Nutrition Diet and Physical Activity - Essay Example

As an individual, daily exercise has been part of my life since my childhood in my home country [United Arab Emirates]. I have to admit, however, that my university studies in the United States have had a bit of disruption in my daily exercise hours. I had to reorganize myself for better grades in my first year, and as such, a lot of gym time had to be slashed to keep the scholarship grants flowing. The fear of failing myself and my parents who were very much against my studies abroad at age 17, which they considered too young to face the outside world individually.

As a person with knowledge about the benefits of exercises informed by a long history of family engagements with physical exercises, it is a concern that I had forego the daily physical exercises, for the health consequences are serious both in terms of monetary cost and health-wise. I, thus, plan to increase and breaded my daily exercises to include walking upstairs rather than the use of lifts, and outdoor bicycle rides, among other co-curricular activities such as swimming. In my yet-to-be-reorganized schedule, four sessions a week in the gym will be a mandatory undertaking by week four. In the meantime, more so in the very first week, I have purposed to take in swimming, playing tennis, carting, and bowling. These activities are not only fun but do help to enhance my health even without going to the gym every day.

Nutrition Diet
It is important to note that it is not enough to exercise in order to become physically fit.
In addition to physical exercises, good nutrition, and healthy body weight must be pursued to guarantee a person’s overall health and well-being. Due to the pressures of class work, I have developed a poor diet, with fast foods getting on my menus almost on a daily basis. Changing my food diet will, thus, help a great deal in my pursuit of a healthy lifestyle as well as jolting my efforts in keeping up with warding off lack of exercise-related diseases.

Such foods rich in vitamins, protein, and fiber, but less in fat will be incorporated into the planned changed diet henceforth. I have purposed to eat three meals a day that does not contain any of the fast foods as from week one. Since I am used to eating one meal a day, I plan to increase the food objects I eat every week gradually. My daily breakfasts will have to include fruits such as bananas and/or apples and a cup of milk. I also purpose eating dietary meals containing proteins such as meats or chicken for lunch. For all meals taken, either for lunch or dinner, I will take foods less in fat, omitting such foods such as cheese sandwiches. I will follow the same plan, changing the food objects every day; that is, if in case I take a banana for breakfast on day one, I will take another fruit the next day.

In week two, my sub-objective will be will add healthy snacks between meals and eliminate any of the unhealthy soft drinks I am almost addicted to. For example, on day one, I will take eggs-sandwich and coffee with milk for breakfast. My snack between lunch and breakfast will be blueberry and strawberry; these fruits are not just healthy but are helpful in preventing cancer. For Lunch, I plan to eat rice, chicken, or fish and drink fresh juice. My snack between lunch and dinner will include another fruit element. Dinners will include light meals such as salad and drink fresh juice. I will vary my food elements for the whole week to get the maximum benefits of a balanced diet.

In week three, I will try to follow the previous meal schedules, but with an addition undertaking of preparing the three meals by myself, for the habits developed this far in this far land from the home country has been taken mostly in restaurants. A good example of the home meal I plan to cook is salmon laced with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables. I also fancy cooking rice, chicken, and vegetables myself. In cooking the above mentioned foods, I will try my best to reduce and/or avoid altogether foods that contain too much fat.
My objective by week four will be to maintain a healthy diet starting in week one.

With clear knowledge that healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, I will not stray to achieve unrealistic advices that deprives me of what I want the most—healthy lifestyle. I will thus allow myself to have one day at a time, taking foods that I feel are best suited to fill the void created so far. Most importantly, I will try as much as possible to phase out fast foods that have been a part of my diet for quite a while. I believe that it is possible to have a lifestyle that is free from diseases that are preventable, and such includes obesity, through well maintained diets and physical activity. Read More