOHYDRATES
    -   PROTEINS
    -   FATS
    -   WATER
    -   VITAMINS
    -   MINERALS
    -   These are called "essential" because our bodies can't make enough of them on its own to survive
        -   Macronutrients are the first 4 that we need in larger amounts; vitamins/minerals are "micronutrients" that our body still needs to function properly, but we only need small amounts of them to stay healthy
    -   Carbs, proteins, and fats give us energy in the form of calories
        -   How do we know how much of each nutrient to consume? Here are some resources:
            -   The DIETARY REFERENCE INTAKES (DRIs)
                -   Set of dietary standards developed by the U.S. and Canada in 1997 and published by the nonprofit Institute of Medicine (part of the National Academies), which provides guidance for how much of each nutrient to maintain your health and prevent chronic diseases
                -   For most nturients, there are:
                    -   EAR - the Estimated Average Requirements (meets intake levels of 50% of the healthy population in a given gender)
                    -   RDA - Recommended Dietary Allowance (Average daily intake level for ~98% of individuals of a particular age/gender)
                    -   AI - Adequate Intake (recommended intake based on observed estimates where there's not enough info)
                    -   UL - Upper intake level (highest amounts of a nutrient someone can take in a given group before having negative effects)
                -   For the energy/macronutrients, there are 2:
                    -   EER - Estimated Energy Requirement (how many calories to maintain a given lifestyle for a given age/weight/gender)
                    -   AMDR - Acceptable Macronturient Distribution Range (what percentage each nutrient can be in your diet before you risk getting sick)
            -   Dietary Guidelines for Americans
                -   These are published by the U.S. government every 5 years
                -   The key guidelines are to give a healthy eating plan throughout someone's lifespans, and to focus on variety, density, and amounts of each nutrients
                    -   You should be having a variety of different vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains (which should be at least 50% whole grains), fat-free or low-fat dairy, lean proteins, and healthy oils
                    -   Notice that you should vary within each food group, too - don't eat just 1 type of fruit or vegetable!
                -   You should avoid having large amounts of calories come from saturated fat, added sugars, or sodium
                    -   Some ways to do this:
                        -   Replace chips with raw veggies
                        -   Replace red meat with fish or legumes (for heart health)
                        -   Sugary drinks with milk
                        -   Cookies with whole fruits (healthy way to satisfy sweet cravings)
            -   MyPlate.gov (which helps implement the above 2)
                -   No one wants to calculate how much of each nutrient they need by hand, so this is a tool to help you calculate how much of each food you need
                -   Some key messages from this:
                    -   Focus on nutrient density from each food group (foods with a LOT of nutrients per calories, like salads, whole-grain toast, etc.)
                    -   In contrast, don't focus on energy density (i.e. high amounts of calories without many nutrients)
                        -   "There are no bad foods, but there are lots of calorie-rich foods that are low in nutrients" - suasage, hot dogs, bacon, cheese, refined grains, most deserts, alcohol, etc.
                    -   Eat seafood ~2x a week (high in omega-3 fatty acids)
                    -   Exercise daily
            -   Nutrition facts on foods

-   We'll continue this on Monday!