Food and Mankind

GED 303
Spring Semester 2014-2015

STUDENT NAME

ID NUMBER

Section:

Classwork No. 1
Individual

K1.

Course Learning Outcomes Covered:

Knowledge
Recognize different terms and concepts used in nutrition, food and mankind

C2.
C4.

Competence
Autonomy & Responsibility
Review articles concerning eating disorders or eating deficiencies
Role in Context
Relate nutrition facts to everyday life and long term health

1. Explain the following terms and discuss their significance in our lifestyle:

Diet

In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism.

Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what
foods to eat. The word diet often implies the use of specific intake
of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related). Although
humans are omnivores, each culture and each person holds some food preferences or some
food taboos. This may be due to personal tastes or ethical reasons. Individual dietary choices
may be more or less healthy.
Proper nutrition requires ingestion and absorption of vitamins, minerals, and food energy in the
form of carbohydrates,proteins, and fats. Dietary habits and choices play a significant role in
the quality of life, health and longevity. It can define cultures and play a role in religion.

Nutrition
Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances
in food (e.g.phytonutrients, anthocyanins, tannins, etc.) in relation to maintenance, growth,
reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes food intake,
absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism and excretion.
The diet of an organism is what it eats, which is largely determined by the availability, processing
andpalatability of foods. A healthy diet includes preparation of food and storage methods that
preserve nutrients from oxidation, heat or leaching, and that reduce risk of food-born illnesses.
Registered Dietitians,"RDs" or "RDNs" (Registered Dietitian or Registered Dietitian
Nutritionist) are health professionals qualified to provide safe, evidence-based dietary advice
which includes a review of what is eaten, a thorough review of nutritional health, and a
personalized nutritional treatment plan. They also provide preventive and therapeutic programs
at work places, schools and similar institutions. Certified Clinical Nutritionists or CCNs, are
trained health professionals who also offer dietary advice on the role of nutrition in chronic
disease, including possible prevention or remediation by addressing nutritional deficiencies

before resorting to drugs.[3] Government regulation especially in terms of licensing, is currently

less universal for the CCN than that of RD or RDN.
A poor diet may have an injurious impact on health, causing deficiency diseases such
as scurvy andkwashiorkor; health-threatening conditions like obesity and metabolic syndrome;
[8]

and such common chronic systemic diseases as cardiovascular disease,

diabetes, and osteoporosis

Nutrient
Nutrients are the components in foods that an organism utilizes to survive and grow.
Macronutrients provide the bulk energy for an organism's metabolic system to function, while
micronutrients provide the necessary cofactors for metabolism to be carried out. Both types of
nutrients can be acquired from the environment.[1] They are used to build and repair tissues,
regulate body processes, and are converted to and used for energy. Methods for nutrient intake
are different for plants and animals. Plants take in nutrients directly from the soil through
their roots and from the atmosphere through their leaves. Animals and protests have specialized
digestive systems that work to break down macronutrients for energy and utilize micronutrients to
carry out both metabolism and anabolism or constructive synthesis in the body.

Essential nutrient
An essential nutrient is a nutrient required for normal human body function that either cannot be
synthesized by the body at all, or cannot be synthesized in amounts adequate for good health
(e.g. niacin, choline), and thus must be obtained from a dietary source. Essential nutrients are
also defined by the collective physiological evidence for their importance in the diet, as
represented in e.g. US government approved tables for Dietary Reference Intake.[1]
Some categories of essential nutrients include vitamins, dietary minerals, essential fatty acids,
and essential amino acids. Different species have very different essential nutrients. For example,
most mammals synthesize their own ascorbic acid, and it is therefore not considered an essential
nutrient for such species. It is, however, an essential nutrient for human beings, who require
external sources of ascorbic acid (known as Vitamin C in the context of nutrition).
Many essential nutrients are toxic in large doses (see hypervitaminosis or the nutrient pages
themselves below). Some can be taken in amounts larger than required in a typical diet, with no
apparent ill effects.

Eating habits and behaviors

Food gives our bodies the energy we need to function. For many people, changing eating habits is
very hard.
You may have had certain eating habits for so long that you do not realize they are unhealthy. Or, your
habits have become part of your daily life, so you don't think much about them.
Keep a journal
A food journal is a good tool to help you learn about your eating habits. Keep a food journal for 1
week.

Write down what you eat, how much, and what times of day you are eating.

Include notes about what else you were doing and how you were feeling, such as being
hungry, stressed, tired, or bored. For example, maybe you were at work and were bored. So
you got a snack from a vending machine down the hall from your desk.

At the end of the week, review your journal and look at your eating patterns. Decide which
habits you want to change.

Remember, small steps toward change lead to more success in making long-term changes. Try not to
overwhelm yourself with too many goals.
Also, take a look at the healthy habits you have and be proud of yourself about them. Try not to judge
your behaviors too harshly. It is easy to focus only on your poor habits. This can make you feel
stressed and give up trying to change.
Taking on new, healthier habits may mean that you:

Drink skim or low-fat (1%) milk instead of 2% or whole milk.

Eat fruit for dessert instead of cookies (or skip dessert all together).

Schedule times to eat your meals and snacks.

Plan and prepare healthy meals and snacks to increase your chance of success.

Keep healthy snacks at work. Pack healthy lunches that you make at home.

Pay attention to your feelings of hunger. Learn the difference between physical hunger and
habitual eating.

2. Case Study. From your vantage point of view, discuss the following case:
The Influence of Media on our Food Choices
Eating habits have changed drastically and rapidly over the years. Today, the number of
overweight or obese children and adults in the population has increased while the numbers of
lifestyle-related deaths have also increased. As Webb and Whitney (2008) argue, consumers

today value convenience so highly that they are willing to spend over half of their food budget
on meals that require little or no preparation. They regularly eat out, bring home ready-to-eat
meals, or have food delivered. This trend is mainly influenced by the media which promotes
such behaviors through commercials and popular programs and movies.

Answer

Mass media which includes radio, television and the print media is a great source of
information for the society. Every day we are bombarded with images that come out of
the television, magazines or the newspapers. The radio is yet another medium that has
the potential to captivate our attention. While there are several useful and important
messages that are disseminated by these instruments of mass media, it is also
important to note that there are some messages that may not be in the best interests of
humanity as a whole. The images that we see every day and the message that we hear
from these media instruments can have a very profound impact on almost all of the
choices that we make. In fact, the choices that we make with regards to our food are also
influenced by these very same instruments of the media.
Advertising is the primary source of income for the media. Through advertising, we see
several messages on a daily basis. A majority of them will be connected with food and
the food industry as a whole. Television channels, radio, print media and the internet are
all used to deliver the message about various food items that are in the market. Food
manufacturers market their products in these mediums in order to ensure that their
products are sold to their target audiences. Millions of dollars are spent by
manufacturers in order to make their advertisements attractive. Techniques like attractive
jingles, catchy phrases and attractive photography are employed to create an illusory
world where the food item that is being marketed will seem irresistible.
Even though this may not have an immediate impact on the consumer, it does make an
impact the next time he/she is in a supermarket aisle or in a queue at a fast food outlet.
Such aggressive advertising can have a very adverse impact on children and teenagers.
This is because children and young adults may not have the intellect to understand that
advertising is not for marketing a good product but for selling a product that does not sell
well. They will be attracted to the product without even being aware of the ramifications
that it may have on their health. In fact, even babies are not spared. The mass media
has made young mothers believe that formula feeding is better for the child whereas
doctors advise that breast feeding is the best for the baby.

Television in particular has a very profound impact on our food habits. It is the primary
influence for children and young adults. A typical American child spends thousands of
hours watching television. In fact the child would have spent less time in his/her
classroom. The impact that the number of advertisements that he/she must have
watched can only be imagined. The messages that are portrayed by these
advertisements are then remembered by the child that will then manifest as his/her
choices. The media also has a tendency to portray a particular kind of body image as
ideal. Celebrities and models are portrayed on television and the viewer is made to get
the impression that theirs is the perfect body type. This may lead to many
misconceptions about the relation between health and body shape.
Media instruments like television are also directly responsible for obesity and overweight.
Children who watch a lot of television will demand the food items that are in
commercials. These need not be healthy food items. Television viewing has even been
inversely related to the intake of healthy food items like fruits and vegetables. It also
needs to be said that media can also have a positive influence on food habits. When the
messages that are being transmitted are accurate and promote healthy food choices, it
may have a positive impact on the food habits of the general public. It can be said
without any doubt that the media does have an impact on our food habits. It is therefore
important to ensure that the messages that are broadcast are accurate and advocate
healthy diets and healthy food.

Essay Scoring Criteria

Adequacy of Explanation:

Score: ______________________

Depth of Analysis:

Score: ______________________

Total: 10

Score: ______________________