School started and once again I find myself lagging behind in other aspects of my life. This semester started out pretty smoothly despite the fact that I lost most of my strength and endurance due to prolonged inactivity and finding myself struggling to walk up five flights of stairs every morning. I tell myself every week that I will start exercising but with the hectic schedule I find my exercise regimen no where in sight. So instead of making time specifically for exercising I will incorporate exercise into my daily activities. I will let you know how that goes.
One class this semester particularly catches my attention - Nutrition Through the Life Cycle. The class teaches me that every decision we make will ALWAYS somehow end up affecting one or more aspects of our lives later on.
From our discussions so far, I learned that basic things that we do such as drinking alcohol or even engaging in excessive exercise may increase the risk of infertility. Also, the nutritional status and/or disease state of the mother directly affects the nutritional status and/or disease state of the newborn. For example, mothers with folate (a vitamin) deficiencies will give birth to babies with neural tube defects giving rise to an undeveloped or malformed brain. Once born, the mother's decision on whether or not to breastfeed the baby affects the chances of the baby becoming obese as an adolescent. In addition, the food choices that the family makes will influence the child's perceptions and food choices later in life as we continue to eat things that we grew up eating. Poor nutritional status as a young age may lead to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.
I find that interesting because as a female, I would like to become a mother one day. The class made me realize that the choices I am making in my daily life as of this moment can affect the future of my children before they are even born.
This not only applies to nutrition and diet but also to other things in life. Before we take any step or make any decision we need to examine its costs and benefits. Things that bring temporary satisfaction often bring permanent harm. Though the consequences are not always apparent, they will slowly sneak up behind us because many things cannot be undone. Life is a cycle, and what goes around will come around.
