before I forget. a website that I will need to cite is http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4582

In addition, I added some numbers to the fat analysis, and added some about satuarted fats. THis could probably be our final paper, its 5 1/2 pages long :D

Nutrition is a vital part in the life of any person. Our bodies require energy, nutrients, vitamins and other substances to function. Nutrition is the process by which the body gains what it needs. Good nutrition leads to a healthy life, and a long life. A person who has good nutrition can function well and energetically. Bad nutrition opens the door to obesity, diabetes, heart problems, and any number of other harmful conditions. The 10th grade health class has examples of both trends. The food consumed by the students will be averaged in the following areas: total calories, fat (separated into total and saturated fat), protein, and overall body mass index. This summary will show where students have succeeded in maintaining good nutrition, and where more effort is required.
The first area to analyze is simple: the sheer calorie intake of the class. The calorie represents a unit of heat energy that the body gains from digesting the food. Too many calories can lead to unhealthy results such as obesity. However, it is necessary to consume adequate nutrients as well. Foods that are lower in calories but still provide good amounts of nutrients are referred to as nutrient dense foods, and are what should be consumed. A few examples include whole grain bread, fruits and vegetables. These provide the nutrients that people need without loading them down with too many calories. However, in an age of fast food and a plethora of unhealthy snacks with hardly any nutrients at all (but certainly enough calories), it is easy to go astray. This makes it important to monitor calorie intake over time so that bad trends do not persist.
The logs of the class that were accurate enough to include showed an average of 1544.5 calories per day over three days. This shows surprising little consumption of calories. For sedentary females, 1800 calories a day are recommended. For moderately active females, 2000 calories should be consumed. For active females, 2400 calories are needed. A sedentary male will require 2200-2400 calories, a moderately active male 2600-2800 calories, an active male 3000-3200 calories. This supports one of the following conclusions. It is possible that every student who kept an accurate log is extremely sedentary, partaking in no real physical activity, and can survive on 1544.5 calories per day. Here it should be noted that all but one of the logs showed an average calorie intake of around 1100. The last was approximately one thousand five hundred calories higher at 2657 calories. This could represent either a male who ate at the moderate activity level, or a female who ate too much. But the rest of the logs show either a very sedentary lifestyle, underweight kids, or inaccurate reporting of the calories that they ate. Assuming it not to be the later, the log shows a pressing need to increase calorie amounts taken in and probably to increase physical activity to compensate for this. The logs show that most people did not eat much in the way of nutrient sense foods. The logs tended to show high amounts of pizza, tacos, hamburgers and the like. In addition, many snacks were Cheetos or chips as opposed to nutrient-dense fruit. It is good that the class has participated in the log because now they will know of these problems, and be able to take steps toward correcting them. Over-all, the class has not measured well against the first test. Hopefully, their protein intake will be more satisfactory. The next part of students’ diet that was examined was how much protein the calories they ate contained. Proteins play an irreplaceable role in fueling our bodies. They are useful for their amino acids. Complete proteins provide all of the 'essential' acids that the body cannot make on its own. Examples of complete proteins include fish, meat, poultry, eggs, and yogurt. Incomplete proteins lack at least one essential acid. These include beans, peas, nuts, and whole grains. Eating different types of incomplete proteins together can help make sure you receive all the amino acids you need. Once your body has all of its essential acids, proteins become very useful. They are used primarily to construct new cells and maintain existing ones. Without proteins, the body cannot grow much, because it has nothing to construct the new cells from. This makes proteins absolutely essential during teenage years when much growth normally occurs. Proteins serve the body in other ways as well. Ten percent of the body's energy comes from protein. Although they are not a major energy source compared to carbohydrates, they do provide fuel. In addition, they help produce enzymes. These regulate the rate of the chemical reactions in cells. Without them there would be essentially no central control over the processes occurring in cells, disastrous for the body as a whole as well as the individual cells. Proteins are also transformed into hormones. These regulate the activities of different cells, again providing more controlling over the cells of the body. A lack of hormones has similarly unbeneficial results. The last major use of proteins by the body is antibodies. Antibodies are crucial in finding, identifying, and destroying organisms responsible for disease. A failure of antibodies opens the body to infections. Some infections, as we all know, are serious enough to result in death. This means that no person can remain healthy in the absence of proteins.
The class has performed well in terms of proteins. The average protein consumption per day was approximately 59 grams. The recommended amount of protein for a teenager is approximately fifty to one hundred grams. This means that most of the sample of the class is receiving adequate protein. There was only one person who showed a protein deficiency, eating about 27 grams of protein per day. The log has proved an effective tool here; it has showed us that protein is not a problem, or a widespread one at any rate, and that our efforts are best concentrated elsewhere.
The penultimate part of the analysis concerns how much fat students consumed. Fats have been given a bad name of late; they are the root of all evil and must be avoided. However, they do have their uses, and for this reason twenty to thirty percent of a person’s diet should be fats. It is important here to distinguish between total sat consumed and the total saturated fats consumed. Saturated fat molecules contain all of the hydrogen atoms that they can. They are associated with high risk of heart disease, and are less healthy than unsaturated fats that have at least on space for a hydrogen atom. Total fat is the sum of both these statistics. However, any kind of fat can transport the vitamins A, D, E, and K through the blood, making some fat important to the body. They serve to cushion the vital organs of the body against being jolted, making a complete lack of fat a situation to be rectified. However, lack of fat is hardly a common problem in these times. In addition, fats provide linoleic acids, needed for growth and healthy skin. However, to many fats can certainly lead to obesity and worse.
The class’s consumption of fats is at a semi-healthy rate according to the accurate Daily Food Logs. The students consumed, on average, 58.4 grams of fat per day. This means that about 34% of students’ calories come from fat. This is not bad, 20-30% of calories coming from fat is normal and healthy, but 34% is a little over. Not managing your fat intake can lead to serious health issues if you consume unhealthy amounts of it. Even 50 calories per day, the equivalent of two Oreos will gain you wait over time. The class is approximately 60 calories over the recommended calories from fat. However, since they seem to be getting fewer calories from carbohydrates and protein, because of their over-all low calorie intake, this doesn’t represent too serious a problem from the standpoint of obesity. Unfortunately, their saturated fat intake needs work. The American Heart Association recommends that no more than 7% of total calories come from saturated fat. This would indicate around 12 grams of saturated fat per day for the class. The class actually consumed an average of 21 grams of saturated fat per day. This is approximately 175% of the recommended fat. Since saturated fats are linked with a variety of health problems, this probably represents one of the most serious health threats we have seen yet. However, too much fat forces your bodies organs to work harder, to calories should come from carbohydrates, then proteins, and only then a little fat. Since the class is now more aware about their fat intake and can make healthy choices on their intakes, they can understand how much fats they can consume. When the class compared saturated fats to total fats to recommended fats they recognized how to manage their intake. Their chances of becoming obese will decrease because of their management. Our class has gained the benefits of not having diseases that can be fatal. That is truly wonderful news to know!
Since it would be utterly time consuming to calculate all of the students in our Health class, as well as impossible since we don’t know the height and weight of any of them we decided to analyze the BMI for an average 10th grade student in the US. According to Health sources, 18.5-24.9kg/m² is the average BMI for both females and males. This represents a number generated from your height versus your weight. The heavier you are for your height, the higher your BMI. Knowing your BMI is important to know because it will inform you what you can improve or persist on doing to keep yourself healthy and fit. Many people who do not know their BMI have disadvantage of not knowing how to really manage their weight by their height and gender. So make sure you calculate what your BMI is before it is too late!
Now that we have shown you what you can do to make a nutritional analysis it’s your turn to take action and do it! The class could use more calories from proteins and carbohydrates, more physical activity, a little less fat, and a lot less saturated fat. Knowing the average BMI will give them a reference point to compare their own to. If these changes are made, enormous benefits could result. Your body would be so much healthier and you would feel like a million bucks! Your chances of getting any kind of disease will decrease, that means you wouldn’t have to go to the doctor frequently as you used to. Remember that to make a nutritional analysis you would need to manage your intake of calories, fats (especially saturated fats), proteins, and manage your BMI. If you do that, you sure wouldn’t regret that you did make an analysis.