Food Habits Assignment Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay

Food Habit Assignment
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Institution
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Food Habit
Food is any substance, usually composed primarily of carbohydrates, fats, water and proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an animal for nutrition or pleasure. I cook most of my meals myself for the last three years and usually do this on a daily basis. This has had some benefits on my health, lifestyle and diet. I have been able to save money as eating home cooked food is usually cheaper than eating at a restaurant. Cooking for self is greatly associated with a healthy diet as opposed to eating at a restaurant. Family meals are positively associated with increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and numerous nutrients, promoting good eating habits and disease prevention. Homemade meals help one on monitoring the food portions they consume, as opposed to having meals in a restaurant, where served food portion entirely depends on the order made and amount of money paid to it. Families benefiting from home-cooked meals are more likely to consume smaller portions and fewer calories, less fat, less salt, and less sugar. I no longer suffer from food allergies, considering I only cook food which will not make me have any allergic reactions since I know what food reacts to my body.
I am writing on the vegan diet, which is based on a wide variety of whole plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and grains. This diet is recommended for people with higher blood pressure and high levels cholesterol, which make them prone heart diseases. Cardiovascular risk factors are reduced by half when one is on a vegan diet (Fontana, & Hu, 2014). Consequently, it gives an option from the traditional food bases and has one opt to other food forms, such as grains, legumes, seeds, nuts and vegetables. The practical advantages of vegan diets include the absence of any restriction on calorie intake, lack of necessity for calculating food portion sizes, and ease of understanding the diet methods (no consumption of animal food).
A major factor that determines the kind of food I buy is a moral reason not to feed on any animal products which automatically makes me a vegan. Therefore, in my house, the food available and ones I purchase are those that strictly adhere to the vegan diet. In my household, we believe to feed on animal products is violating animal rights. Therefore, to kill an animal is morally wrong; it is immoral to raise an animal and later kills it for food. People turn to a vegetarian diet because of concern about animals and animal welfare. This is purely followed on moral grounds as they feel bad about killing animals. The sight, smell and sound of slaughterhouses and the slaughter itself are unpleasant, even when the animals have been transported to the slaughterhouses inhumane conditions. Besides, an increasing proportion of animals are reared in battery conditions or in factory farms, which are thought to be cruel.
The Food Frequency Questionnaire was not accurate in capturing my usual diet in the past month. This is because the food I had in the past month has not been captured in the questionnaire. Also, I cannot fully memorize the food I have been eating hence lack of concrete information in that section of the questionnaire. I con...