Analysis of Journal

Throughout these last couple weeks, I've been reporting on articles that were from the ADA Journal or the American Dietetic Association Journal about experiments mainly dealing with weight loss and obesity.  These articles were all consistent with each other in the ADA Journal because each one used the scientific method to identify, evaluate, and solve the problem.  That being said, the epistemology is science-based because the scientific method is a method that is clear, and easy to understand when written correctly.

When referring to Linton et al, the convention I found that was used most was the Conventions of Language.  Although the articles do not disagree with anyone directly within the writings, I do believe they are disagreeing with what is seen as the social norm in todays health field by those not in the health field. These articles are summaries  of conducted experiments to determine something better in the world of health than what is present as of now.

When referring to Swales's Genre Model, Move 1 (Establishing a Territory) the ADA Journal claims health and nutrition as its centrality and the articles I chose were mostly about weight loss in adolescents.  In Move 2 (Establishing a Niche), specifically Step 1B (Indicating a gap), this journal helps fill in areas that continually have new findings as the technology in society improves.  In Move 3 (Occupying a Niche), the purpose of these articles is to inform dietitians and providers in the health field of new and upcoming research and information to help society battle obesity and nutritional concerns.  Since this journal is specifically for the field of dietitians, the articles will jump right into the topics stated in the title instead of addressing the ongoing issues in today's society.

Reading these articles from this journal has allowed me to open my eyes to new ideas in the world of nutrition.  Without reading them, I would not know what is new and upcoming with weight-loss and how it is being addressed in today's world.

Inner City Obesity

A couple of months ago there was a study released on the average weight lost in a day camp for inner city kids that are morbidly obese over a 6 week period.  There were 27 children who participated in this experiment and they were in the range of 14 years old with 55% of them being female and 59% being African American.  These children had an average weight of 223 pounds +/- 53 pounds prior to the 6-week program.  This study was set up because there are limited resources available in inner-city schools that other schools might have.  To help with the cost effectiveness of this program, the parents of the children who were involved in the study were informed to prepare healthy lunches and then once at camp, the children were involved in classes that helped reinforce the benefits of a nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.  Along with these classes, the children were involved in 3 hours of exercise each day for the entire 6 weeks.

In the end, the children attended about 4 weeks of the camp and lost about 5-10 pounds.  Even those these results don't seem to be that good, this program could potentially help reduce the likelihood of morbidly obese children in inner-city schools.

I think this type of program would be a wonderful idea because just because a school district doesn't have the resources to provide for the children doesn't mean nothing can be done.  Something can always be done, and by doing this weight loss program that is a step in the right direction in preventing childhood obesity.

"Discovering Healthy Families"

I know I talk about obesity a good bit, but like I've stated previously, bariatrics is what I'm really passionate about.  There was a recent article from the Journal of American Dietetics Association that takes about the establishment of a child and parent program that will help instill good nutritional values and the important of exercising as a family.  This new program will take place at the Discovery Center, a kid-friendly place where kids can have fun learning new things.  This program will provide families with a friendly website to access resources to help families begin this program.  Some of the resources will provide ways to include physical activity in the families everyday activities and ways to incorporate nutritional foods in meals by providing healthy recipes.  The program will also provide the family with a health coach to help with lifestyle changes.  Finally, at the Discovery Center, there will be a kiosk available to engage the family with hands-on activities to make it fun to learn new information about  nutrition.

I think that this program that has recently been established will be wonderful for families, especially the larger ones.  It is so crucial that families do these things together so they can lean on each other.  Plus, parents are responsible for their children's health until they are old enough to make their own choices.  If parents are conscious of what they are putting in their child's body, then they could potentially be setting them up for health problems down the road.  It's also crucial for parents to get involved with in activities with their children.  I know as a child, I was more prone to wanted to go outside and play if my parents went outside and played with me.  Even taking a family walk would be a step in the right direction.

I feel that this program is something that Americans need, given how people's health is these days.  It's about time that we start making changes.

Hot, Fresh Peanuts...Come Get Your Peanuts!!!

Who knew that flying in a plane could be so healthy? If you're anything like me, my favorite part of the plane ride is getting a bag of peanuts. A recent study on peanut consumption and cardiovascular risk found that the overall consumption of nuts reduces the risk of Coronary Artery Disease. Subjects in the study were instructed to consume their habitual diet in addition to peanuts equivalent to 20% of their mean energy intake in one day.

The study concludes that consuming peanuts in addition to your normal daily diet will actually increase your HDL-Cholesterol, which is the good cholestrol. The study goes further to find that pistachio nuts also had a similar affect on lipid (fat) levels. One surprising outcome though is that the subjects of the study actually found it difficult to consume their normal daily diet when also consuming peanuts. The study saw the consumption of both animal protein and carbohydrates decrease and these changes coincide with the dietary changes recommended to prevent Cardiovascular Disease and other chronic diseases.

If I weren’t a nutrition major I would probably find this article to be a bit surprising.  I'm sure most of us have heard the saying that we should eat a handful of nuts per day, but have you seen the fat grams on those things?  Even though they are high in fat, they are high in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, which are the good fats.   Since the fats are good fats, the subjects of the study showed no evidence of weight gain.

So next time you're at the baseball game and you open up your bag of peanuts, just remember that you made a healthy choice. Now that hot dog in your other hand...that's a different story.

Eating Habits of Parents Affecting Children

Even though my major is nutrition, I especially have a great interest in obesity.  Obesity among children really catches my attention, but obesity in general is is a topic that I have always been drawn to.

This week I read an article on how there is a relationship among a child's home food environment and their dietary patterns during their childhood/adolescent years.  The article draws a connection between the food the parents consume, what they serve at the table, and what is generally available in the household to consume.  If parents consumed healthy foods and kept healthy foods in the house, the child was more likely to consume more fruits, vegetables, and dairy instead of unhealthy foods.  Also, if the parents served a vegetable at the dinner table during meals, the child was more likely to eat that vegetable than refuse it.  These habits were being compared with families who didn't make a positive influence on the dietary intake of their children.  The difference comes into play when the child begins high school and they are no longer subjective to exactly what their parents make for them; they now will actually get a choice.  The adolescents who were exposed to positive influences as a child were more likely to choose healthy foods during lunch in high school than those parents who didn't make a positive influence on their children with the appropriate eating habits.  The article also states that children who had strict rules about eating, chose not to consume unhealthy foods, whereas the children who had more lenient parents, engaged in random, unhealthy eating.

Now, this article seems like it should be common sense, but for all parents this isn't.  From my experience so far, some parents think that making good habits as children doesn't matter.  Some say "Oh, I can work on that later and they'll listen because I'm the parent."  In reality, making a habit of something when the child is small is crucial, not only to their eating habits, for all the habits they pick up as they grow older. By making good eating habits as a child, the child is less likely to become overweight and obese, unlike those children who have poor eating habits.  This usually leads to obesity, which is the beginning of a downhill battle if the parents don't start doing something about it when their children are young.

Commissioned Document

I can already say that this blog isn't going to be as long as they have normally been because of a massive work load that just seemed to magically appear all in one day.  Anyways, we've now gotten into our project that will be lasting the rest of the semester basically.  I have to say that I'm kind of excited because the company that we are writing a document for is the company that I currently work for, and hopefully they will give me a full-time job once I graduate.  The company is Total Nutrition Technology and they deal with weight loss and changing bad habits to a lifestyle of healthy habits.  Also, the topic of our document is about nutrition which obviously interests me since that is my major and it won't be so dull throughout the semester when I'm working on it and I feel that I will put more effort into it since I will like doing the research.

That being said, who are you doing your commissioned document for and does it make you excited like it does me?

Proposals and Nutrition

Okay, so this will sound a little familiar to a previous blog post...Rhetoric...but I feel that it is fitting for this topic too.  I'm just going to put it out there, proposals are everywhere.  Period.  They don't necessarily have to be the exact same style for every idea because obviously that wouldn't make a lick of sense since every idea is going to be completely different.  The one thing that they all have in common though is that they are being persuasive through solid information and research.  To have a good proposal,  you'll definitely need good research because without research you don't have a solid proposal. Now, going back to proposals being everywhere.  If you think about it many things in life have sold you on something based on how well they pitched their proposal.  Like buying a car, a medical insurance plan, when choosing a college, or even buying a home.

So now you are probably wondering where the heck Nutrition comes into play into the blog post.  Well, since my major is Nutrition I am always looking at everything from a health perspective.  Nutrition can definitely have proposals...all the time.  One thing that jumped out to me when reading the assigned pages was how to develop a proper proposal because it is very similar to making a nutritional diagnosis.  When you are planning a proposals you have an introduction, statement of the problem, and proposed solution.  When you are making a nutritional diagnosis you have a needs assessment, diagnosis, intervention, and monitoring and evaluating.  The monitoring and evaluation don't really seem to have a place in a proposal, but the needs assessment, diagnosis, and intervention do.  When completing a needs assessment, you are coming up with the patients background and history to try and figure out what nutritional issues that are having.  That, to me, is equivalent to the introduction.  Then you have a diagnosis, which is provided by your knowledge of nutrition and the needs assessment.  This is similar to stating the problem.  Then you have an intervention, which is how we will attempt to solve the patients diagnosis based on previous research and past nutritional diagnoses.  This step is equivalent to  the proposed solution.

Hopefully, I've somewhat allowed you to see how proposals fit into my major area of study.  I hope that you were able to understand it.  How do proposals fit into your life and area of study?