Sticking to a Healthy Diet - Essay Example

"Sticking to a Healthy Diet" is an engrossing example of a paper on food and nutrition. It is important to keep up a good nutritional intake, one which balances all the nutrients from food for a healthy lifestyle. One of the aspects of a good nutritional lifestyle is balancing the intake of micronutrients in the body. From the definition, some of the most important micronutrients that an individual should focus on include different assortments of vitamins and minerals. For this analysis, I will be comparing my actual intake of the micronutrients against the recommended intake from the DRI. The nutrients under analysis include vitamins A, D, and E, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, B6 (Pyridoxine), Folate, B12 (Cobalamin) and Vitamin C. Additionally, the analysis will include the intake of different minerals into the body. 

From the comparison of the DRI against my actual intake, it can be seen that my vitamin intake was always higher than the recommended values, for example, Vitamin A intake was recommended at 700 μg, vitamin D at 15 μg, Vitamin E at 15mg and Thiamin at 1.1mg. Comparatively, I always took more than recommended, with Vitamin A at 1708 μg, Vitamin D at 94 μg, Vitamin E at 31mg and Thiamin at 10.6mg. Additionally, my intake of riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, and Vitamin C were also higher than recommended. This might indicate that I took too many vitamins, an observation that will have me watching my daily intake of vitamins to avoid over-consumption.

My intake of metallic elements also indicates a healthy consumption as compared to the recommended DRI. This observation is deduced from an intake of 1708mg of sodium as compared to a recommendation of 1500mg, 1133mg of potassium as compared to a recommendation o 4700mg and 613mg of calcium as compared to a recommendation of 1000mg. My intake of magnesium was also healthy, with results indicating an intake of 422mg against a recommendation of 320mg, iron consumption at 4mg compared to a recommendation of 18mg and 48mg of zinc against a recommendation of 8mg. From this analysis, I should strive to have a healthier intake of iron, since it helps in the building of blood levels in the body. Otherwise, my other intakes of minerals were within the recommended range.

An analysis of my water or moisture intake reveals that I should the intake. The DRI recommended moisture intake levels of up to 2700g, but my actual intake indicates an intake of 959g. This indicates that my actual consumption of water is low.

From this analysis, it can be seen that I met the recommended DRI by sticking to a healthy diet. However, my intake of iron should be checked to ensure that I come up to the recommended levels since a low intake could lead to blood deficiency. I should also try to reduce intakes of the different vitamins, which, from the analysis, is evident that I took too much. Overall, my DRI is healthy and my consumption should just be slightly managed to ensure that I meet DRI levels.

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