“Eating a Variety is a Good Idea”
By:
Ashlee Hatch
Chelsea DeVisser
Tiffany Heber
Rebecca Heber
English 1010
Charlotte Howe
April 11, 2012
Eating a variety of foods can be difficult if one doesn’t know what it is. So, what does
variety mean? A variety is “a number of different types of things, especially ones in the same
general category” (Variety.) Although some people think that eating a variety is too
complicated, we should eat foods of many different colors, textures, and tastes, because eating a
wide variety of foods keeps us healthier.
Young students first starting out in college might not be able to get a variety of foods like
they need to. They use all their money to pay for school, gas, and other mandatory things in life
that take money. They might be on the “ramen noodle” diet, which does not give them a variety
of anything. The human body needs fruits, vegetables, and meat to make it functional.
One thing that a starving student can do to put more of a variety into their diet is to buy a
hanging tomato planter that’s shown on TV. They can find them in the stores and they aren’t that
expensive. This way they can still have at least one fruit in their diet. However, many people do
not like tomatoes. For those people, they can go to the local farmer’s market. Farmers markets
are locally run farms that are able to sell their produce for a good price. There is a large variety
of fruits and vegetables that people are able to get for a good price.
Another thing people can do is to buy food in bulk. Although it seems like a lot of food,
they can split the price and food with a friend. This way it will be cheaper and there will be more
food for the both of them. This will get the students more food and more of a variety than they
started with.
Another reason why people don’t get a variety of food is because they’re “too lazy” to
figure out what they want to eat. This is a big problem with many people because they eat the
same thing day-in and day-out. Some people go to a cooking class or get a friend to help them
figure out more foods they might like. These are some of the things people do to fix this
problem. A world without a variety is boring and dry.
Getting a variety can be easy if you just put your mind to it, but one may ask, “Why is
getting a variety so important if I don’t even know what to get to have a variety?” Well,
everyone should be educated about what vitamins and minerals work with what parts of the
body. Calcium and magnesium are two key minerals that help keep the body running.
Is calcium really needed? “I get enough calcium for my needs in a day; I don't need to get
more.” “I got plenty of calcium growing up. My bones are plenty strong, so I don't need calcium
now.” These are common responses given when people are asked if they get the proper amount
of calcium in their diet. What many people don't realize is that calcium does more than make
bones stronger. Dr. George Obikoya said, “Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in
the average diet. Let me repeat that. Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the
average diet.” (Calcium.)
Calcium doesn't just make our bones stronger, it keeps them strong. Ninety-nine percent
of calcium goes towards strengthening bones and teeth. It is the main element that sustains the
health of our bones and teeth. Seventy percent of our bones’ weight is from calcium. It provides
the strength and rigidity, which means its inability to bend or the bones’ stiffness. Bones are not
meant to bend; the bending should be left to the joints. Calcium keeps bones stiff and because
they are stiff, they will not break as easily. Calcium is absorbed into the body through the small
intestine and from there, 99 percent goes into the bones while the other one-percent goes into the
bloodstream.
Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in our body and it is needed to keep us in
good health. Half of the magnesium in our body is found in our bones. This mineral helps make
and maintain over 350 biochemical reactions in our body. After very basic bodily needs are taken
care of, such as breathing oxygen, drinking water, and getting nourishment, magnesium is
probably the next vital substance. Magnesium helps with the nervous system, creation of new
cells, functioning and relaxation of muscles, and functioning of the heart, kidneys, and brain. We
learned how important vitamin C is in our diets, but magnesium regulates calcium, potassium,
and sodium in the body. When magnesium is utilized by our body it helps correct the inability to
sleep, bone spurs, swollen and painful joints, heart difficulties, irregular heartbeat, weakening of
bones, and organ calcification. That is just to name a few. We can easily get calcium in our diet.
We just need to eat stuff we like for breakfast and keep vegetables around for dinner time.
Magnesium is found to be deficient in 90-95 percent of America’s population because there are
fewer common food items that would be a good source.
Magnesium helps the extra calcium to be either absorbed or flushed out of the system.
Not enough emphasis has been placed on the need for magnesium, so people will often have a
greater intake of calcium and little if any of magnesium. When this happens, two possible
dangers to our health happen; first, calcium will begin taking magnesium out of the bones to help
it be assimilated, which makes our bones brittle and fragile. Second, calcium will not do its job
of taking magnesium from the bones, but instead will just become deposits of calcium that can
get into joints and organs.
Joints are made of 75 percent water. When a person’s body becomes dehydrated, the
body automatically takes the water out of the joints, leaving an empty space. When there is
calcium build up, it moves to those newly developed pockets and causes calcification of the
organs and tissue. Magnesium is best absorbed through plants. Good sources of magnesium are
found in various nuts including cashews, almonds and peanuts. Magnesium is also found in
spinach, milk and fish such as halibut. The recommended daily amount of magnesium is 300-400
milligrams a day.
Eating a variety can be fun and easy. Variety can be as simple as an exchange in the usual
items on your plate; you can exchange mashed potatoes for a different vegetable, such as corn or
carrots, and exchange steak for ham or lamb chops. For dessert, you can trade you Neapolitan ice
cream for berries with whipped cream. If you continuously eat the same food, your meals will be
less exciting and you may not look forward to them as much as you could if you “spiced things
up” once in a while. Having variety is one of the best parts of life. If you always ate the same
food, or listened to the same music, or went to the same places, or hung out with the same
people, or watched the same shows and movies over and over again it would get so boring and
repetitious, and life would lose its excitement. By eating a variety of foods and participating in a
variety of activities, we can keep our lives less dull and more interesting.
Different foods help different areas in our bodies; therefore eating a variety of food is not
only enjoyable, it's necessary. If you ate only fruits and vegetables, you would miss out on the
health benefits you would receive from eating meat. If you ate only meat, you would miss out on
all the health benefits you would receive by eating fruits and vegetables. You don't want forget
about dairy, grains, and fats, which are also needed for a healthy diet.
But you not only need variety, you need balance in that variety. If you eat a lot of meat
and dairy but only a small amount of fruits, vegetables, grains, and fats, you will still miss some
of the benefits. You should eat a variety within that variety, meaning not only eating from all the
food groups, but eating several different things from the food groups.
It would also be a good idea to have food from a variety of places as well. Not only
should you eat foods from your home country, you should also venture out and experience foods
from other countries, such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and more. To live a happy and healthy life,
you need variety, balance, and a variety both within and beyond itself. If we seek variety in all
the other areas of our lives, why not have variety in our meals as well?
Variety is a key part in your diet so that you get all the sources of protein and vitamins
that you need. Besides needing variety, you need to know how to use your leftovers so you don’t
let the food go to waste. When you have a variety of foods in each meal, it makes it easier to use
the leftovers to make varieties of other meals. You will have a lot more choices for meals if you
use your leftovers. If you incorporate a variety of different foods in your meals daily, it makes it
easier to use the leftovers to make a variety of different meals.
There are many ways you can use your leftover foods without having to just throw them out.
So much food already goes to waste and a lot of people really don’t realize how much food is
wasted daily. That is why it is important to use whatever food you have leftover by integrating it
into other meals. You don’t always have to try to use leftovers in other meals; you can just take
the food to work. You can also take any leftover food you have that you don’t want to the
homeless shelter for the people there that can use the food and that are not picky about what they
eat (Germanbini.)
Another way to make it so food doesn’t get wasted is to plan meals for the month. Also, get
reasonable quantities of food for each meal you plan on making. To reduce food waste the
homeowner should just work with what is in their fridge instead of going out and buying more
groceries (Household.)
You would be surprised with what you could make with leftovers or other condiments in
your fridge. You can freeze some leftover foods in the freezer for later use. For example you can
use ground beef from tacos to make Sloppy Joes or chili (Germanbini.) After Thanksgiving, a lot
of people have leftover turkey, and 90 percent of them just use their turkey for turkey
sandwiches. But there are tons of other meals you can make with leftover turkey. You can make
turkey and stuffing enchiladas, then turkey Sloppy Joes, and even turkey taco soup. So instead of
just having Turkey sandwiches with leftover turkey you can mix it up a bit and make a great
meal (Kasey).
You can give your leftovers to your pets but be careful what you give them because it can make
them sick. Also, make sure not to give your pet too much of the food because human food is not
really meant for animals to eat. If you have a farm with livestock you can feed them your
leftovers that you don’t want but don’t want to waste. You can even feed birds your leftovers but
you should only give them tiny portions since they are so small they can’t eat a lot (Gremanbini.)
The last thing you can do with your foods is create a compost using things such as eggshells,
banana peels and vegetable peelings. When making compost, don't use meat or grease, which
tends to slow the decomposition process and makes your compost stink (Germanbini.) You can’t
stick leftovers really in your compost but you can put coffee grounds apple cores, and stuff like
that in it to produce less trash.
As one can see, eating a variety doesn’t have to be hard and it’s very healthy for the body. Both
calcium and magnesium are found in milk, dark green vegetables, and some fish. The best way
the body can absorb these minerals is through eating the plants as close to the natural state as
possible. Through little changes in your meals every day will make you more willing to eat more
foods. While making those changes, leftovers are important to use in order to save money and
help the planet. If you have a variety different leftovers one can make a variety of different
“new” meals with what they have.
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