NUTR 1020 Reflection

When I enrolled in this class, I wasn’t too sure what it had entailed. All I knew, was that I needed
this class as a prerequisite for my degree. I’m so glad I took this class and learned so much. It has
changed my perspective about nutrition. I thought I knew a lot about nutrition and being healthy, but
after finishing up this course, I’ve noticed I have a lot to learn. I’ve been taking my health more seriously
and it really has helped.
I’ve understood weight lifting and cardio well but learning about nutrition and about what I put
into my body took my knowledge about living a healthy lifestyle to the next level. I was plateauing in my
weight loss and once I changed the way I ate and use the tools to create a food diary, I realized how
nutrients affected my progress. I’ve been trying to hit my daily value of each vitamin and mineral
without having to take supplements. I’ve noticed I have a lot more energy and in a better mood. I really
like this way instead feeling a lag or crashing in the middle of the day.
Once completing the eating out assignment and watching the documentary, “Supersize Me” it
has really changed how I feel about what I put into my body. I remember writing down what I had for
lunch and feeling bad about how I was eating and how I was starving myself of vitamins and minerals my
body needs. After watching the “Supersize” me documentary, I saw him throwing up from eating so
much McDonald’s, becoming depressed, and lost energy. I really didn’t want to eat fast food again. Since
then, I’ve limited the amount of fast food I eat. I haven’t eaten fast food for 2 weeks now. I feel such a
difference in the amount energy I have, weight I’ve lost, and overall wellbeing. I’m still open to eating
fast food occasionally, but I used to eat fast food at least 4 times a week with my boyfriend and now we
have gone 2 weeks. Since we don’t live together, we started to meal prep and that has really helped, so
we don’t eat out so much. I really enjoy home cooked meals. I started to incorporate plenty of
vegetables, fruits, and a balanced diet of every food group so I can get the best of each. I’ve learned to
moderate the best I can with each food group. It has really helped. I still come short on a few daily
values, but I feel good that I’m at least including them in my diet now.
I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to use NutritionCalc Plus. The first assignment made
us use this, and I have used it to reach my fitness goals. I have a calorie intake app on my phone, but this
website has so much more. I have loved the reports it generates so I can stay on track with my goals.
The recommendations really help with my recommended daily intakes. I never thought I could track this
on my own so that’s why I never took it seriously. Once I saw firsthand the recommendations for my
nutrition, that’s when it made such an impact on me. I didn’t want to have health issues associated with
my diet if it could have been changed and seeing the bad food, I ate was a shocked when you see it put
on paper. That’s one of the reasons why I decided to change.
After taking this class, I want to teach my future kids how to eat nutritious. Growing up, my
parents told me to eat my vegetables, but I never did. I never ate anything other than fried foods.
Luckily, they enrolled me in ballet so I at least got a work out, but if they never did, I think that I would
have been obese. Learning to eat healthier as an adult is so much harder than starting when you were a
kid because you are so used to the way you’ve been eating to years that it sometimes doesn’t work out.
That’s why I want to teach my children good eating habits early, so they can maybe love eating healthy
and it won’t be so hard for them. It will save them from a lot of health problems as well. Changing my
diet was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but by slowly transitioning, I am here now. I still have a lot to
overcome, but I have come a long way. I’m proud I’m eating better now.