Diet Analysis Essay

Diet Analysis

Mackenzie Luck

November 2, 2013

I am doing the Choose My Plate diet analysis to get a better understanding of what I am really eating and what it does for my body. While doing this diet analysis it really opened my eyes to my eating habits, what I eat too much of and what I don’t eat enough of. Overall, I feel like I have a pretty healthy diet and lifestyle, however, when I saw the final report, I was surprised to see that I was lacking important nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. I was also very surprised to see the amount of fat and carbs I was eating versus my protein intake. The value of this project, I feel, is to be able to see what areas of your diet still need work and to see what areas of your diet are good. I think most people believe that because they eat fruits and vegetables that they are healthy. This diet analysis proves that being healthy is much more than eating a few serving a fruits and veggies.

mluck's Nutrients Report 10/26/13 - 11/01/13
Your plan is based on a 2000 Calorie allowance.

Nutrients
Target
Average Eaten
Status

Total Calories
2000 Calories
1215 Calories
Under

Protein (g)***
46 g
48 g
OK

Protein (% Calories)***
10 - 30% Calories
16% Calories
OK

Carbohydrate (g)***
130 g
172 g
OK

Carbohydrate (% Calories)***
45 - 65% Calories
57% Calories
OK

Dietary Fiber
26 g
32 g
OK

Total Fat
25 - 35% Calories
34% Calories
OK

Saturated Fat
< 10% Calories
7% Calories
OK

Monounsaturated Fat
No Daily Target or Limit
15% Calories
No Daily Target or Limit

Polyunsaturated Fat
No Daily Target or Limit
8% Calories
No Daily Target or Limit

Linoleic Acid (g)***
11 g
10 g
Under

Linoleic Acid (% Calories)***
5 - 10% Calories
8% Calories
OK

α-Linolenic Acid (g)***
1.1 g
0.8 g
Under

α-Linolenic Acid (% Calories)***
0.6 - 1.2% Calories
0.6% Calories
OK

Omega 3 - EPA
No Daily Target or Limit
7 mg
No Daily Target or Limit

Omega 3 - DHA
No Daily Target or Limit
23 mg
No Daily Target or Limit

Cholesterol
< 300 mg
182 mg
OK

Minerals
Target
Average Eaten
Status

Calcium
1300 mg
684 mg
Under

Potassium
4700 mg
2646 mg
Under

Sodium**
< 2300 mg
1987 mg
OK

Copper
890 µg
1461 µg
OK

Iron
15 mg
18 mg
OK

Magnesium
360 mg
331 mg
Under

Phosphorus
1250 mg
898 mg
Under

Selenium
55 µg
81 µg
OK

Zinc
9 mg
13 mg
OK

Vitamins
Target
Average Eaten
Status

Vitamin A
700 µg RAE
1414 µg RAE
OK

Vitamin B6
1.2 mg
2.3 mg
OK

Vitamin B12
2.4 µg
3.6 µg
OK

Vitamin C
65 mg
142 mg
OK

Vitamin D
15 µg
2 µg
Under

Vitamin E
15 mg AT
21 mg AT
OK

Vitamin K
75 µg
165 µg
OK

Folate
400 µg DFE
684 µg DFE
OK

Thiamin
1.0 mg
1.9 mg
OK

Riboflavin
1.0 mg
2.2 mg
OK

Niacin
14 mg
22 mg
OK

Choline
400 mg
251 mg
Under

Information about dietary supplements.

** If you are African American, hypertensive, diabetic, or have chronic kidney disease, reduce your sodium to 1500 mg a day. In addition, people who are age 51 and older need to reduce sodium to 1500 mg a day. All others need to reduce sodium to less than 2300 mg a day.

*** Nutrients that appear twice (protein, carbohydrate, linoleic acid, and α-linolenic acid) have two separate recommendations:

1) Amount eaten (in grams) compared to your minimum recommended intake. 2) Percent of Calories eaten from that nutrient compared to the recommended range.

You may see different messages in the status column for these 2 different recommendations.

Total Calories

1. What was your average caloric intake for the 7 days?
My average caloric intake for the week was 1,215 calories a day.

Show More

Diet Analysis Paper