Personal Nutrition and Exercise Plan

Health Plan for Life

How to Utilize a Nutritional Program to Attain Personal Health Goals

The importance of a healthy diet cannot be stressed enough. One of the main problems that plague our society today is a high percentage of overweight people. Indeed, struggling with weight is a lifelong problem for many in today's society, and this stems from the fact that both our food and our lifestyle has a great impact on how many live and eat. The aforementioned two facts refer to the fact that first, our food is produced very poorly and many eat the cheap, mass produced food instead of organic, farm-based food, and second, our lifestyle is highly dependent on cars, and is quite sedentary both in our workplace and often times at home. It is also important to mention here that stress also has a great impact upon how our diet fluctuates.

Nonetheless, and as mentioned above, a healthy diet is perhaps the most important aspect of a healthy and long life. In fact, since birth, we are bombarded by nutrients, and during teen years, we experience growth spurts that allow us to eat various foods and still be healthy and active. However, as we go forward in age, one must be careful. I have struggled myself with weight fluctuations, and have come to realize just how important a good diet truly is to both make me feel good about myself, to give me energy and eventually, allow me to lead a long life. I have therefore learned, primarily from the text for this course, that a poor diet anytime in life always affects health eventually. In order to implement all that I have learned and address my lifelong struggle with weight, I have decided upon identifying a viable health plan including diet and exercise, that I will attempt to start and continue throughout my whole life. The remainder of this paper will therefore focus on the description oft his plan. [1: *Please note that I have utilized four sources, as required, from those you have provided for me; However, please note that you have not provided the name of the text, or the year or author. Therefore I have noted the MLA format through footnotes and have also detailed which section of the faxes I utilized. Thank you.Sources provided by customer, document titled Nutrition 2 to 102.]

I have first started to think very deeply about what my nutritional and my physical exercise goals should be. First, I would like to describe my four nutritional goals. These will include: eating at least four pieces of fruit every day, drinking at least 1.5 liters of water every day, eating lunch halfway through the day instead of at 12p.m. though keeping this schedule relatively fixed, and also increasing my intake of dark vegetables, especially with dinner.

Next, I would like to describe my physical exercise goals, which are activities that I am able to do regardless of the season and which will include: mountain bike riding at least three times a week, enrolling at a gym where I can do cardio training on treadmills or stair masters at least twice a week, swimming once a week, especially during the summer, and taking a relaxation class such as yoga or something similar that can enable me to vary my exercise program. Further, in this section I would also like to add that I would like to do some easy exercises in the office, so that I may better be able to continue my physical exercise goals throughout the day. The office exercises can simply include taking stairs instead of the elevator or standing while speaking on the phone instead of speaking, and these could vary throughout the day as well, but I will try to do them for at least 20 minutes or so daily.

Though these goals seem relatively easy to do for someone perhaps more experience with a set schedule of diet and exercise, for me they will be quite difficult. Therefore, in this next section, I would like to discuss the actions I will take to meet each goal, and the anticipated setbacks and difficulties that I will probably encounter. According to the section Guidelines for a Healthy Diet, and the food pyramid in this section, an individual should have anywhere from 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit a day. Due to this, I have made these two my goals; however, due to the fact that I am not really accustomed to eat fruit and vegetables so often, this will be quite a struggle for me. Though I will be able to achieve my water goal and my lunch goal, I will have to work hard and constantly remind myself to eat fruit and vegetables instead of other salty or sugary snacks. In order to do this successfully, I will note it in my calendar and will also note it on my fridge so that I can see it in multiple places when I look. [2: Sources provided by customer, document titled Guidelines for a Healthy Diet. ]

Another obstacle might be presented in motivating myself for exercising so many times a day. Indeed, now I exercise only 2-3 days a week, but due to my new schedule I will have to be very organized indeed about my exercise, and vary it as well. However, my main motivator for exercising (just as it is for diet), will be not having chronic diseases and illnesses that are related to an inactive lifestyle, such as chronic disease, such as obesity and cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Thus, my main source of motivation in this respect will be the health risks that could ensure from the non-application of the above stated goal model with respect to both exercise and diet, but especially with regards to exercise. [3: Sources provided by customer, document titled Nutrition, Fitness and Physical Activity.]