Final Project Presentation By Monique v

“Nutritional Flaw”  When analyzing my diet for the food analysis project done earlier, I noticed a “nutritional flaw”  The biggest flaw I found in my diet was not having enough protein.

How did I know I didn’t have enough protein?  According to Choosemyplate.org, as a 18 year old girl, I am supposed to consume 5 oz equivalents of protein  However, some days I had under 1 oz of protein  This was evidence that I should change my diet by adding more protein to my daily meals

What is protein?  Protein is a huge variety of foods including:  Meat  milk  cheese  Other dairy products  fish  soy  eggs  beans  legumes  nut butters.

Why don’t I eat enough protein?  Most people eat more protein than I do because there are many meats I cannot eat  I don’t eat any kind of red meat, pork, or duck  Since I only eat chicken and fish, if I eat at school and they don’t have either, I go for a vegetarian option, without that extra protein meat provides  However, if I were to go for lets say a salad, I could compensate for no available chicken by adding beans, cheese, and eggs, all of which contain protein!

Why is my nutritional flaw harmful to my diet? AKA Why is protein important?  The body uses protein for energy  Protein works as an enzyme in the body, used for the body’s metabolism and growth/repair of tissue!  Protein is used by the body to carry signals from different parts of the body to the other  Used to form structures like building muscle!  It’s the building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood.  hair and nails are mostly made of protein: protein is a part of every cell in your body

Harmful effects of not eating enough protein:  If the food you are eating does not contain the amino acids needed, your body will access it from protein rich parts of your body like your muscles- leading to muscle loss and weakness  Since your immune system uses protein for antibodies and other immune molecules, you could suffer from more infections  You can become irritable, suffer changes in your skin and hair texture  Extreme protein deficiency is a serious issue as it can lead to shock or death

How can I add more protein to my daily meals easily?  I’m a huge salad and soup fan which has many ups because this means I eat lots of veggies  The downside to this is I personally never reach for protein to add to my vegetarian salad or soup  The only meat I do eat is chicken or seafood, so that makes things extra difficult at times  An easy fix is to add some chicken or seafood to whatever I am eating

Examples of meals I could eat that would satisfy my protein requirement  Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Peanut butter and strawberries and turkey sausage links on the side  Lunch: A spinach salad with chicken, apples, Dinner: Chicken with oven-roasted balsamic cauliflower and watermelon on the side  Dinner: Chicken with oven-roasted balsamic cauliflower and watermelon on the side

My Final Project Dish  One of my favorite recipes is a salad called Beautiful Salad that I found on Allrecipes.com a while back  The recipe calls for many nutritious foods that satisfy a healthy diet, however there is not much protein in the salad recipe  In order to add more protein and make it a dish that would fully benefit me, I decided to add cut up strips of turkey bacon, adding extra protein to my salad while avoiding high levels of fat by going for turkey bacon instead of pork

DON’T FORGET to Eat Your Protein!

Works Cited  Annigan, Jan. "The Effects of Low Protein Intake." Healthy Eating. Hearst Corporation, n.d. Web. 14 May  "Protein Nutrition Facts - MyFoodDiary." Protein Nutrition Facts - MyFoodDiary. Myfooddiary.com, n.d. Web. 14 May  "The Importance of Protein in Your Diet." The Importance of Protein in Your Diet. Forward Foods, n.d. Web. 14 May  "USDA MyPlate Protein Foods Group -- All about the Protein Foods Group." USDA MyPlate Protein Foods Group -- All about the Protein Foods Group. USDA, n.d. Web. 14 May