Taylor Summers

HLTH 1020 Signature Assignment

 Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate knowledge of human nutritional needs and the role of nutrition in improving individual
health and the societal economic impact of food choices.

In this class I was able to fulfill this learning outcome by doing a dietary analysis. This allowed me to look
at the way I was eating and make improvements to the nutrients that I am taking into my body to help
keep healthy. We also completed to a food challenge where we learned that eating healthy isn’t
expensive at all and is cheaper than buying foods that are very nutritious.

Relate technological advancements in medicine and food production to the advancement of the
science of human nutrition

We fulfilled this learning outcome by learning about the human body and the process that the human
body uses to convert nutrients into important body functions. Thanks to technology we know about
these body functions and that knowledge now allows us to make better nutritional decisions to improve
our lives.

Explain the impact that the food industry has on human food choices and the subsequent relationship
to health and disease at the individual, societal, and environmental level.

The food industry has a huge impact on human food choices. It seems like they are more interested in
making money than they are at helping people make healthy food choices. The food industry puts a lot
of effort into advertising foods that aren’t nutritionally valuable to humans especially focusing their
efforts on children who don’t know much about making good food choices.

Provide examples of past and present nutrient and diet trends in modern society and the positive
and/or negative implications on human health and the earth’s resources.

Some diet trends that have come to relevance include the vegan diet, carnivore diet, keto diet,
intermittent fasting, and the Mediterranean diet. Each of these nutrition trends can help people who are
struggling with different things. I believe there is no right diet for all humans, but it takes experimenting
to find what diet works for you and your goals. And I think there should be more research involved with
finding what diets work best for certain people.

Provide examples of positive and negative interactions of humankind with microorganisms regarding
sickness, health and food production.

Humankind has been very scientific when it comes to producing foods. With their innovations they have
been able to develop ways to allow foods to be preserved for longer times than naturally accepted. With
this ability the preservative process doesn’t necessarily make foods very healthy. So, while these
innovations are amazing, they aren’t very helpful when it comes to having a healthy diet.

Address diet and nutrient issues and concerns for weight control, disease prevention, physical activity,
food availability, and biotechnology.
I think the biggest diet and nutrient issue when concerned with overall health is that of fast food. Fast
food is consumed a lot by the average American. I think that as people try to avoid fast food we can
control many issues that people might have when it comes to overall health.

 Reflection

Make connections between what you studied in this nutrition course with what you’ve learned in
other courses at SLCC or before. Make specific references to your work in this class and in the other
courses. How did what you learn in the other courses enhance what you learned in nutrition, and vice
versa?

Growing up playing baseball I have always seen the importance of making good physical fitness and
nutritional choices. This class taught me about things I already know, and it also allowed me to gain a
better and deeper understanding of nutrition and what it means to be healthy. The most beneficial thing
that I did in this class was take a diet analysis. This allowed me to evaluate my diet over three days and
input what I ate into a program that compared the nutrients I got with the nutrients I needed. This
experience was eye opening and really helped me to gain some motivation to start eating healthier
again.

Reflect on how you thought about nutrition before you took this course and how you think about it
now that the course is over. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed? Why? What
assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process? How will you approach (course topic)
differently in the future?

Before I took this class, I thought of nutrition as something people focus on when they want to look
good and or gain better performance while doing physical activities. Now that the course is over, I now
understand that nutrition is a important aspect to any life, and that eating healthy doesn’t only help you
look good but it helps you think clearly and avoid health issues you might have in the future. The
chapter readings really helped me to understand the material and that was an influential process.
Approaching other topics in the future will be easier because I have had the good experiences of
approaching course topics in this class.