Nutrition Analysis

On the week of September 17th to September 21, I tracked my intake of food. Overall, I noticed that I consumed too little of the majority of the nutrition facts. The only areas that I over ate in were the sections of protein and fat.

The biggest area that I need to look to improve on is the amount of protein that I eat. Over the course of the days, I noticed a trend of eating a certain type of meat everyday. I could cut back on my protein my not eating meat everyday, and have a different option such as salads. Also I would have to make sure that there would be no chicken in these salads to reduce my protein intake.

Another area that need to improve on is my iron intake. I was 73% below my recommended amount. I could improve in this area by eating more iron rich foods such as spinach. I should avoid more red meats since I am already about 91% above my recommend amount. One way I could do this is by making more smoothies. When I make smoothies I add a ton of different fruit and about 2 cups of spinach. If I were to make one of these every other day, my iron intake would greatly increase.

I also need to eat more vitamin A rich foods. I was 64.4% below my recommend daily value. One way to increase this is by eating more fish and vegetables. The vegetables could again come from the smoothie that I would make every other day. Also I could eat more salads as meals, like lunch for example. This would increase my vegetable intake as well, therefore raising the levels of vitamin A also. I could eat more fish by eating foods such as poké, or sushi. These foods contain fish, and are very delicious at the same time.

I also struggled in the vitamin C category. I really under ate in this category, going along with the general trend. One way to improve on this category is by eating more fruits, more specifically citrus fruits. Citrus fruits contain a lot of vitamin C, so if I ate more of these fruits it would increase. As stated before, I could make more smoothies, which include oranges, so that could be one way I would increase my vitamin C intake.

I need to also work on eating more fiber. One way to improve would be to eat more vegetables and beans. I noticed that the on day 4, I ate Chipotle for dinner. That was the highest amount of fiber that I consumed thought the whole process, at 24.8 grams for the whole day. This shows how even though I did eat more fiber, I was still below the recommended value of 32.5 grams. I also just need to eat more vegetables in general. I saw that out of the five days I logged my diet, I had vegetables on only three of those. This is really eye opening to the fact that I do not eat enough vegetables. If I were to increase the amount of vegetables that I eat during each meal, on top of that smoothie I would make every other day, then my fiber intake would definitely increase.

Unlike what I thought, I actually under ate in the sodium value. I ate 40.9% below the recommended value of 3117.6 grams. I guess a way to consume more sodium would be by eating more salty foods or ham. However, I would have to be careful with the amount of ham I eat since I already eat way too much protein.

Another surprising category was my calorie consumption. I actually under ate by 27.8% of the recommended value. One result from this could have been because I did not eat much in a certain day. For example, on day 4, I only ate five different items, one of them being water. A simple solution to this problem is to eat more during the day. I also need to be constantly eating a breakfast. By doing this, I would eat more calories, and have more energy during the day.

The two categories that I did well in were in fat and calcium category. I was near perfect for the fat being at 0.12% in over consumption. In the calcium section I consumed 6.1% under the correct amount. Both of the sections correlate to each other in a way because I drink a lot of milk. Milk is high in calcium, and contains a good amount of fat since I drink 2% milk. A way to consume more calcium is by maybe eating yogurt for breakfast. This would increase my calcium, and at the same time having breakfast, which would increase my calorie intake.

What is Health?

Health is the psychological and physical well-being to me. I think that I am the strongest in the pillar of exercise. I am always active, and enjoy the adrenaline rush. I need to work on the sleep pillar. I do not think that I get enough sleep on a nightly basis, so that is something that I need to improve on. I want to learn more about nutrition in general, and how different foods affect the body and its function.

Rods and Cones

Rods and cones are amazing cells that allow the eye to function as it does. They are each a specific type of cell called photoreceptors. Both cells are located in the retina of the eye. These cells both are composed of epithelial tissue. While both structures are very similar, they each have a few distinguishing features. As they sound, the names of the cells describe how they look like. Rods are long and skinny looking, while cones look like an upside down cone with the point sticking up. Both cells contain disk-like disks which contain molecules that allow the light photons to be absorbed. In rods these disks are closed, unlike cones where the disks are partially opened and exposed to the liquid around it. Both contain the typical organelles of an eukaryotic cell such as a nucleus and mitochondria. It also contains an axon, which acts to send signals to neurons that eventually makes its way all the way to the brain to be processed. Also in birds or reptiles, these receptors may have oil droplets, which enhance their color vision.

There are many more rods in the retina than there are cones. The proportion of rods to cones is about 120 million rods to the 6-7 million cones. Rods are more sensitive than cones, but are not sensitive to colors, as cones are. Rods are extremely sensitive to light and are better motion sensors. Rods primarily are used in the peripheral vision, so the eye is more sensitive to light from the sides. Rods take a longer time to adapt to a new environment unlike cones. It takes roughly 30 minutes for the rods to adjust to darkness and function correctly. Cones are used to see the many different colors of the rainbow. They are separated into different types that each sense different colors. For example, there are blue cones, red cones, and green cones. Each of them respectively senses a different color.

Hana the Banana Lab

Hana the Banana was found dead in her cabana in the middle of the Savannah. After examining her body, some conclusions on the way she died were made. What ever killed her had no mercy. Hana had many cuts and claw marks all over her body.

On the anterior side of her body she had one main gash, which was 4.92 centimeters superior to her bottom. It was 5.31 centimeters long. She also had another thinner one, which was 1.19 centimeters superior to the larger gash. The thinner gash was slightly lateral to the left of the larger one. There was another cut that was on the right side and was 0.23 centimeters superior to the right ear. Also there were four slices that were 1.10 centimeters inferior to her right ear.

On the posterior side of the body she had eight cuts and one large gash. The cuts were clustered together in two separate groups, with four cuts in each. The highest cut was 2.63 centimeters superior to her left arm. The bottom gash in that cluster was 2.60 centimeters inferior to the right fingertips. The lowest cut was 0.42 centimeters lateral to the tip of the large gash. The second gash on the right arm was 0.40 centimeters proximal to the first slit. The superior cluster of four cuts was 1.62 centimeters medial to the inferior gashes. The inferior cut on her left arm was 2.20 centimeters distal to her elbow.

It was difficult to identify the internal injuries from the sagittal view. The inferior gash on the left cut all the way to the midline. There were four slits on the superior portion of the body.

After much consideration, the police have decided that she was mauled by some wild animal in the Savannah. The markings all around her body display a randomness that only an animal could replicate. The marks that were in groups of four were claw marks from the wild beast.