Week 8 Reflection

This is my last reflection on my studies about digestion and nutrition. As promised, I will show a graph of what I have learnt about. This graph is more of a word graph which I will write below.

Through all this weeks, I have learnt about digestion. At the beginning, I was quite unsure of how food was digested. After researching digestion, I learned how the digestive system digests our food, and how it allows our body to function. I also learned about the many nutrients in the foods that we eat. Through this, I have tried to balance my diet in order have a healthy one. This is also the importance of a healthy diet. Having a healthy diet also means we will have a good physical body. This is what I have learned throughout this journey.

This project has indeed helped my studies. I have learned much and have experienced a lot. From, trying to research about digestion to finding information about nutrients. It has been really enjoyable. Writing out my learning objectives has also helped me focus on what I want to know. I will indeed use this method again. Thank you, it has been a great time!!!

Week 7 Reflection

As my studies on digestion & nutrition come nearer to a close, I have decided to study and come out with a graph for my last reflection next week. But for this week, I have decided to talk about the future of foods, and its relation to the digestive system.

The future of foods is probably genetically modified foods. These foods have been genetically modified to make the foods taste better, ward off pests etc. Genetically modified foods are made by the insertion or deletion of certain genes in the food. The first ever genetically modified food was a tomato which could ripen without softening. The tomato was manufactured by a Californian company called Calgene. GM foods help in a certain way, but many people are avoiding it because of 1 reason, they are afraid that the foods could have negative side-effects. Although not proven, this could be true as the foods are not natural and have been modified. However, this doesn't stop consumers from buying them, saying that the foods are good.

The digestive system thus plays an important role. For instance, if the GM food has a negative side effect, the digestive system could very well be the place which rids the negative "effect". Personally, I think all GM foods would not harm us because the scientists should have taken safety precautions in the productions of this food. However, I believe that our digestive system is reliable and would expel any poisonous materials from the GM foods if needed. The digestive system indeed is a life saver to many, a marvelous creation indeed. Thank you!

Week 6 Reflection

Today, I will be explaining about my findings on how the body breaks down and uses food. Food is our energy source, but it first has to be broken down before it can be used as energy. This process of breaking down food occurs in the digestive system.
Digestion involves breaking down food with digestive juices. It starts in the mouth with salivary glands. The saliva excreted from the salivary gland help by releasing an enzyme into the food which starts breaking down carbohydrates into smaller molecules.
The next set of digestive glands is in the lining of the stomach. They produce stomach acid and an enzyme that digests protein. The food then move on to the small intestine.
The small intestine releases digestive enzymes with two other organs, the pancreas and the liver. The pancreas produces a juice which contains a wide array of enzymes to break down fat, carbohydrates and proteins. The liver produces another digestive juice, bile. The bile acid dissolve fat into the watery contents of the intestine.
The absorption of food starts in the small intestine. There are many folds called villi on the inner surface of the small intestine. Nutrients are absorbed from here. The absorbed nutrients are then transported around the body to every cell. These cells store the energy and when needed, release them. This in turn helps in our daily functions.
Indeed, digestion is important for our body to function. Without it, we would have no energy to carry out daily routines. Thank you!

Week 5 Reflection

This week, I have studied more about a healthy diet. First of all, a healthy diet must be balanced. Therefore, healthy foods should not have an over excess of anything. Also, the healthy foods are usually plant based foods. I will not present my findings.
To start off, I will use the first and most important meal of the day. Breakfast. Oatmeal is a good example for a healthy breakfast. It is ground oat groats made into a porridge. Daily consumption of a bowl of oat meal can lower blood cholesterol. Also, many different healthy ingredients such as raisins can be added, to make it more delicious. Oatmeal is surely a great choice for a healthy breakfast.
Moving on, I will talk about different types of healthy foods. Firstly, there are many great and healthy foods such as salads. Salads are great because they can be used for any occasion, and are basically comprised of vegetables and fruits. I'm sure everybody would have tried salads, and getting used to the taste is quite easy. As we can see, healthy foods can also be delicious.
These few years, our way of cooking food has become more and more unhealthy. A simple piece of chicken can be deep-fried in lots of oil. This is very unhealthy. Instead, steaming that piece of chicken would be much healthy. I'm sure our digestive system would agree with that!
I will continue on the digestive system next week. Thank you!

Week 4 Reflection

This week, instead of studying more about digestion and nutrition, I have decided to conclude on my past 4 weeks of reflections. I have learned much during this few weeks.

From my experience, I have learned that food is digested from the digestive system. The digestive system is made up of the mouth, the gullet, the stomach, the small intestine and the large intestine. All these parts play an important role in helping us to digest food efficiently.

Also, from my second week, I have learned that nutirents are useful chemicals needed by our bodies. Nutrients help our bodies stay strong and healthy. Therefore, our intake of food should have sufficient amounts of nutrients. I have also learned that an over excess of nutrients can lead to health problems, therefore, our intake of nutrients must be balanced. For example, fats should be eaten in moderation, but if we eat too much, it may lead to obesity.

For week 3 of my reflections, I have learned the importance of a nutritional diet. We must learn to have a nutritional diet as it will help as stay healthy and strong. People of olden civilisations have learned abouts this importance, and had applied it to their nation. Having a nutritional diet, can keep diseases at bay, improve our physical fitness and even our mental fitness! Also, most nutritional diets usaully consist of plant-based foods. Therefore, vegtables are a must-have for a healthy meal.

Over these few weeks, I have indeed learned to watch my diet. I did this through meals ordered at hawker centres. I tried to order food that was nutritious and yet delicious, which was successful. Ordering nutrional foods is really simple actually, you just have to know what to eat and what not to. I also tried to balance the amount of nutrient intakes through this. When eating the foods, I also knew what was happening in my body to digest the food. This really satisfied me because I knew what was happening in my body. This 4 weeks have indeed been a real blessing to me. I hope to use the information I have gathered these weeks to improve my next few weeks' reflections, and of course my daily diet. Thank you and bye!

Week 3 Reflection

For my 3rd week of reflection, I have researched about the importance of a balanced and healthy diet. Having a balanced diet means having a variety foods, and to moderate different nutrients. I will now present my findings.

Having a balanced and healthy diet, is not as simple as many people think. From my findings, I have discovered that with incentives and positive reinforcement, adapting such a diet is possible.

Before we look at the present, lets take a journey back in time. People of the past, such as the ancient Greeks and Persians, all understood the importance of a healthy diet. They knew that a healthy and balanced diet could help against diseases, improve physical fitness and mental strength.

Based on my findings, plant-based foods are the most commonly found foods in the diets of people who live with healthy diets. Therefore, plant-based foods are important for our diets.

Finally, I can conclude that it is indeed important for us to have nutritional and healthy diets. Therefore, I will soon come up with a chart of my diet. Bye!

Week 2 Reflection

For my 2nd week of the project, I have researched on nutrition. Nutrition comes from the word 'nutrients'. Nutrients are useful chemical substances needed by the body. Nutrients provide our bodies with energy and other useful substances that keep us healthy. All of these nutrients play an important role in helping our bodies stay healthy and functioning properly. Out of all these nutrients, there are five main nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. I will now fully explain these nutrients in detail.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the nutrients that give us energy. Energy as we know are important for us to function. Carbohydrates are what out bodies use to produce energy and keep us warm, and also function properly. Carbohydrates include sugars and starch. Carbohydrates are obtained from eating different foods like rice, potatoes and wheat. Though carbohydrates are important for our body, they can also be harmful. The more we eat foods containing carbohydrates, the more energy is stored up in our body. If we do not get rid of these excess carbohydrates, they will be converted into fats, and stored in our body. Over a long period of time, this could lead to weight problems.

Fats

Fats are also nutrients that give us energy. They provide our bodies with more energy than carbohydrates, when compared to same amount. Also, layers of fat under our skin help in keeping the heat in our bodies. It also protects our important organs inside our bodies. We can obtain fats from eating both plants and animals. However, overeating fats could lead to weight gain, and can easily land us into obesity.

Proteins

Proteins are needed by our bodies for the growth, repair and maintenance of cells. Proteins can also be used as a source of energy when we have low carbohydrate or fat intake. We can obtain protein from either animals or plants, namely meat, fish and eggs.

Vitamins

Vitamins protect our bodies from diseases and keep our bodies functioning. Vitamins are only needed by our bodies in small amounts. But, a lack of vitamins can also result in vitamin deficiency diseases, causing serious health problems. We need to eat food from plants and animals to obtain vitamins.

Minerals

Minerals also help in keeping our bodies healthy and functioning well. Minerals are only

needed in small amounts by our body. We can obtain minerals from a variety of food.

This week, I have learned a lot about nutrients. I hope to continue learning more about

Digestion and Nutrition in the coming weeks. Bye!

Week 1 Reflection

Hello, I am Ryan Lee from 2H(2010). For my first week of reflection, I have studied Digestion.

Digestion is the process in which food is broken down in the digestive system into substances needed by the body. Digestion is takes place in the digestive system. The digestive system consists of 5 stops, which I will elaborate on later. In the digestive system, all parts play an important role, in breaking down the food that we eat.

 Stop 1: The Mouth

As we all know, we all need food to survive, and food enters our body through the mouth. Therefore, the first stop in the digestive system is our mouth. When food enters our mouth, our teeth chew the food, breaking it down physically into smaller pieces. This plays a part in ensuring that more surface area is exposed for faster break down. Saliva is then mixed with the food. The saliva contains digestive enzymes and amylase. The tongue also helps with digestion, rolling smaller pieces of food into small balls. From this, we can see that food is digested physically and chemically in the mouth. The semi-digested food then moves on to the second stop...

Stop 2: The Gullet

To simply describe the gullet, it is a tube which connects the mouth to the stomach. The gullet does not play a part in breaking down the food, yet is vital in the digestive system. The gullet is made up of strong muscles, which push the food by contracting and relaxing. The action is in an involuntary movement called peristalsis. The food is pushed on into the third stop...

Stop 3: The Stomach

Welcome to the third stop, the stomach. The stomach is an expandable bag made up of muscles. It is expandable to help take in different amounts of food. The muscles in the stomach mix the food with a digestive juice called gastric juice. Gastric juice consists of proteases and hydrochloric acid. Proteases digest protein from the food into amino acids, while hydrochloric acid provides the acidic condition in the stomach need for the proteases to work, and also kills any bacteria which may have been digested with the food.

Stop 4: The Small Intestine

The small intestine is the fourth stop in the digestive system. It is also the place where most of the digestion takes place. There are many folds and finger-like projections called villi on the inner surface of the small intestine. The villi increase surface area in the small intestine, helping it to absorb more digested food. Water, vitamins and mineral salts are also absorbed in the small intestine. The food finally moves on to the last stop in the digestive system...

Stop 5: The Large Intestine

The undigested food finally moves on to the last stop, the large intestine. The large intestine absorbs water from the undigested food. The remainder of the undigested food is known as faeces. The faeces is later removed from the body as waste, known as defaecation.

This is the end of my 1st week's reflection. I have truly learned a lot from my first week of studying digestion. I will now continue on my learning targets for this project. Bye!

Learning Targets

-What is digestion and nutrition

-What makes up the digestive system and their functions

-What is the importance of a nutritional and healthy diet

-What are healthy and unhealthy foods

-How is food broken down