Alht108: diet analysis self-studies

ALHT108: Diet Analysis Self-Studies To receive full credit for your diet analysis report, please complete the following: 1. Use the SuperTracker found on www. choosemyplate. gov 2. Record your diet for 3 days 3. Review the finalized reports 4. Complete the following self-studies 5. Answer all questions and submit responses on designated date Examine Your Carbohydrate Intake: 1. How many grams of carbohydrates do you consume in an average day? 2. How many calories does this represent? 3. It is estimated that you should have at least 100 grams, and ideally much more, of carbohydrate in a day. How does your intake compare with this minimum? 4. What percentage of your total calories is contributed by carbohydrate? 5. How does this figure compare with the recommendation that 55 to 60 percent of calories in you diet should come from in carbohydrate? 6. Another dietary goal is that no more than 10 percent of total calories should come from refined and other processed sugars and foods high in such sugars. To assess your intake against this standard, sort the carbohydrate-containing food items you listed into three groups: Foods containing complex carbohydrate (foods found in the bread/starchy vegetable group) Nutritious foods containing simple carbohydrate (foods in the milk and fruit groups) Foods containing simple carbohydrate (sugar, honey, syrup, jam, jelly, candy, cakes, doughnuts, soft drinks, etc.) Estimate and include such sources as the syrup of canned fruit, the sugars of flavored yogurt and other sugars added during processing. 7. How many grams of carbohydrate did you consume in each of these three categories? How many calories? What percentage of your total calories comes from concentrated sugars? From other simple carbohydrates? Does your concentrated sugar intake fall within the recommended maximum of 10 percent of total calories? 8. Compare your fiber intake with the recommendation of 25 grams of dietary fiber per day. Did you consume more or less than was recommended? Examine Your Fat Intake: 1. How many grams of fat do you consume on an average day? 2. How many calories does this represent? 3. What percentage of your total energy is contributed by fat? 4. A recommendation says fat should contribute not more than 30 percent of total energy. How does your fat intake compare with this level? If it is higher, look over your food records: what specific foods could you cut down on or eliminate and what foods could you add to your diet to ring your total fat intake into line? 5. How much linoleic acid do you consume? (Assume that most of polyunsaturated fatty acids are linoleic acid.) Remembering that linoleic acid is a lipid, calculate the number of calories it gives you. What percentage of your total energy comes from linoleic acid? A guideline recommends 1 to 3 percent of total calories. 6. Take a guess at the adequacy of your omega-3 fatty acids by answering the following questions. Do you eat leafy vegetables, fish and seafood, or walnuts? Do you use canola oil for home cooking and for salads? If you include just one of these categories of foods each day, you may receive enough omega- 3 fatty acids. If you never eat these foods, you might want to find ways to include them. 7. How much cholesterol do you consume daily? How does your cholesterol intake compare with the suggested limit of 300 milligrams a day? Evaluate Your Protein Intake: 1. How many grams of protein do you consume on an average day? 2. How many calories does this represent? 3. What percentage of your total energy is contributed by protein? 4. Protein should contribute about 10 to 15 percent of total energy. How does your protein intake compare with this recommendation? If your protein intake is out of line, what foods could you consume more of- or less of- to bring it into line? 5. Calculate your recommended intake for protein (0. 8grams per kilogram of body weight). 6. Compare your average daily protein intake with your recommended intake. On the average, about what percentage of your recommended intake for protein are you consuming each day? If you are healthy, the recommendation is probably a generous recommendation for you, and yet you may be eating more than that amount. Research has suggested that people should eat no more than twice the recommended intake of protein. If you are eating more than this, you are spending protein prices for an energy-yielding nutrient and are displacing other important foods with too many protein-rich foods. What substitutions could you make in your day’s food choices so that you would derive from carbohydrate, rather than from protein, the energy you need? 7. How many of your protein grams are from animals and how many are from plant foods? Assuming that the animal protein is all of high quality, no more than 20 percent of your total protein need come from this source. Should you alter the ration of plant to animal protein in your diet? If you did, what effect would this have on the total fat content of your diet? Evaluate Your Vitamin Intakes: 1. Start with vitamin A. Compare your average intake with your recommended intake. What percentage of your recommended intake did you consume? Was this enough? What foods contribute the greatest amount of vitamin A to your diet? If you consume more than the recommendation, was this too much? Why or why not? In what ways would you change your diet to improve vitamin A intake? Answer theses same questions for thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin C and vitamin E. 2. For Vitamin D, answer the following questions. Do you drink fortified milk? Eat eggs? Fortified breakfast cereal? Liver? Are you in the sun enough to promote vitamin D synthesis? 3. For vitamin K, does your diet include 2 cups of milk or the equivalent in milk products every day? Does it include leafy vegetable frequently? Do you take antibiotics regularly (which inhibit the production of vitamin K by your intestinal bacteria)? Evaluate Your Mineral Intake: 1. Start with calcium. What percentage of your recommended intake did you consume? Was this enough? What foods contribute the greatest amount of calcium to your diet? If you consumed more than the recommendation, was this too much? Why or why not? In what ways would you change your diet to improve it in this respect? 2. Now think in terms of sodium. The 6-gram salt limit is equivalent to a 2400 milligram sodium limit. Six grams of salt contains 2400 milligrams of sodium. Heighten your awareness of the sodium contents of processed foods. Which foods that you eat are high in sodium? Were any of the brands of processed foods you chose out of line with the recommended values? Is there another way you could enjoy these foods without too much sodium? Would you substitute a lower-sodium food or brand for the high- sodium varieties? 3. Calculate your intakes of magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium, and compare them with the recommended intakes. If you need to improve your diet with respect to these minerals, how will you go about doing so? 4. Go on to iron. What percentage of your recommended intake did you consume? Was this enough? Which of the foods you eat supply the most iron? Rank your top five iron contributors. How many were meats? Legumes? Greens? Other? Are enriched or whole-grain products important to your iron intake? 5. Now turn to zinc. What percentage of the recommendation did you consume? What were your best food sources of zinc? What guidelines do you need to follow to be sure of obtaining enough zinc from the foods you eat? 1. 2. 3. relative to your need. Evaluate Your Food Choices and Plan Improvements: 1. The previous self-studies have revealed the strengths and weaknesses of your nutrient intakes and energy balance. By now you may be looking at foods in a new light. Knowing what nutrients your diet tends to lack, you may be interested in finding foods that are especially rich in those nutrients. If you need to limit calories, you may need to find foods that supply those nutrients for the lowest possible calorie cost. Review your food records and select three nutrients that your diet supplies in the smallest quantities Now make a list of ten foods you like and would be willing to eat frequently that might supply these nutrients in significant quantities. List the serving size of each food that you would eat and look up the amounts of nutrients 1, 2 and 3 and the calories that each would supply. Express the amount of nutrient 1 as a percentage of your recommended intake and round it off to the nearest whole number. Now express the amount of calories the food would supply as a percentage of your recommended intake of energy and enter the result. (Example: Suppose your recommended intake of energy is 2000 calories. A peach supplies 37 calories. That’s about 2 percent of your energy need for the day.) This comparison serves as a basis for finding desirable foods that supply the nutrients you most need. The higher their nutrients and the lower their calories, the more of that food you can eat without running through your calorie allowance before you have met your nutrient needs. 2. Finally, you are prepared to make a judgment about supplements. Review your records once again. In light of the food choices you are now making, is there any nutrient in which your diet falls short of the intake recommendation? If so, describe the supplement you would need and set about obtaining it.