Nutrition Project Two-Day Comparison
You will be keeping a nutrition journal for 2 days and comparing them; choose one day when you eat “healthy” and one day when you are eating “unhealthy”. Make a list of all of the food and drink you consume in one day, and make sure you note the quantities (1,2,3) and units of measure (cup, slice, tsp). Both days must have normal eating patterns, meaning do not diet and make sure you take in enough calories. Go to ChooseMyPlate.gov or myfitnesspal.com to enter in your food and drink to be analyzed. If you cannot find an exact item, break it down and enter it in individually, e.g., 1 carne asada burrito would break down into a large flour tortilla, 8 oz steak, ½ cup guacamole, and ½ cup salsa. Make sure you get the unit of measure correct. For instance, one student put in12 pineapples instead of 12 pieces of pineapple…threw
all of her numbers off.
Food Analysis (choose program)
• ChooseMyPlate.gov
o Go to:
? SuperTracker
? Food Tracker
? Create Profile and enter all food
? Print:
? Go to… My Reports
? Print Nutrients Report
? Print Food Groups & Calories Report
• myfitnesspal.com:
o Go to:
? Sign up
? Track food
? And print your results covering Calories, Carbs, Fat, and Protein
Questions you need to answer:
• CARBOHYDRATES- Examine Your Carbohydrate Intake
o How many grams of carbohydrate do you consume in an average day?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o How many calories does this represent? Remember 1 gram of carbohydrate
contributes 4 calories.
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o What percentage of your total calories is contributed by carbohydrate?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o How does this figure compare with the recommendation that 45 to 65 percent of
the calories in your diet should come from carbohydrate?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o No more than 10 percent of calories should come from refined foods/foods high
in sugars. Sort the carbohydrate-containing food items you listed into three
groups: (Make three lists.)
? List 1-foods containing complex carbohydrate (foods found on the
bread/starchy vegetable exchange lists).
? List 2-nutritious foods containing simple carbohydrate (foods on the milk
and fruit lists).
? List 3-foods containing mostly concentrated simple carbohydrate (sugar,
honey, molasses, syrup, jam, jelly, candy, cakes, doughnuts, sweet rolls,
soft drinks, etc.)
•
FAT-
Examine Your Fat Intake
How many grams of fat do you consume on an average day?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o How many calories does this represent? Remember 1 gram of fat contributes 9
calories.
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o What percentage of your total energy is contributed by fat?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o Fat should contribute not more than 20-35 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 to bring your total fat intake
into line?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o How much cholesterol do you consume daily? How does it compare with the
limit of 300 milligrams/day? What foods could you cut back on to lower it?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
• PROTEINEvaluate Your Protein Intake
o How many grams of protein do you consume on an average day?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o How many calories does this represent? Remember 1 gram of protein
contributes 4 calories.
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o What percentage of your total energy is contributed by protein?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o Protein should contribute about 10 to 35 percent of total energy. How does your
protein intake compare with this recommendation?
? Healthy:
Unhealthy:
o Compare your average daily protein intake with your recommended
intake. 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
displacing other important foods with too many protein-rich foods. What
substitutions could you make so that you would derive from carbohydrate, rather
than from protein?
• MINERALS- Evaluate Your Mineral Intakes
o World Health Organization recommendation is to consume no more than 6 grams
of salt. “Salt” refers to the salt that you shake onto foods. But food labels list
only sodium, which needs to be translated into salt. Therefore, a calculation is
necessary. For instance, translate milligrams of sodium listed on your analysis
sheets into grams of salt by dividing the number of milligrams of sodium by
400. Example: if you ate 1200 milligrams of sodium, that would translate to 3
grams of salt. Next, roughly estimate the amount of salt you add to foods. You
can weigh the salt shaker at the start and end of the day.
o Which foods that you eat are high in sodium? Is there another way you could
enjoy these foods without too much sodium?
? Healthy:
.Unhealthy
CONCLUSION:
Write two, five-sentence paragraphs describing what you learned about your diet, e.g., When
you’re eating “healthy,” is it really healthy and WHY? When you’re eating “unhealthy” how BAD
is it and WHY? What changes would you make to your diet?
o
What you will be submitting:
You will receive points for the two sets of 2 Printouts listed above, your 2 handwritten food
lists, and the typed answers to questions.
Grading Rubric
Each individual item will be graded the following way:
FULL CREDIT
HALF-CREDIT
ZERO CREDIT
Student has followed instructions and
submitted original work. The assignment
is complete and student has
demonstrated great effort in
success. Student shows critical thinking
and creativity.
Student has made an attempt, however, the
assignment is incomplete. The student has
not answered all questions or completed
each section thoroughly. And/or the
assignment lacks critical thinking and
creativity.
The student has do
minimal work and/o
submitted the work
another person
(plagiarism).
Students who choo
turn in incomplete w
or work that lacks
thought and creativ
not earn points.