- Yoga in
- Australia
- Sydney
- Melbourne
- Brisbane
- Adelaide
- Perth
- Sunshine Coast
- Gold Coast
- Canberra
- Byron Bay
- Bali
Yoga Styles
| FindYoga News |
|
|
 |
 |
|||
Do you feel your diet is balanced?
Looking at both the food diary and the summary, I now realize that my diet is balanced reasonably well, however due to lactation I need to be eating more proteins and fats/oils as well as more water.
When a women lactates she requires more of the following vitamins and minerals
Adult Women
Women Lactating Total Foods Found In
Vitamin A 750 450 1200mg Dairy,yellow/dk green fruit &vegs
Vitamin B12 2 0.5 2.5mcg Fish, lamb, eggs/cheese/milk, kelp
Vitamin C 30 45 75mg Citrus, milk, eggyolk,sprouted seeds
Vitamin E 7 2.5 9.5mg Cold pressed oils,eggs, wheat germ
Zinc 12 6 18mg Sunflower seeds, seafood, soyabeans
Magnesium 270 70 340mg Nuts,figs,greenveg, seafood, coconut
Calcium 800 400 1200mg Raw egg,shellfish, milk,cheese,green
Protein 45 16 61g Eggs,nuts,seeds,meat,cheese(parmesan)
Sourced from“National Health and Medical Research Council” Recommended Dietary Intake for Lactating women, including
As you can see from the table above, it is quite obvious that foods that a lactating women needs to be eating more of include: eggs, milk, cheese, green vegetables, seafood, meat and certain legumes, seeds and nuts such as sunflower seends, soyabeans and sprouted seeds.
Of these foods, I am eating small quantities of cheese, 1 serving of green vegetables per day, sprouted seeds a couple of times per week, tofu/tempe and nuts daily. Foods I am not eating are: eggs, seafood and meat (very small amounts) which are very high in particular –fat and protein!
How regular are your mealtimes?
• I eat breakfast around 8-9am every day which allows my digestion to wake up, especially after yoga practice.
• I can see that my lunch, however is quite irregular and often I don’t eat a proper meal, just fruit or snack. This is because I teach yoga 3 days a week around lunch time, meaning that lunch is pushed back to mid-afternoon, if at all.
• Dinner is usually around 8pm every night, which although is regular I feel is too late. I would prefer to eat at 6-7pm, however either my husband or myself teach an evening yoga class most nights which would make this difficult. However, our night meals are generally quite light and therefore easier to digest before bed.
Are there particular foods that you eat more often than others?
Yes. I can see that I tend to prefer sweeter, heavier foods such as breads, cakes, biscuits sweet tea and fruits. I probably eat these foods for more energy, however often they do the opposite making me feel lethargic, heavy, tired and dehydrated. I normally crave these foods in the morning for breakfast, as this is when I feel more tired during the day.
Do certain foods trigger specific symptoms?
Part 2
a) Summarise the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.
First lets define the digestion and absorption:
Digestion: is the breakdown of food via both mechanical and chemical processes from large food substances into smaller components.
Absorption: is the process of allowing the small food components to pass into the blood stream and lymphatic systems as it passes through the Gastro-intestinal tract (GIT).
1. Carbohydrates
Definition:
The process of digestion begins in the mouth and in fact is a very important stage for effective digestion of carbohydrates as a whole. This occurs through:
• Mechanical process by chewing or mastication of the food. The more the carbohydrates are chewed in the mouth and broken down, the easier it is to digest for the rest of the GIT, as it increases the surface area of the food to be acted on by enzymes.
• Chemical process by salivary amylase (an enzyme found in saliva, secreted by salivary glands) begins the breakdown of carbohydrates from long starch molecules into shorter sugar chains i.e from polysaccharides to disaccharides. Very simples sugars or monsaccharides such as fructose or glucose can be broken down and absorbed immediately into the bloodstream.
From the mouth the bolus moves into the esophagus by peristalsis and enters the stomach where it is churned and dilated by gastic juices via a mechanical process, however no chemical process occurs on carbohydrates in the stomach. The food matter leaves the stomach via the pyloric sphincter in a more liquid form called chyme.
The next stage of carbohydtrate digestion takes place in the small intestine where the chyme meets pancreatic amylase (an enzymes produced in the pancreas and sent to the small intestine), which breaks down any remaining large or complex carbohydtreates into disaccharides. Carbohydrate digestion is completed in the small intestine by the brush border enzymes located on othe surface of the small intestine mucosa which then converts the disaccharides into monosaccharides, for example:
Maltase acts on maltose to breakdown into > glucose + glucose
Sucrase acts on sucrose to breakdown into > fructose + glucose
Lactase acts on lactose to breakdown into > galactose + glucose
Carbohydrates can only be absorbed into the bloodstream as monosaccharides, so at this stage the monosaccharides are ready for absorbtion and enter the capillary which delivers the monsarrides via the blood to the liver where galactose and fructose are converted to glucose. Here it is stored in the liver as glycogen.
Undigested carbs reach the colon and are partyly broken down by intestinal bacteria before being excreted out of the body.
2. Proteins
Definition: are made up of the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen which makes it unique being the only macro nutrient containing nitrogen. Proteins are made up of small units called amino acids which link together in chains. They are essential for all aspects of repair and growth in the body as well as making up the structore of the human body such as muscles, bolood cells and connective tissue.
The digestion of proteins begins in the mouth by chewing and increases the surface area of the food which helps enzymes act on the food later. The chemical digestion of proteins does not begin until it reaches the stomach where it acts with certain gastric juices found in the gastic pits of the stomach mucosa, which occurs in the following process.
Hydrochloric Acid Ò Denatures or uncoils the large protein molecules
Ø
Activates pepsin
(from pepsinogen)
Ø
Cleaves the proteins into smaller proteins or peptide units
Next, the partially digested proteins move into the small intestine where they meet certain pancreatic juices containing proteolytic inactive enzymes. The main one is called tryposgen which is activated by enterokinase from the brush border enzymes. Once becoming trypsin the other inactiave enzymes are activated becoming chymotryplin and carboxypeptidase. They work in the following way:
Trypsin Ò breakdown into smaller peptides e.g. dipeptides, tripeptides
Ô (activates)
Chymotripsin } Separation of protein chains
into
Carboxypeptidase } amino acids
b) Choose a popular diet aimed at weight loss and answer the following:
Book Title: “Sugar Busters – Cut sugar to trim Fat”,
Dr Sam Andrews, Dr Luis Balart, Dr Morrison Bethea and H Leighton Steward.
1. What claims does the diet make?
The main points that this diet claims to do are:
“• Develop a diet plan that is right for you;
• Discover which foods to eat at what time of the day;
• Avoid food combinations that add pounds;
• Learn to unravel the myths of calories, fats, cholesterol and weight gain;
• Feel great, increase your energy and prevent chronic disease” (Back cover)
2. What are the principles behind the diet?
1. The book exclaims “cut sugar to trim fat”! The main underlying principle that any food that dramatically increases blood sugar will result in a similar increase in insulin levels. They claim that insulin “prevents the breakdown of glycogen and triglycerides”, and increases the storage of fat in the body, thereby leading to weight gain. So therefore, by reducing the intake of sugar and insulin-stimulating foods , the level of insulin released into the body will be reduced also, resulting in weight loss. They state that low-fat, high carbohydrate diets don’t work.
The book takes into consideration the glycemic index founded by Dr David Jenkins in 1981, and relates to the ability of a specific food to raise our blood sugar levels. Sugar Busters uses it as a guide to discern what foods to eat and what foods not to eat based on their glycemic index. The book recommends to avoid the following foods:
• All refined sugar and products containing refined sugar, such as cakes, cookies and chocolate.
• All white bread and products containing white flour, such as bagels, croissants
• All potatoes, white rice, corn and corn products, carrots and beets
(See Appendix for complete list from “Sugar Busters”)
The book explains that generally products with the least degree of processing have the lowest glycemic index, such as wholegrain bread and products. It quotes a number of time in the book “The whiter the bread, the quicker you’re dead”.
The book states that (refined) sugar is toxic and that the human digestive system is not designed for it. And even worse it is addictive and we are all hooked on it. We need to look at how our ancestors ate
The book states also that lowering sugar will assist in prevention or worsening of diabetes, and also cardiovascular disease by reducing the levels of cholesterol and fat in the body, particularly the abdomen area.
2. To eat fruit alone to maximize digestion and absorption
3. To avoid saturated fats and eat mainly “good” unsaturated fats such as olive oil, sunflower oil and other vegetable oils. Omega –3 essential fatty acids are good especially fish oils, which as well as nourish our body also reduces the levels of sticky platelets and therefore lowering the chances of arteriosclerosis Also recommends to drink mainly low-fat milk, and to minimize the amount of nuts eaten at one time “no more than one dozen at a time”
•
3. Lean meats and trim meats are included in the diet as important sources of protein
4. Alcohol is tolerated, except beer, which has the highest GI. Red wine is considered the best option, especially after food.
5. “Eating should be an enjoyable and pleasurable experience and contribute to our performance and health” (page 144)
6. A Fourteen day meal plan is planned out and then followed be recommened recipes.
7. Avoid eating a meal containing high levels of fat with high levels of carbohydtrates. If you are going to eat Carbohydrates eat them for breakfast when they are not accompanied by high amounts of fat, the book says on page 146.
What is a typical daily menu?
The diet offers a Fourteen Day meal plan, so I will outline Day 1 and Day 14
Day 1
Breakfast
Orange Juice or Grapefruit Juice
How does the diet compare to the recommened dietary intakes for macronutirents>
Is the diet nutrionally sound?
Would you recommend this diet? Justify your answer