Assignment 2b: Short-answer Questions Overview - Essay Example

1. Why do food selections differ around the world? Give an example of cultural differences between your diet and a diet from somewhere else in the world. Answer: Food selections differ around the world because of different staple foods. The staple food of a particular region is dependent on the climatic conditions suitable for the particular crop. While the food usually consumed in Russia is mainly beets, cabbage and potatoes, food in India consists of rice, pulses and a variety of vegetables.

In Chinese-Japanese region, rice, millet and soyabeans are consumed and in Mediterranean regions, oats and wheat are consumed in dominant quantities (“Staple foods”, FAO).2. Besides knowledge and availability, what other factors might influence food choices? Answer: The other factors influencing food choices are hunger and food cravings, appeal of food, time considerations of adolescents and parents, convenience of food, parental influence on eating behaviors (including the culture or religion of the family), benefits of foods (including health), situation-specific factors, mood, body image, habit, cost, media, and vegetarian beliefs (Neumark-Sztainer 1999).3. Create a chart of a balanced diet for three days.

Day 1 would be with your traditional foods. Day 2 would be with a healthy diet and Day 3 with an ethnic meal you are not familiar with (you may need to research this area using illustrations on pages 6-12 and 6-13). Answer: Day-1Breakfast: 4 slices of bread, 1 glass of 1% fat milk without sugar, 1 large bananaLunch: Fried rice with minimal unsaturated oil including lot of vegetables like beans, carrot, cabbage and onion, any dish made out of fish, glass of fresh orange juice with no added sugar.

Evening snack: Low calorie cookies with a cup of coffee with minimal sugar and low fat milk.Dinner: Salad made out of fresh vegetables including greens like lettuce, 5 slices of wheat bread with low calorie cheese, boiled potatoes- 1 bowl, 1 can of beer.Day-2Breakfast: Corn flakes 2-3 servings with 1 glass of low fat milk, 1 apple, 1 cup of coffee with minimal sugar.Lunch: Rice and beans- 1 bowl, chicken with skin removed, 1 glass of melon juiceEvening snack: Low fat biscuits with a cup of coffee with little added sugar.

Dinner: Fresh vegetable and fruit salad, bread with any vegetable curry, half a bowl of rice with fish curry, 1 glass of wine.Day -3Breakfast: 1 omlette with 4 slices of bread, 1 glass of low calorie milk.Lunch: 1 bowl of boiled noodles with lot of vegetables, 1 bowl of curry made out of skin removed meat, 1 glass of any fresh fruit juice.Evening snacks: Low calorie cookies with coffee.Dinner: 1 small size pizza with low calorie cheese and lot of vegetable toppings, 1 bowl of fresh vegetable and fruit salad, 1 cup of curds4.

Discuss how you can make healthy eating choices while eating out. Answer: Choose foods which are rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and high fiber foods. If non-vegetarian food is to be eaten, lean meat and poultry without skin and fish are better choices. Choose foods with unsaturated fats as they do not add to cholesterol. As far as dairy products are concerned, choose fat free or those with 1% fat. Avoid butter and whole milk. Prefer low fat cottage cheese, part-skim milk mozzarella, ricotta and other fat-free or low-fat cheeses.

Limit cakes, cookies, crackers, pastries, pies, muffins, doughnuts and French fries made with partially hydrogenated or saturated fats. Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars. Also choose foods with low salt (“Make Healthy Food Choices” 2007)5. Explain the difference between mechanical and chemical digestion. Answer: Digestion that occurs as food is chewed in the mouth and broken into smaller pieces or that occurs as food moves through the intestines and continually mixed. Chemical digestion refers to the digestion that occurs from acids, bases and enzymes that are released into the digestive tract in response to food (“Mechanical and chemical digestion”, Digestive system).6. Define “energy” and “calorie.

” How is energy calculated as a food value? Answer: The ability to work is known as energy. Food energy is the amount of energy in food that is available through digestion. Calorie is unit of food energy. The more precise scientific term is kilocalorie. It is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a liter of water one degree centigrade at sea level.7. Discuss the following energy-requiring processes in relationship to your diet and body function. a. Basal metabolism b. Physical activity c.

Dietary thermogenesis Answer: The human body expends energy in one of three ways: through the basal metabolic rate, through thermogenesis, or through physical activity. The basal metabolic rate is the minimum amount of energy expenditure required to carry on normal biological functions and reactions in the body, such as breathing, keeping the heart beating, and carrying out the process of waste management. It accounts for roughly 75% of the daily energy expenditure. Physical activity deals with energy expended during periods of exercise, and it accounts for around 18% of total energy expenditure.

Dietary thermogenesis is the energy expenditure required for the digestion, absorption, and transportation of food. Some individuals expend more calories in thermogenesis than others, and this phenomenon accounts for the slight metabolic differences between obese and lean individuals. Dietary thermogenesis accounts for 7% of energy expenditure (“The Weight Loss Equation” 2004).8. Explain the difference in caloric content between carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and alcohol. If alcohol is not a food, identify why it is important to know the caloric content?

Answer: The caloric content of carbohydrates and proteins is 4kcal/g and that of fat is 9kcal/g. The caloric content of alcohol is 7kcal/g. The high caloric content of alcohol and contribute to obesity when consumed in large quantities. Also, many drinkers replace alcohol with food which is harmful because it does not posses other nutrients. Some others consume alcohol with high calorie junk foods which is also harmful (“Nutrients”).ReferencesDefinition of Calorie. Medicine Net.com. Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8567Make Healthy Food Choices. (2007). American Heart Association.

Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=537Mechanical and Chemical Digestion. Digestive System. Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://trc.ucdavis.edu/biosci10v/bis10v/week10/07digestivesystem.htmlNeumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., Perry, C., Casey, M.A. (1999). J Am Diet Assoc., 99(8), pp. 929-937. Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10450307&dopt=CitationNutrients.

Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z. Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Met-Obe/NStaple foods: What do people eat? FAO Corporate Document Repository. Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/u8480e/U8480E07.htmThe Weight Loss Equation. 2004. WebMD University. WebMD. Retrieved on 27th October, 2007 from: http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/18/101926.htm