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1.7 End-of-Chapter Exercises

It’s Your Turn

  1. You are writing a short article for the Daily News. Explain how health means much more than a mere absence of disease.
  2. Create a table that summarizes the six classes of nutrients and their major functions.
  3. List five ideas on how to change the nutrition of Americans to protect their health and the health of the planet.

Apply It

  1. Explore the nutritional and health information provided by the USDA, the HSS, and the IOM. Make a pros and cons list on how helpful the information from each of these sources was to you.
  2. Revisit the photographs of the inner contents of refrigerators by Mark Menjivar. Describe how factors associated with a person’s environment, lifestyle, and culture may affect the personal food choices in at least six different refrigerators.
  3. Write a paragraph on your opinion of the role of the federal government in promoting health and preventing disease in Americans.

Expand Your Knowledge

  1. Conduct an assessment of your diet. Begin by recording what you eat every day, including snacks and beverages, in a journal. Then visit the website, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate/index.aspx, which has tools to help you assess your diet. Calculate your average daily calorie consumption.
  2. Conduct an informal survey of five of your friends and family members. Create a questionnaire with ten to fifteen questions pertaining to their perception of food, their favorite food shows, what restaurants they frequent, what they purchase from the grocery store each week, etc. Ask questions about their general eating habits and record the answers. Next, get a camera and take pictures of the insides of their refrigerators. What have you learned about their eating habits? What advice would you give them? Review all the material and put it together in a report. Be prepared to share your findings.

  3. Define eight steps your community can take to build a more sustainable food system. Visit the websites of Toronto’s and California’s plans to help provide you with some good ideas to accomplish the challenge.

    Toronto’s plan for a sustainable food system: http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/health/food.nsf/Resources/340ACEEDBF1B2D6085257738000B22F2/$file/Cultivating%20Food%20Connections%20report.pdf

    California’s plan for a sustainable food system: http://www.vividpicture.net/