Personal Diet Analysis Project Assignment.. INSTRUCTIONS
Personal Diet Analysis Project – Instructions
OVERVIEW
Part 1: Before
Students will complete an in-depth, honest diet self-analysis that includes data entry into the diet tracking app of their choice, containing five to seven (5-7) days of food and fluid consumption, as well as activities/exercises performed, which are then compiled into a comprehensive report describing the results. Students will use this information to analyze and write a detailed report on the current state of their diet, including their own specific recommendations for self-improvement. [50 Points] Part 2: After
Students will choose a minimum of five (5) factors to improve on, based on the results of Part 1. Students will implement these improvements for a five to seven (5-7) day period, recording all intakes and activities as in Part 1. Once again, this data will be compiled into a report describing the results, and students will use this information to analyze and write a detailed personal reflection on the results of their journey of self-awareness and improvement. [50 points]
INSTRUCTIONS = Part 1.
This analysis consists of your evaluation of data generated from the diet tracking app or program you chose to use. Attach the data reports (see list below) as appendices to the back of your written analysis (MSWord Document) paper and submit IN CLASS on the due date.
- RECORD YOUR DIET & ACTIVITY FOR 5-7 DAYS –
Try to eat normally, act normally and do NOT try to be “good”! I do not grade WHAT you ate or how active you are…just your self-evaluation of diet/exercise habits. This is the time for an honest assessment of your actual eating habits. The days should be consecutive. Include all food/drinks including water and alcohol. Please don’t add in your vitamin supplements since they will throw off your numbers significantly. I want you to see the nutrients that your actual food intake provides.
- ENTER YOUR DATA INTO YOUR DIET TRACKING APP –
Next, you will enter your 5-7 days of data into the app. You must choose an app that allows you to A. track both intake and activity and B. export to Excel or print the data as a report. If you really like a particular diet tracking app that doesn’t allow activity tracking, you can use 2 different apps; one for food and one for activities.
SCC | NUTR&101 | ROBINSON
- GENERATE YOUR DIETARY ANALYSIS REPORTS –
This is the data you will use to complete the written analysis explained below. You need to generate reports containing ALL of the following data:
- Daily Calories
Macronutrient Ranges
- Fat Breakdown DRI Report
- Sugar Breakdown Daily Food Log
Export to Excel or Save in PDF file format so that you can print and submit them with your written report. You may want to print out the reports for yourself; so that you will have easy access to them as you do an analysis of each day in the written report listed below.
BEGIN YOUR PART 1 WRITTEN ANALYSIS HERE:
- EVALUATION OF CALORIES (5 POINTS)
a. Does the caloric intake meet your needs? Consider if your recent weight is comfortable for you or if you would like to gain or lose weight.
b. What adjustments could you recommend if a change is needed?
- CARBOHYDRATE EVALUATION (10 POINTS)
- How many grams of carbohydrates did you consume daily?
How many kilocalories do they represent?
What percentage of your total calories were obtained from carbohydrates?
Compare this percentage of calories with the Recommended Percentage of Carbohydrates for a good diet plan.
- Divide and chart all your carbohydrate foods into 3 Categories and calculate how many grams of carbohydrates were consumed in each of the categories. (List foods/grams in each) You will obtain this information from your report under the carbohydrates. (This will be a graph you will construct). You should use a graphing program like Excel to graph the information.
Category 1:
Complex Carbohydrate foods (Bread, pasta, grains, etc)
Category 2:
Nutritious Simple Carbohydrates (milk sugars and fruit sugars) Category 3:
Concentrated Sugar foods (candy, cakes, donuts, soft drinks, etc) Discuss what you observed in the patterns of the chart.
- What percentage of your total calories was derived from concentrated sugar foods? Use “Category 3” above to total grams of sugar foods.
Convert grams to calories by multiplying grams by 4 (4 kcal/gram for carbohydrates). Make a ratio of the average calories of sugar per day with your total average calories per day to obtain % of sugar calories =
Average Sugar Calories divided by the Average Day Calories X 100 = % of daily calories that were sugar.
NOTE: Nutritionists recommend 10% or fewer sugar calories per day.
- Based on this diet, estimate how many pounds of sugar you may consume in one year. Total your grams of sugar for the 3 days and obtain an average gram for 1 day. There are 365 days in a year and 1 pound of sugar = 454 grams. Average daily sugar grams times 365 days divided by 454 = pounds of sugar per year consumed. Compare to the average sugar consumption of the average American per year.
Do you feel this is a normal sugar consumption pattern for you? Why or why not?
- How much fiber did you consume? How does this compare to the recommendation of 25 grams per day? What foods provided fiber in your diet? If low, what foods could you add to your diet to increase the fiber content?
- EVALUATION OF FATS/LIPIDS: (10 POINTS)
- How many grams of fat did you consume daily?
How many kilocalories do these represent?
What percentage of your total calories per day were fat calories?
How does yours compare to the recommended percentage of fat per day for American?
b.How much-polyunsaturated fat did you consume? How does this compare to the recommendation of 20% of calories? How much saturated (animal) fats did
you consume? How does this compare to the recommendation of 10% of calories?
- How much cholesterol did you consume daily? How does this compare to the recommendation of not more than 300 mg daily? Which food contributed the highest levels of cholesterol in your diet?
- Discuss and summarize the nutritional implications of these food choices.
- EVALUATION OF PROTEIN (5 POINTS)
- How many grams of protein did you consume daily?
How many kilocalories do these represent?
What percentage of your total calories daily was protein?
How does this compare to the recommendation for Americans?
b.Calculate your personal protein needs (see text) and compare your actual protein intake with your need. The baseline calculation is 0.8 times kg in body weight. (To determine wt in kg: divide your weight in pounds by 2.2)
- Chart a comparison of dietary protein sources from ANIMAL vs PLANT. (This will be a chart you will construct) List the foods, grams, and totals of protein provided in each category. If you take a protein supplement, you may discuss that in this section. It has been suggested that 2/3 of our protein sources should be from plant and 1/3 from animals. How did yours compare? What effect does your protein sources contribute to your total fat intake for the day? Should your pattern be adjusted? How?
- EVALUATION OF VITAMINS: (10 POINTS)
In general, answer these questions for each of the vitamins in your analysis:
- What percentage of the RDA did you consume?
- Which foods contributed the most of the vitamin in your diet?
- Water Soluble Vitamins:
- Suggest alternative food sources and amounts for Riboflavin for people who do not like to drink milk?
- Suggest alternative food sources and amounts for Vitamin C for people who do not like citrus fruit?
b.Fat Soluble Vitamins:
- Was most of your Vitamin A derived from animal or plant sources?
What foods contributed the most Vitamin A in your diet?
- Evaluate your Vitamins D, E, & K adequacy by discussing the implications of the following questions:
- Do you drink fortified milk in adequate amounts to obtain Vitamin D? Do you eat fortified breakfast cereals to obtain Vitamin D?
Are you in the sun frequently so that adequate amounts are converted from Ergosterol in the skin?
- Did you eat vegetable oils to obtain adequate amounts of Vitamin E (1 tsp. Per day is adequate)
- Vitamin K: Available in green leafy vegetables, did your diet include Green leafy vegetables in adequate amounts to obtain Vitamin K?
Antibiotics destroy the microflora production of Vitamin K in the small intestines. Have you been on antibiotics?
Discuss
- EVALUATION OF MINERALS: (5 POINTS)
a. Calcium: Did you meet your RDA levels? What foods contributed the most calcium in your diet?
- Sodium: Estimate your sodium intake daily. Approximately how much salt do you add to your foods (1 tsp. = 2 grams of sodium)? How does your diet compare to the recommendation of 1 to 3.3 grams of sodium per day? What foods contributed the most sodium to your diet?
- Iron: What percentage of your RDA did you consume? Which foods provided the most iron in your diet? Since heme-iron (blood source/meats) are more easily absorbed by the human body when compared to iron in plant sources, which type of iron did you consume? Give implications for nutritional adequacy.
- SUMMARY (5 POINTS)
{1-2 page (double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1” margins}
- In general, what did you learn about your eating patterns and nutritional adequacy by completing this preliminary analysis?
b.What surprises did you find?
- If you were a professional nutritional counselor, what SPECIFIC advice would you give yourself regarding changes in your diet that would provide better nutritional status for you? You need to list at least 10 specific recommendations to better meet your nutritional adequacy.
INSTRUCTIONS = Part 2
For the second part of the project, you will choose 5 of the 10 recommendations you made in Part 1 based on your analysis. You must choose at least 1 macronutrient and 2 micronutrient intakes to improve. The simplest way to do this is to plan meals for the entire 5-7 days that will fulfill your recommendations. After applying these improvements for a 5-7 day period, you will then create new reports and do some of the same analyses as in Part 1.
- RECORD YOUR IMPROVED DIET & ACTIVITY FOR 5-7 DAYS –
Include all food/drinks including water and alcohol. Remember not to add in your vitamin supplements, since they will throw off your numbers significantly.
- ENTER YOUR RECORD INTO YOUR CHOSEN APP –
Next, as in Part 1, you will enter your foods/drinks and your activity in your tracking app for the entire 5-7 days.
- GENERATE YOUR IMPROVED DIETARY ANALYSIS REPORTS –
This is the data you will use to complete the written analysis, encompassing your 5-7 day period. You will use the data to generate the same reports as Part 1:
- Energy Balance
Macronutrient Ranges
- Fat Breakdown
DRI Report
- Sugar Breakdown Daily Food Log
Save in PDF file format so that you can submit the file with your written report to CANVAS. Refer to the Part 1 instructions for more information on how to analyze each report.
BEGIN YOUR PART 2 WRITTEN ANALYSIS HERE:
- RE-EVALUATION OF CALORIES (5 POINTS)
Determine your caloric intake compared to goals.
- MACRONUTRIENT RE-EVALUATION (15 POINTS)
Determine your carbohydrate, fat/lipid, and protein intakes compared to goals.
- MICRONUTRIENT RE-EVALUATION: (10 POINTS)
Determine your vitamin & mineral intakes compared to goals.
- REFLECTION (20 POINTS)
{1-2 page (double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1” margins}
- List the 5 areas of improvement that you chose to address for Part 2, and specifically HOW you decided to deal with each of them.
- Summarize the conclusions from your analysis (A, B, & C above): What was your calorie consumption/energy balance? Does your improved diet meet your calculated macronutrients needs? Does it satisfy the RDA values for your vitamins and minerals? If not, where are you still lacking in nutrients and by how much?
- Discuss the overall nutritional value of your five-day menus. Is your diet more nutrient or energy dense? What are the most nutrient dense foods you consumed? Which foods are the most energy-dense foods you consumed?
- Discuss the difficulty or ease of planning your improved diet. Were you able to stick to your planned menus or did you eat foods that were not on the menu, or conversely fail to eat foods you had planned?
- Overall, how do you feel about your project? What have you learned from knowing the facts about your nutritional state and working to improve it? What (if anything) do you think you will take away from the experience?
- In what ways do you think the project might be improved?
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Personal Diet Analysis Project Assignment.
• Affordable Rates – (15 – 30% Discount on all orders above $50)
• 100% Free from Plagiarism
• Masters & Ph.D. Level Writers
• Money Back Guarantee
• 100% Privacy and Confidentiality
• Unlimited Revisions at no Extra Charges
• Guaranteed High-Quality Content
