Evaluating Food and Nutrient Intake
Record your diet for 3 days. If you would like, there are “Diet Record” forms available on D2L. Record two consecutive weekdays (example: Tuesday and Wednesday) and 1 weekend day. Start keeping track when you wake up and continue until you go to sleep. Record all food and beverages; including water. Separate your supplements and alcohol intake for each day and write them in the provided space. Any protein powder drinks, meal replacements, etc. do not get included with food, but should be included in the supplements section.
You will enter these foods in the USDA MyPlate SuperTracker website, so include as much information as possible. The database is large….very good for fast food, not so complete for ethnic foods. Do your best to record accurately. There are some useful documents on D2L to help you record an accurate food diary and determine portion sizes.
**NOTE: The SuperTracker database is often down for maintenance and can be unreliable. Because of this, it is imperative that you DO NOT wait until the last minute to use the website.
After you have the three days recorded, go to the USDA MyPlate Super Tracker website (https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/default.aspx) to analyze your diet. (DO NOT include any supplements in the calculations for this dietary analysis.) When working on this assignment, do NOT utilize the Physical Activity part of the website. You have been instructed to collect diet data on 3 separate days because one day will not usually represent the overall diet; a variety of days is usually more indicative of overall trends in intake.
Instructions for the USDA MyPlate SuperTracker website: (also see tutorial linked in D2L)
1. Create a user profile with your information
2. Log in and proceed to food tracker (middle box towards the bottom)
3. Enter each of your foods, including serving sizes and quantity, for the day until all foods are entered. Make sure to change the date for each new day.
4. The dark blue navigation bar contains the My Reports menu link.
5. You need to set the dates to cover all 3 days you entered for each report.
5. Click on ‘Nutrient Report’, ‘Food Groups and Calories’ Report, and the ‘Meal Summary Report’ from the drop down My Reports menu. Copy and save all three reports in a word or pdf document. All three reports must be submitted along with your assignment in the dropbox. Use the information from these reports to complete the rest of the assignment.
To get full points on the assignment, you need to upload 4 files total: (1 “nutrient report”, 1 “food groups and calorie report”, 1 “meal summary report” and 1 assignment). Upload files in the Diet Analysis dropbox area. Please note that your files will go through the TurnItIn plagiarism software.
Analyze Your Findings
1) (3pts) How did your macronutrient intake compare to the AMDR?
Target (AMDR)
Average eaten (% of total cals)
Status (under, OK, or over)
Protein
Carbohydrate
Fat
2) (5pts) Explain your carbohydrate and empty calorie intake:
Question
Answer
Examples from your 3-day record
What made up the majority of your grain intake-whole or refined grains?
What percent of your total calories came from added sugars?
What percent of your total calories were considered ‘empty calories’?
What was your average fiber eaten and how does it compare to the recommendations? (See page 8|17)
Complete the fiber quiz on page 8|13. According to the quiz, is your diet fiber rich?
3) (2pts) How could your fiber intake (or lack thereof) influence your risk for diverticula? (see page 8|16)
4) (2pts) Look over your protein intake. Did you consume more animal based or plant based protein? (use page 14|7). List examples of each from your 3-day food record.
5) (3pts) Fill in the following table pertaining to fats in your diet:
Question
Answer
Was your saturated fat within the target range?
How many serving