Introduction
I did not have a health diet before I went to university. I just ate what I wanted, but never thought about any kind of nutrition that the food could bring to me. I also would not care about how much I had ate as long as the food was cooked delicious. My parents would never stopped me from  eating what I wanted and they cooked various meals for me everyday. I even did not realize that I was getting fatter day by day. Actually, I never thought about my diet or nutrition problems and just ate what I liked. Maybe I thought I was healthy enough, but in fact my body did not intake enough good nutrition everyday. It is quite important  for most people to have a right direction  leading them to live healthy lives. I am living alone in America now. The food here is quite different from that of China and I need to manage what I need to eat each day. No one will arrange what I will eat, so I have to create my own menu since I am living without parents. American people are more aware of their diet  than Chinese people and this new culture of health diet helps me  to change. I have two goals to fulfill: to balance my nutrition and lose weight. It is not  easy to carry out these two because I need to control the intake and keep my diet balanced. I realize that I have changed my diet a lot after I did the research on the website. It is called ‘choose my plate’. I do not eat too much meat and intake fruits to supply my daily vitamins. I think it is a good beginning to keep my body fit.
a. Factors Affecting What I Eat
      Time is one of the factors that can affect what I eat. Sometimes I give up breakfast for I get up late and hurry to school. And I put aside supper because of worry of getting fat. I will choose coffee or bread because they are convenient to take with me. I really do not have too much time to cook at home everyday as my parents do. I never despise meals, but I forget them let alone their quality. According to my three-day food record,  I  choose cake as my breakfast and for dinner. Sometimes I do not care about what I eat because I do not have much time to wash raw materials and then cook them. My weight will affect what I eat. Like I said before, I want to be  slim-shaped, so my diet is needed to help me to lose weight and keep my health. I certainly will choose healthy food for my meals. Fruit and soup will occupy a big part of my whole diet plan. The most important thing is that those food just has very low calories. Calories from food components such as added sugars and solid fats provide little nutritional value. All the factors affect me when I choose something convenient or with low calories. However, I know what I eat now is not good enough to my health. Maybe it can help me to lose weight, but I will become weak if I always intake low calories. Our habits of life can directly affect our diet. It shows that  people of different occupations or people in various moods will be influenced in health in many ways.
b. My Diet vs. Super Tracker’s Targets / Allowance
       My records  can clearly illustrate my food targets and allowance. The first things are grains separated to whole grains and refined grains. I should have eaten at least half of all grains as whole grains and substituted whole-grain choices for refined grains in breakfast cereals, breads, crackers, rice, and pasta, but it is hard for me to cook.  Actually, I am not used to eating bread everyday. Vegetables are also needed to intake every single day, but sometimes I just pay no attention because it is quite inconvenient for me to wash in very long time. So, My data of vegetables is just under. I have no special target for fruit because I cannot eat sweet things everyday. Thus, I will not choose to eat fruit or fruit juice frequently. Dairy is not my favorite drink. I will not drink it every week. Protein foods and oil are just under the allowance. I think I did not get enough supplement for my body to absorb nutrition because I did not make a balance for my diet.
Although I am not used to American way of life and like Chinese food, I am trying to mingle with natives here. My breakfast now is composed of 1 ounce(s) Grains, ½ cup(s) Fruits and ½ cup(s) Dairy.0Morning Snack consists of 1 ounce(s) Grains and1 cup(s) Fruits. Lunch: 2 ounce(s) Grains,1 cup(s) Vegetables, ½ cup(s) Fruits,1 cup(s) Dairy and 2½ ounce(s) Protein Foods. Afternoon Snack: ½ cup(s) Vegetables and ½ cup(s) Dairy. Dinner: 2 ounce(s) Grains,1 cup(s) Vegetables,1 cup(s) Dairy and 3 ounce(s) Protein Foods.
I eat whole Grains more than 3 ounce(s) per day: 1 ounce rice, or 1 pancake. I will check product labels if it is a grain with "whole" before its name listed first on the ingredients list.
I choose soft margarines with zerotrans fats made from liquid vegetable oil, rather than stick margarine or butter. I use vegetable oils (olive, soybean, peanut, sunflower) rather than solid fats (butter) to replace solid fats, rather than adding oil to the diet. Oils are a concentrated source of Calories, so I use oils in small amounts.
c. My consumption of Calories
As computers need power, trucks fuel, daily activities of the human body burns calories. Energy needed is involved in my life. It provides power to human body, daily work,life activity, blood circulation, breathing, digestion, absorption and so on. Allowance of total calories is 2000 per day. However, my calorie intake is not enough. I ought to properly arrange my daily food group targets — what and how much to eat within my Calorie allowance. In fact, I have not reached the basic requirements.Actually, I am not surprised  because I am planning to lose weight and I do not have time to cook. That is the way it is. Generally speaking, adults need at least 1500 calories of energy every day to maintain the body. This is because even if you lie still, your body still need energy to keep warm. Cardiopulmonary function and brain function work as usual.Well, I have to add some necessary calories in my daily meals. I will not be a really healthy woman if I do not intake calories needed. Supplying me with protein and more grains seems quite important. According to my report, I have eaten too much fruit, no matter it is fresh fruit or juice. Fruits do have calories. Protein food can provide me with energy to support my task of study and brain. Why are calories important for human health? The human body needs calories and energy to survive;without energy our cells would die; our hearts and lungs would stop working and we would perish. We acquire this energy from food and drink. If we consume just the number of calories our body needs every day, we will probably enjoy happy and healthy lives. If our calorie consumption is too low or too high, we will eventually experience health troubles. I need to give myself a big breakfast to have the whole nutrition in the very first meal. This will help me to lose weight and get rid of diseases.
d. My Fiber Consumption
   Cellulose is composed of glucose molecules polysaccharide, insoluble in water and  the main component of plant cell walls. As long as we intake 10 g per day of cellulose, we can reduce 15% of the heat absorption and easily lose  8 kg of weight a month. If we daily intake more than 35 g of cellulose, we are likely to be kept from absorbing other nutrients, such as calcium, iron, zinc, folic acid,and so forth.So when my fiber diet is high, I won't forget to add some other minerals and vitamins.  I do eat many fruits in a day, but that does not mean I intake enough fiber. Sometimes I think  fruits can take the place of  vegetable in fiber. In fact, it can’t. I continue to ignore the importance of vegetable in my diet. I thought it was not necessary to take fiber everyday. Well, even I chose to eat some vegetable,  I usually ate the same thing in which I was interested. That’s a bad habit. We can find fibers in fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Fiber is part of plant  your body can't digest or absorb. It is also referred to as roughage. By classification, fiber is considered as a kind of  indigestible carbohydrate, but it is very different from other carbohydrates because it has much lower calories. Fiber is not digestible, but it is really good for the body in many ways. Eating fiber strengthens the immunity system in your gut, feeds the good probiotic bacteria there, keeps the digestive lining healthy and absorbs and filters out extra hormones, cholesterol, fat and toxins from the body. Many of the health problems we face start from a poor or sluggish digestion. Fiber helps us digest and discharge the food we eat. By increasing our fiber intake, we decrease the risks of common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity. If we do not have a correct concept of fiber, we will never have desire to eat it. Fiber has a very close relationship with digesting system, which is the very important part of our body. I need to add more fiber option to my diet to build a good digesting system.
Conclusion      
       Having nutrition knowledge and making smart choices about the food you eat can help us achieve optimum health during our lifetime. It is a key to avoid obesity, illness, and many of today’s most prevalent chronic diseases. Nutrition is just one key to developing and maintaining good health. Good health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. One will have a healthy mind, body and spirit. Nutrition is at work during our entire life course from infancy to adolescence and adulthood. That can be the antidote for many of today’s common problems, such as stress, pollution, sexual vitality and disease prevention. As for me, nutrition is translated into health, and  health bring forth freedom. Being healthy not only makes us feel great, but also helps us to enjoy life and stirs up our fullest potential. Conversely, a poor diet causes a serious impact on health and there is not freedom any more. Food therapy is emerging as the latest prevention against multiple lifestyle diseases. Experts now believe it’s better to pop an apple, rather than popping a pill.  Negative influences such as stress, shock, injury, emotional upsets and worries can have a direct impact on life-long health. The good news is that the body can heal itself,  given what it needs to do. The nutrition in certain food can naturally increase your body’s oxygen level, eliminate many sources of toxins, improve your digestion, and prevent, heal or reduce the severity of various diseases. Nutrition is various in kinds. Healthy eating is the best recipe for an abundant life. Make every bite count.