Diet 101 - Intermediate! (NOW CLOSED)

• Hello Everyone,
  
  After finally finishing my first semester of night school i finally have the time to put together another challenge.
  
  Would anyone be interested in taking part again? I really am only interested in serious contenders this time as nearly 50% and were doing multiple challenges at the same time.
  
  Starting on 18th August there are 6 mini challenges lasting 2 weeks each for a total of a 12 week challenge. during these mini challenges you will learn about a certain area of nutrition and have to challenge yourself to stick to the daily recommended allowance, or challenge yourself to exercise. There are points awarded for each day you successfully complete the challenge.
  
  At the end of the two weeks we all post our wieght and points accumulated for that period.
  
  There are also mini challenges sometimes for the weeks to earn bonus points.
  
  By the end of the challenge hopefully you will be better educated into nutrition and what your body needs to have a healthy diet.
• This thread can be for chit chat, and help needed and general challenge questions but please post all stats and wieght in this thread

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1099 04.html

Copy and paste the top post and cater it to your own. this makes it easier to keep a tally of all the results.


WEEK 7 & 8

IRON AND WELL BEING

Iron, one of the most abundant metals on Earth, is essential to most life forms and to normal human physiology. Iron is an integral part of many proteins and enzymes that maintain good health. In humans, iron is an essential component of proteins involved in oxygen transport It is also essential for the regulation of cell growth and differentiation A deficiency of iron limits oxygen delivery to cells, resulting in fatigue, poor work performance, and decreased immunity On the other hand, excess amounts of iron can result in toxicity and even death

Almost two-thirds of iron in the body is found in hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to tissues. Smaller amounts of iron are found in myoglobin, a protein that helps supply oxygen to muscle, and in enzymes that assist biochemical reactions. Iron is also found in proteins that store iron for future needs and that transport iron in blood. Iron stores are regulated by intestinal iron absorption

What foods provide iron? There are two forms of dietary iron: heme and nonheme. Heme iron is derived from hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells. Heme iron is found in animal foods that originally contained hemoglobin, such as red meats, fish, and poultry. Iron in plant foods such as lentils and beans is arranged in a chemical structure called nonheme iron [9]. This is the form of iron added to iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods. Heme iron is absorbed better than nonheme iron, but most dietary iron is nonheme iron

What is the recommended intake for iron? Age




Females
(mg/day)   18
19 to 50 years


Males
(mg/day)   8
51 + years

Females(mg/day)   8
51 + years


Wellbeing

Our daily lives are so packed with school, work, kids, dieting, getting the gym, grocery store, etc etc, that sometimes we stop and think “when was the last time we had time to ourselves? When was the last time we did something just for us. Like going for a pedicure, or getting our hair done, reading a chapter of our favourite book, or just meditating.

A sense of wellbeing is essential to our overall mental health which we so seldom look at in our busy lives.

The Challenge

The first part this week is to make sure that we get enough of our daily recommended iron intake. Using the table above calculate what you need each day.

The second part is to take 15 minutes from every day and do something for YOU! Take a hot bubble bath, do a face pack, listen to your favourite songs and sing along. Think its easy? Just see at the end of the two weeks how many days you had that 15 minute to yourself!

Challenge


RDA Iron intake

5 points per days for a total of 70 points.


15 minutes of wellbeing

5 points per day for a total of 70 points

Weight loss

10

TOTAL

150 

_____________________________________________ _________

WEEK 5 & 6

FAT AND CHOLESTEROL

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a type of fat made by your liver. Some cholesterol comes from the food that you eat. Foods that come from animals - such as eggs, meat and dairy products - have cholesterol in them. Foods that come from plants don't have cholesterol. But it's not just the cholesterol in foods that counts. Foods high in saturated fat (hydrogenated vegetable fats, tropical fats (coconut and palm oil), and animal fats) can also raise your cholesterol level.


 Why is a high cholesterol level unhealthy?


Some cholesterol is needed for good health but too much cholesterol in your blood can raise your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. The extra cholesterol in your blood may be stored in your arteries (large blood vessels) and cause them to narrow. Large deposits of cholesterol can completely block an artery. If an artery that supplies blood to your heart becomes blocked, a heart attack occurs. If an artery that supplies blood to your brain becomes blocked, a stroke occurs.

Cholesterol travels through the blood in different types of packages called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) deliver cholesterol to the body, and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) remove cholesterol from the bloodstream.

Too much LDL cholesterol is bad for the body because it builds up in the arteries, while the HDL form is good because it helps remove cholesterol from the bloodstream. It's the balance between the different forms of cholesterol that tells you what your cholesterol level means

Fat

Fat is a component in food. Some foods, including most fruits and vegetables, have almost no fat. Other foods have plenty of fat. They include nuts, oils, butter, and meats like beef.

The name — fat — may make it sound like something you shouldn't eat. But fat is an important part of a healthy diet. And little kids, especially, need a certain amount of fat in their diets so the brain and nervous system develop correctly. That's why toddlers need to drink whole milk, which has more fat, and older kids can drink low-fat or skim milk.

How much fat should you eat? Experts say kids older than 2 should get about 30% of their daily calories from fat. Here's how that works. Every day, you eat a certain amount of calories. For instance, some kids will eat 2,000 calories in a day. If 30% of 2,000 calories comes from fat, that means that 600 calories will come from fat. You can look at a food label to learn how many grams of fat are in a serving of a food. Labels also list the total calories from fat.

One way to reach this goal is to eat foods that are about 30% fat. But few foods contain exactly 30% fat. Instead, you can eat a mix of foods — some with higher percentages of fat and some with lower percentages — so that you still meet that goal of 30% of calories from fat.

Here's a sample menu to help you reach that goal. It includes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, milk, and an apple. The peanut butter is high in fat, but it's a nutritious food and the overall total from the whole meal is about 30% from fat.

• Two slices of bread = 13% fat (30 of 230 calories from fat)
• Two tablespoons of peanut butter = 75% fat (140 of 190 calories from fat)
• One tablespoon of jelly = 0% fat (0 of 50 calories from fat)
• One cup of 1% milk = 18 % (20 of 110 calories from fat)
• Apple = 0% (0 of 80 calories from fat)

Total = 29% fat (190 of 660 calories from fat)

 

Types of Fat

 

You might see ads for foods that say they're "low-fat" or "fat-free." Lower-fat diets have been recommended for health and to help people lose weight. But nutrition experts are finding that fats are more complicated and that some kinds of fat are actually good for your health. As a bonus, fat in food helps people feel satisfied, so they don't eat as much.

But that doesn't mean a high-fat diet will be good for you. And some fats are better than others. Here are the three major types:

Unsaturated fats: These are found in plant foods and fish. These may be good for heart health. The best of the unsaturated fats are found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, albacore tuna, and salmon.

Saturated fats: These fats are found in meat and other animal products, such as butter, cheese, and all milk except skim. Saturated fats are also in palm and coconut oils, which are often used in commercial baked goods (the kind you buy at the store). Eating too much saturated fat can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.

Trans fats: These fats are found in margarine, especially the sticks. Trans fats are also found in certain foods that you buy at the store or in a restaurant, such as snack foods, baked goods, and fried foods. When you see "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" oils on an ingredient list, the food contains trans fats. Trans fats are also listed on the food label. Like saturated fats, trans fats can raise cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease.

Why Do We Need Fat?

 

Dietary fat helps a body grow and develop like it should. Fats fuel the body and help absorb some vitamins. They also are the building blocks of hormones and they insulate nervous system tissue in the body.

So fat is not the enemy, but you'll want to choose the right amount — and the right kind — of fat. If you're getting most of your fat from lean meats, fish, and heart-healthy oils, you've already made fat your friend!

The Challenge

Using the University of Maryland Calculator here: http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/ fat.asp  calculate your daily fat needs. The challenge is to stick to this number and not to go below it, remember the body needs fat so don’t go all out and have none, but don’t go over your magic number.

The second part of the challenge is to watch your cholesterol intake, it is recommended by the American Heart Association that we do not eat more than 300 grams of cholesterol a day. So you guessed it, we need to keep our cholesterol under 300 grams a day.

 Points are awarded as follows:

Reduce Fat Intake = 5 points per day (70 total)

Consume no more than 300 grams of cholesterol per day = 5 points per day (70 Total)

Wieght Loss at end of challenge = 10 points total

Total = 150 points!

_____________________________________________ __________

Im in. JUst let me know when to post all the info.

Thats great Kristine, I will start a thread now, where you can post all your info.

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1099 04.html

If anyone else would like to sign up, make your interest here and then start a thread in the stats and points thread above :)

I will have a full pdf of the challenge ready by the end of the week if everyone wants a copy, and I will post the new bi weekly challenge every friday before it begins on the Monday.

Oh. I'm in :D

I'd like to join!

Ok, I'll try -- my current challenge is over on Labor Day, so this will overlap nicely.

Thats great! I am working on the challenge as we speak! should be good fun, the last one I did back in March, the group collectively lost the equivalent of Nicole Ritche!! LOL

One girl our winner lost over 20lb!!!

I would like to sign up . . . sounds fun.

Sure, I'll do it :).

i'm in....on the results page--are the "points" for challenges that are posed for the week?  (or is it something like WW points?....)

Hi maddie,

How it works is, every 2 weeks I will set a new challenge, so for instance in weeks 1 & 2 you have to set a calorie range and stick to it, if you do this you get 5 points per day, the second part of weeks 1 & 2 is to exercise at least 4 times a week, if you do that you get 9 points for every day you work out. and then if you lose wieght at the end of the period you get additional points. we add these all up at the end of the challenge and announce a weekly winner and then an eventual winner of the challlenge. its good fun and keeps us all motivated.

I will post the first challenge shortly and will have a pdf of the complete challenge for anyone who wants to see it, by Friday.

I'm in!!!!!!!!

Thats great Sarah!!

Sarah was my last challenge winner with a staggering loss of 38lb!!!

I would like to join, the timing is perfect ( back from a road trip)

I would love to join but I've never done one of these before. Looking forward to reading your post on Friday detailing everything!

I'm in! I would love to join.

Wow this is great!!! what a great response! cant wait to get started

If anyone would like to get a copy of the full pdf containing all weeks sent via email just message me your email address, I promise i will only use it for the purpose of this challenge.

I would like to join- lately I realized I think I've been eating too little so I'm bumping it up and this would be fun!

Welcome aboard skinny if you would like to post your stats here

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1099 04.html

this thread is for general chit chat, and the link posted above is purely for posting stats and wieght each week.

I've been waiting for this challenge, I'm very excited :)