Diet And Nutrition Essay

Once I mention that I am studying Nutrition and Dietetics, the common response I receive is, “can you tell me what to eat”? Bearing in mind I am still a long way from being a Registered Dietitian, I can however confidently say that it is not what you eat, but how you eat. Thousands of people change their diets whether it be to juicing, vegetarian or vegan for health believes. However, not every person knows how to change their diet correctly. With that said, choosing a veggie burger over a hamburger does not necessarily mean you are living the ‘better’ lifestyle. After analyzing the environmental and individual impacts a vegetarian lifestyle can make, it is evident that the measurement of the impact depends on how one eats vegetarian, rather than simply cutting out meats. According to The Vegetarian Research Group, a recent study in 2015 showed that only 8 out of 318.9 million Americans …show more content…
The quantity and portion control of every food is one of the most important factors when analyzing a diet. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the average person needs to consume 2000 calories a day to maintain a healthy diet. Within their other nutritional guidelines, there are percentages of how much of every nutrient a person should consume each day. Also taking into consideration that every person has different nutritional needs depending on their health, everyone eats differently. Comparing one diet, whether it be vegetarian or not, to another cannot determine which diet is healthier than the other if each diet meets that person’s nutritional needs and does not exceed them. In order for a diet to be considered healthy a person must include the appropriate amount of fruits, vegetables, dairy (calcium), grains and protein. The specific foods that the calcium, and protein are coming from are insignificant in comparison as long as the same amount of nutrients are being