Diet Analysis Essay

The composition of the body can be measured using many ways, some using specific tests made to directly measure it, and some measured using specific mathematical equations using body measurements. The correct body composition is different for each body class [underweight, normal, overweight, obese (class I, II, III)] and can be affected by exercise and diet. The three macronutrients that are in food are Carbohydrates, lipids or fats, and protein. These basic elements of our diet are needed to maintain a healthy weight, but underuse or overuse of these elements can lead to issues concerning our weight. One of these issues is obesity. “Obesity can lead to a “higher risk of developing serious health problems,” as stated by the U.S. HHS, these can include many issues including, “heart disease, high blood pressure,

Diets are very popular, numerous, and very integrated in the American way. It seems like every day a new diet to ‘CUT WEIGHT FAST!’ comes into being. Dr. Yager, in her book The hundred year diet puts it that “the ongoing diet debates typically vilified - at times arbitrary - one particular macronutrient, and the “bad” one kept shifting. The result was a wholesale lack of understanding about what to eat” (2). This is very accurate, and using simplistic terms, says a diet tells you a certain macronutrient is bad and cutting it out mostly or completely will cause you to lose weight. The macronutrient that is bad changes do to that diet’s creator's personal whim. This changes with every new diet. But, as the U.S. HHS tells us, “To maintain a healthy weight, your energy IN and OUT don’t have to balance exactly every day. It’s the balance over time that helps you maintain a healthy weight” (1). A new and and ultimately true diet is a balance of the food you eat with the intake of EVERY macronutrient, the limitation of the time that you are NOT physically active, and a good amount of physical activity every