Economic
When coming to college I have £5 to spend every day £2 of this goes on bus fair which leaves me with £3 for a meal. At lunch because I am so hungry I try to spend my money on a full meal and the usual meal I get is steak and naan bread with salad, according to the eat well plate this is quite healthy it is red meat which contains protein the meat is grilled which makes it healthier and the bread contains carbohydrates while the salad contains vitamins and mineral, I feel as though £3 is enough for a meal but on the days when I don’t have enough money I will just buy a lamb burger and chips for £1, I feel as though this is more unhealthy due to the grease and fat in the burger and the chips being fried in oil after eating it my stomach feels too full, due to this I don’t really feel like eating after that meal which means I don’t have the right amount of meals and my body does not get anymore nutrients. Water costs 62p in college which I feel is quite expensive for water so I only buy 1 bottle of water a day which lasts me through half the day and after that I’ll buy a fizzy drink due to it being cheaper, this means my body gets more sugar in it which can be good for providing me with energy.
Socio-cultural
In my household I have been brought up to have mainly home cooked meals during the week which consist of vegetables, which means my body gets a good intake of vitamins and minerals, also white meat which contains protein, In my house we are not allowed to eat a lot of red meat because it is unhealthy to eat too much so we have more white meat such as chicken and as a treat now and then we have red meat, the meals I eat also contain spices and chillies which is good for the body because chillies contain vitamins that help the blood vessels, the skin and organs in the body. I also eat chapattis with some of my meals during the week, the flour used to make the chapattis is white flour so it contains calcium and iron which are good minerals needed in my body. In my household we don’t always buy fizzy drinks so I tend to drink diluted fruit juices which are a healthier way of my body getting a right amount of sugar. Fridays are the days we have take out in our house, on this day I usually eat greasy food and red meat which consists of a lot of proteins and fats, these provide my body with energy and the amino acids that my body need and cannot make itself these amino acids help to build the muscles and red blood cells in the body this red meat is animal-based food and it provides my body with the nine essential amino acids which are called histidine, lysine, threonine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, phenylalanine and tryptopha.
Education
I know what I need to eat to have a healthy balanced diet, I try to follow the Eatwell plate and use it to determine what I am going to eat during the day. I know that it is very unhealthy to not eat anything in the morning for breakfast so even though I don’t have enough time I do try to quickly eat something that won’t take long to eat like a banana which is good because it contains protein and vitamins or a biscuit which contains fibre and carbohydrates. I know how to cook some food so when I am home alone I do tend to make things to eat like pasta I add chillies and vegetables to the pasta to make sure I am getting vitamins in my diet, I also know how to make a tuna sandwich which is healthy because tuna contains protein and bread contains carbohydrates and these are two nutrients my body needs more of for energy. According to my knowledge eating after six o’clock is unhealthy because the food consumed after then is stored as fat so because of this I try not eat after six o’clock because my body will store excess fat and make me fat.
Social Policy
Social policies affect my diet because I don’t follow them instead I eat at a take-away so even if the college was serving nutritional food I don’t eat it but I probably should so my body can get the right nutrients it needs and I will not consume as much fat which may be good because too much fat in the body can lead to heart problems. However if I did follow social policies I would be eating more fruit and vegetables which will be good for my nutrition because my body will get the vitamins and minerals it needs. Every child matters makes sure all children have a nutritional meal at whatever school they attend because due to the economy that can be the only nutritional meal they can get because nutritional food is getting expensive. Due to social policies such as Nutritional Standards schools should serve nutritional meals which have not been deep fried and have bread available because deep fried food is very unhealthy due to the saturated fat in some oils, eating fried food makes people feel full quickly and bread is full of carbohydrates and nutrients which will give people energy throughout the day, schools should also serve fresh water and no fizzy drinks or confectionary because having too much sugar can make children hyper active and can lead to tooth decay. At college they serve a lot of fruit but I do not enjoy eating fruit so I don’t really buy it and this means my body doesn’t get enough vitamins and minerals that it needs from fresh fruit and not having enough vitamins can lead to problems with the body’s organs especially the brain.
Child with Diabetes
Dietary habits
People with diabetes need to manage their diets very carefully because due to having diabetes their bodies cannot process glucose or sugar and when not eating the right things it can lead to serious health problems. With children their parents tend to manage their child’s dietary habit and make their meals so the child may not have many bad dietary habits because their parents will want them to be healthy to make sure they don’t get any serious illnesses by not eating the right nutrients, a child with diabetes needs to have a healthy diet same as other people their diets should be high in carbohydrates and fibre. However, with sweet foods they can be consumed but only with careful amounts not too many. A lot of children do have a dietary habit of eating lots of sweets in between meals but diabetic children would not be able to have this habit because if they were to eat too much sugar it would lead to serious illnesses. A child with diabetes also shouldn’t have a habit of skipping meals because it can increase their blood glucose and cause them to gain weight. It is good for children that have diabetes to also eat snacks that contain small amounts of carbohydrates to keep their energy levels high.
Lifestyle
Children attend school and their parents should inform the school that their child has diabetes so at lunch they do not have a meal that is high in fats and carbohydrates because the child’s blood sugar levels will need to be controlled. Schools have started to serve healthy foods that contain more whole grain and also serve low fat milk and no fizzy drinks this would help a diabetic child have more control over their glucose levels.
Economic
All children get a little bit of pocket money that the majority of children spend on sweets and sugary snacks because they are cheap, a diabetic child would not be able to spend all their money on sweets and snacks because people with diabetes should not eat foods that are high in sugar because the glucose levels in their bodies need to be controlled but in shops and supermarkets healthier foods are a lot more expensive such as fresh fruit and other healthy snacks and this would affect a child with diabetes because they would not be able to afford healthier snacks and their bodies would not get the vitamins, minerals and fibres they need to help balance their glucose levels, they may get tempted to buy the more cheaper snacks that are full of sugar and eat them and this would lead to them having serious illnesses.
Socio cultural
A child with diabetes will be brought up eating regular meals with a healthy diet so their blood sugar levels are controlled because their parents would probably cook their meals for them and they will be aware that their child is diabetic this means the child will be getting the right amount of nutrients they need, some children may even have a dietician to help inform them of the meals they should be consuming and which foods they shouldn’t eat too much of and this will help the child by trying different foods containing nutrients that will help develop their bodies. Children with diabetes should not consume too much sugar so a parent would monitor their child’s intake on sugar to make sure they are not consuming too much.
Education
Children with diabetes would learn more about diabetes once they find out that they have it, they would be informed on the foods they will need to consume and the foods they should not have too much of by their doctor and this will help the child to develop without having any serious health problems due to having diabetes. Children are also encouraged to learn how to make healthy meals because of the chef Jamie Oliver who has easy steps to making healthy meals on his website which is . This website has easy steps for children to make healthy meals and this will encourage them to eat healthy food because they will have made it themselves and diabetic children will need healthy food to control their glucose levels.
Social policy
There are policies that help support children with diabetes while they are at schools or other early year settings and one organisation that helps support diabetic children is RCN which is the royal college of nursing, their aim is to ensure the needs of children and young people with diabetes are met without prejudicing their health or education. The national service framework for diabetes which also relates to children and young people with diabetes states diabetic people should receive the right care to optimise their blood glucose control, and their physical, psychological, intellectual, educational and social development. The RCN also believe that in schools and early year settings there should be care plans made for diabetic children so their nutritional needs are met.
Adult with Coeliac
Dietary habits
Coeliac disease is a disease that when Gluten which is found in wheat, barley and rye is consumed it triggers an immune reaction in the person’s body and eating this gluten damages the lining in their small intestine and other parts of their body may be affected too. One therapy for having Coeliac disease is to have a gluten free diet but this can cause nutritional imbalances which is why there are substitute ingredients that contain gluten free alternatives that when consumed will help balance out nutritional intake. People with Coeliac should be in the habit of not eating foods that contain gluten but also maintain a balanced diet because if they don’t consume a balanced diet it can lead to other diseases such as osteoporosis which can make their bones brittle and easy to break.
Lifestyle
While shopping for food a person with Coeliac disease would have to read the labels on foods carefully, there is a law in the UK which says packaged food should have allergen labelling which means that on the ingredients list you can see whether a product contains gluten and a person with Coeliac disease will have to look for this while shopping, a person will Coeliac will still need gluten in their diet so their nutrient intake is balanced because if they completely stopped eating glucose because of their nutrition imbalance it could lead to more illnesses and they can buy foods that have a substitute of glucose in them. When eating out at a restaurant or other food places a person with Coeliac would not be able to eat everything, they will have to speak to the chef or person making the food and make it clear to them which foods contain gluten that they cannot eat, if they were to eat gluten by mistake then they could have a bad effect depending on the person, some of the symptoms are diarrhoea, headaches, stomach pains and lethargy. It would be helpful for an adult to eat gluten substitutes because without gluten in their diet they can get very tired and weak and an adult would need their energy if they were working and had a busy lifestyle
Economic
Foods that have gluten free substitutes in them are three times more expensive than the original foods such as gluten free pizza, bread and crackers they are more expensive than the originals. People that suffer from Coeliac disease tend to stock up on these products such as gluten free bread and this is really expensive and they may not be as healthy because the gluten free products are not fortified with vitamins.