Diet Analysis Project
This project is an in-depth analysis of your personal dietary intake. The purpose of this assignment is to gain practical experience using several different areas to evaluate the adequacy of your diet:
Comparison with the MyPlate
Comparison with the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)
Comparison with recommended Caloric Intake
Energy Expenditure Analysis
Dietary Analysis Conclusion
This assignment is NOT question and answer, but rather a guideline to help you analyze the reports printed out from the Diet Analysis PLUS.
A. 3 Day Diet Record (35 points)
Keep a record of everything you eat for 3 consecutive days. Be sure to include all consumptions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and including liquid. The more accurate your record, the more accurate the data will be for analysis.
NEXT input the daily log into My Fitness Pal will require you to sign up with an email or using your Facebook page, either one is acceptable. Once you have an account click Add Food. Print out the Daily Food Log for each day by clicking View Full Report (Printable).
B. My Plate Analysis (35 points)
Compare your diet with the recommendation in the My Plate to find how balance your diet is. This section of your project must include a written analysis of your intake, compared with the diet planning guide.
Answer the following questions and be sure to write in paragraph form:
What did you learn about your diet when comparing it with this government standard?
If your intake did not meet the minimum number of servings from a USDA Food Group (see https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/09/26/back-basics-all-about-myplate-food-groups ), then list some of the reasons why.
What nutrients are you getting from your food choices? Based on the food groups (see USDA link above)?
Did your diet provide an adequate variety of foods or were your choice monotonous?
What could you do to improve the variety in your diet?
What were the strengths of this 3-day diet?
C. Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) Analysis (30 points)
To get an accurate representation of all the dietary allowances, you are going to need to change the Settings in My Fitness Pal, so you see other nutrient tracked. Click on Settings and then choose other nutrients tracked for all 6 categories.
Print/Save the 3 days you tracked the food with those 6 new nutrients. Repeat this process until you have a printout of all 16 nutrients tracked. This will require you to print off 3 separate pages for each day, 9 pages total (use the following links to find your RDA).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t4/?report=objectonly
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t2/?report=objectonly
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t3/?report=objectonly
Answer the following questions, and be sure to write in paragraph form:
Do you meet the dietary recommendations?
What do you learn about the foods you ate from the reports (be specific with several items)?
Are you regularly including nutrient dense foods in your diet?
Which nutrients are high, and which are low?
Is it okay to be consuming less than the recommendation for some nutrients? If yes, which nutrients and why?
What could be potential problems if your intake stayed at the level it is now?
Did your suspicions of low nutrient intake from the MyPlate analysis in Part B come true when comparing to your actual intake? Why or why not?
List 3 good food sources for each nutrient that was less than the RDA – then write what changes could you make to improve the quality of your dietary intake.
How is the sodium intake? What can you do to your diet to reduce sodium?
D. Percentage of Calories Analysis (25 points)
What percentage of your total daily calories came from carbs, fats and proteins.
Compare the percentage with your daily recommendations.
Example:
Recommended Yours
Carbs 45%-65% (954-1,378 kcal) 41% (409 kcal)
Protein 10%-35% (212-742 kcal) 14% (141 kcal)
Fats 20%-35% (424-742 kcal) 16% (160 kcal)
Answer the following questions:
What do the percentages tell you about your diet?
In the chart there is the most recent recommended of carbs, proteins, and fats plus your actual intake. If your percentages were not within the recommendations, what do you think might be the reason?
What improvements could you make in your diet to meet the recommended percentages of Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats?
E. Energy Expenditure Analysis (25 points)
Track your activity for 3 days and input your data by clicking on the Exercise tab. Print/save the Exercise Spreadsheet Report for all 3 days.
Answer the following questions:
How do your total daily calorie needs compare to your average calorie intake (when you click on My Home, look at how many calories you ate compared to how many calories burned during exercise)?
What would you expect to happen to your weight if you eat at the level of your dietary analysis or goal caloric intake?
How did your energy intake compare with your actual need?
What problem areas could you see with your current caloric intake compared to your exercise calories burned?
Where can you increase your level of activity?
F. Conclusion (25 points)
Answer the following questions in your final analysis and conclusion:
How do you view your diet as a whole?
What do you think were the most important findings in your Diet Analysis Project?
Briefly discuss how the My Fitness Pal findings compare with the nutritional analysis findings.
How do the percentages of carbohydrates, fats and proteins fit into the total diet picture?
Did your intake with the RDA confirm your suspicions of either excessive or low intakes of specific nutrients?
If you take vitamin/mineral supplements, do you think they are necessary? Why or why not?
What did you learn about fiber and saturated/total fat intake?
What nutritional goals have you set as a result of this project?
Give 3 specific things you will change in your intake and activity as a result of doing this project.
G. Project Presentation (25 points)
1. The project must be submitted on Canvas.
2. The paragraphs answering the questions should be short essays, typed in 12 font, double spaced, page number at the top of the page
3. Must contain
A. Cover page,
B. Heading 1: Three Day Diet Record
C. Heading 2: Comparison: MyPlate Analysis
D. Heading 3: Comparison: RDA Analysis
E. Heading 4: Comparison: Percentage of Calories Analysis
F. Heading 5: Energy Expenditure Analysis
G. Heading 6: Conclusion
H. Heading 7: Resources/Reference Page