Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
The Basics of a Healthful Diet
The idea that even the food which is commonly considered unhealthy, such as a milk-chocolate bar or French fries, offers a certain amount of helpful elements, apart from fats and carbohydrate, has been around for a while, yet it has strangely never been voiced loud enough for all people to be aware of. So it is really hard to offer a new perspective on the issue which seems to have been done to death. However, Sandra Alters and Wendy Shiff offer a different way to consider the existing ideas, as well as suggest some new concepts to discuss.
To start with, it was rather refreshing to find out that there is a kind of a diet which will presumably fit all people and help them get all the necessary elements which they need for their body and mind to function properly. However, there is an element which raised some question. The issue concerning the calories calculation comes forth as a serious problem.
On the one hand, it can be possible to count the approximate amount of calories consumed over the day, even though it is hard to count calories in, say, a canapé or anything else which was made outside of the shop or restaurant.
On the other hand, however, when counting calories, to figure out the amount of energy which will further on turn into another roll of fat on one’s stomach, it is required to calculate the energy which was used in the course of the day, e.g., for performing a certain action, such as carrying a bag, sweeping the floor, etc. Therefore, the entire idea of checking the number of calories in food products hardly seems reasonable.
Another issue which is worth discussing is the idea of a diet itself. Nowadays, rather a symbol of being fashionable than being healthy, diet is considered by most people as a means to get slimmer and approach the accepted standard of beauty, the diet has lost its original meaning. Therefore, in the modern world, following a diet is similar to shaping one’s body instead of staying healthy, which is quite wrong. Hence, for the society to follow healthy eating habits presupposes having the right idea of diet, that is, to understand it as a means to supply the body with the necessary elements, vitamins, and minerals instead of a method to lose more weight.
Summarizing the contents of the chapter is, however, pretty hard, since it offers a lot of issues to discuss and includes even more peculiarities which are crucial for the discussion and the author’s conclusions. Nevertheless, when it comes to the issues which help sum the article up in a nutshell, one can claim that the single word “diet” renders the key ideas of the article successfully. After a couple of basic facts about the significance of all sorts of food, the authors proceed with listing the nutrient requirements.
After stressing the importance of the key functions which nutrients are supposed to perform and the qualities which they need for that, the chapter offers a list of dietary guidelines. It is quite impressive that the narrator does not restrict the readers to the information which they can find in any journal on healthy dieting – defining the phenomenon of a nutrient requirement, the authors proceed with listing the set of standards commonly referred to as DRIs, or the Dietary Reference Intakes.
Further on, the MyPlate project is mentioned as one of the most trustworthy dietary planning guides. According to the authors, nutritional labeling of products is an important thing to consider for the customers, since it offers a plethora of information on the nutritional qualities of a product. After a short overview of the existing nutritional facts and a commentary on the fact that there are no guidelines for restaurant food nutrition established yet, the authors of the chapter comment on the existing healthy eating practices.
Hence, it can be concluded that the key idea behind all the bits of information which the authors of the chapter were trying to convey to the audience is that there is no such a thing as a completely unhealthy food and that even the fattest food that contains the most carbohydrate has something to offer for a human body; yet, to make sure that one’s body develops properly and gets all the nutritious elements which it requires, one has to comply with the rules of a nutritious diet.
Speaking of how the ideas expressed by the authors of the chapter can be applied to the standards of the society which I live in, I must admit that there are certain obstacles on the way to implementing the key recommendations. To start with, according to of the authors’ conclusions, restaurant food, as well as the products sold in the fast food chains, is not to be consumed regularly, which is almost impossible for an average American citizen. It must be admitted that for the working population of the USA, having a meal is reduced to going to a nearby McDonald’s or, at best, the restaurant around the corner.
Since, as the research results claim, the quality of the nutrients which are served in restaurants cannot be checked and, therefore, leaves much to be desired, the only option which American employed population has is to wait until having dinner at home. The latter means being hungry almost all day long, which is also by far, not the healthiest option.
Also, the very pace of life in which American society lives dictates its rules. Being up to their neck in work and having little to no time to spend on cooking a decent meal, most Americans resort to canned food, ramen, quick-cooking meals, instant food, etc., which backfires greatly. Therefore, for American society to change their eating habits, people have to change their lifestyle, which is always difficult, if not an impossible, task.
Cancer Treatment
Another issue which the next chapter sheds some light on is cancer and its treatment. There is no need to mention that even in the present-day world and all the technological advances, people still consider cancer one of the scourges of the human race – and they do for very legitimate reasons, one must admit. However, according to the research by Sandra Alters and Wendy Shiff, cancer does not equal a death sentence; as a matter of fact, cancer can be cured and, which is even more important, it can be prevented. After reading the article, one will most definitely feel completely astonished by the fact that there are so many types of cancer.
Others might argue that various virus diseases also have a lot of forms; for instance, catching a cold might result in laryngitis, bronchitis, and even pneumonia. However, it is important to emphasize that in the latter case, the disease strikes mostly the respiratory system, which takes the shock values down a few notches. Compared to respiratory diseases, cancer can attack any part of the body, which means that people are much more vulnerable to cancer than to any other disease. Therefore, the concerns which Alters and Shiff raise in the chapter are pretty legitimate.
Also, it is rather interesting that the authors of the chapter do not hammer in the well-trodden idea of smoking as a key cause of cancer; as a matter of fact, they only drive parallels between cancer and smoking without persuading the readers how the two are related. It must be mentioned that they mention the fact that smoking might cause lung cancer, yet admit that the connection between the two phenomena is much looser than it is usually considered to be. Hence, it feels that Alters and Shiff are trying to be honest with their readers and are not trying to encourage stereotypical thinking, promoting instead a scientific research approach, which is worth appreciating.
As for a more detailed description of the article in question, it is necessary to point out that Alters and Shiff are trying to address a huge lot of issues, explaining every facet of the cancer issue – and, weirdly enough, they succeed. Even despite the downsides of their attempt to squeeze so much information into such a little chapter shows, the pace of their explanations is still rather easy to follow. The first thing which the chapter shows the readers is the variety of the existing cancer treatments.
Though stressing that surgery is a typical approach, Alters and Shiff make it clear that it is by far not the only one. After informing the readers quickly on the specifics of cancer surgery, Alters and Shiff jump to the table, which shows in a very graphic way, the instances of people having cancer of different types throughout 1999-2006.
According to the data provided in the table, prostate and testis cancer are the most widespread types of the disease. However, as Alters and Shiff claim, the instances of getting ill with cancer can be prevented if undergoing a series of screening regularly. Offering another table concerning the screening details, such as the recommended frequency, the type of procedure and the age at which the procedures are prescribed, the authors move on to another topic, which is the description of alternative treatment methods.
Unlike one might have expected, there are quite a few of those – Alters and Shiff mention laser, chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies. Finally, Alters and Shiff mention the issue which has been discussed literally for ages, i.e., the relation between cancer and smoking. As it has been mentioned above, Alters and Shiff do not state that smoking triggers cancer, yet warn that the instances of lung cancer are more frequent among smokers.
Also, passive smoking is mentioned as another threat of having lung cancer. Mentioning the existing types of cancer, Alters and Shiff explain in detail the procedure of checking for the symptoms of breast and testis cancer. Finally, the issue of melanoma is mentioned as the cancer type, the instances of which, sadly enough, have become increasingly frequent over the past few years.
As for how cancer is usually addressed in my context, one can say that the existing surgery and therapy standards are more than impressive. Even though cancer used to sound like a death sentence several decades ago, in the modern American world of medicine, cancer can be cured if the problem has been revealed at the initial stage. What needs to be changed is the way people think of cancer; when being diagnosed with it, one must not consider it as a command to lay down and die, but instead, prepare for a fight.
However, one still has to admit that cancer is an extremely dangerous disease and that metastases spread at a very fast pace unless something is done. Therefore, society has to develop a specific approach to cancer and its treatment. One of the many problems with people’s idea of cancer is that hardly anyone ever considers the possibility of developing one. Of course, the very idea of developing cancer is scary enough, to begin with, which means that people perish the thought of what to do in case of cancer immediately.
The given approach leads people to become completely perplexed when they have to fight the disease. Having never considered a possibility of cancer, one will not know what to do and, therefore, can make many regrettable mistakes. One of the most common mistakes is that life is over for the one who has cancer and that there is nothing left to do but lay down and die. Therefore, cancer awareness must be encouraged in society, so that people could learn to seek professional help and get the right treatment.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.