3 day diet analysis
Biology/Chemistry
Instructions for Dietary Analysis Assignment
To complete this assignment, you will need to use the “Diet and Wellness Plus” software that is available as
part of the online resources from the publisher of your textbook. The directions to access the online
resources (known as Mind Tap) have been posted for you on the course Blackboard site. Once you access
Mind Tap, you can find the software by clicking on the “apple” icon that is located on the right panel of the
Mind Tap page for Sizer, Nutrition, 4
Step 1 – Create your profile.
th
Edition.
Enter your personal data here and save under a profile title. This includes your personal information. It
will not let you continue without completing this information.
Step 2 – Complete “Track Diet” & “Track Activity” for 3 days.
In this section, you need to record your food intake plus your activity for three days (2 week days plus 1
weekend day). For example,
1. Sunday + Monday + Tuesday Or 2. Thursday + Friday + Saturday.
Record/enter the food that you eat and the activities that you perform into the program as follows:
2 – Track your diet. Under the heading “Track Diet”, start by entering the day that you are recording the
food for. Then add your foods one at a time. To do this, add the food to the search blank and search the
database. Select the type of food that you ate, then enter the amount consumed and select which meal it
was for (i.e., breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack). Sometimes you
may have to substitute the closest matching item from the list. The data is saved as soon as you enter it.
When you have added everything for the first day, you will have to change the date. Once you have
completed information for day 1, you are then ready to add the data for day 2 and so on. It does not matter
what dates you use, just remember them so that you can use them to calculate your average intakes.
3 – Track your activity. Under the heading “Track Activity”, start by entering the day that you are recording
the activities for. Then add your activities one at a time. To do this, add the activity to the search blank and
search the data base. Select the type of physical activity (with intensity level) that you performed and then
enter the duration that this activity was performed. Sometimes you may have to substitute the closest
matching activity from the list. The data is saved as soon as you enter it. When you have added everything
for the first day, you will have to change the date. Once you have entered the information for day 1, you are
then ready to add the data for day 2 and so on. It does not matter what dates you use, just remember them
so that you can use them to calculate your average kcal usage (or energy expenditure).
Note – you only need to complete these two areas within the program. You do not need to complete the
“Diet and Wellness Plus” or “Track Change” parts of the program.
4 – Report. After you have added all of your food intakes and activities for three days, you will then analyze
the results. Next, under the “Report section” section, look below “diet and activity reports”. Select “3-Day
Average” and select the 3 dates used for this assignment. You must download the report and add it to the
appendix of your diet analysis report. You will also need to download and include the “Activities Spread
Sheet” which is not part of the 3-Day Average. You may need to add Adobe or CutePDF Writer so that you
can select and print to a pdf which can be put into your files. If you need help you could go to the IT
department but try downloading Adobe or CutePDF Writer first.
You need to ensure that the following 7 headings are included in the “3-Day Average” so that they can be
addressed in your diet analysis.
1. Intake vs Goals
2. DRI report profile
3. Macronutrient range
4. Fat breakdown
5. My Plate analysis
6. Intake spreadsheet
7. Energy balance
Include the “3-Day Average” and “Activities Spreadsheet” appendix section of your paper. Please refer to
the reports for further information without repeating all of the details in the discussion. You can record a
value in your paper but then refer to the appendix for further information. Use proper APA format for the
Appendices and when referring to them.
2
Step 2 – Personal Dietary Analysis Review (5-pages maximum; APA formatting, double spaced, 12point
font,)
Analyze your results looking for areas to change in your diet and/or activity levels based on what you find in
your own reports in comparison to the Canadian daily recommended values. This is the focus of your
paper; an introduction and conclusion are required because this is required in all scholarly papers. A guide
below is provided to help you with your diet analysis.
Introduction
Include a brief introduction to the diet analysis. Suggested ideas to include: Why are you doing a diet
analysis? What are your hypotheses about your own diet? How did you perform the diet analysis?
Macronutrients
Begin with a concise description of all macronutrients. Review your range for the three Acceptable
Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDR’s) for the three macronutrients (section (c) below). This data is
found in the reports.
(a) Compare your results to the recommended range of intake.
(b) If your macronutrient intake falls (or approaches) outside the lower or upper range of the AMDRs
explain how you should adjust your diet to correct this value or bring in closer to the middle range.
(c) Canadian Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs).
Carbohydrates: > 130 g per day; AMDR is 45-65% of the total caloric intake.
Proteins: 0.8 g protein per kg body weight; AMDR is 10-35% of total energy;
Fat: total fat, 45-75 g per day for women, 60-105 g per day for men; ADMR is 20-35% of total
caloric intake (< 10% should be saturated fat and < 1% should be trans fats).
Micronutrients
Review the value of each micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) from the “Intake vs. Goals” section of the 3day
report.
(As
indicated
above,
you
will
include
this
in
the
appendix
your
paper).
. (a) Identify any micronutrients (either vitamins or a minerals) that are very low or very high,
. (b) Next, select only one micronutrient that falls below the limits of the low range. This can be a vitamin
or a mineral. Explain the potential impact on your health related to the low value of this
3
micronutrient and how you will correct it in your diet. (Be specific For example, I noticed that I am
low in vitamin C so I should drink an 8 oz. glass of orange juice each morning”.)
. (c) Next, select only one micronutrient that falls above the limits of the high range. Explain the potential
impact on your health related to the high value of this micronutrient and how you will correct it in
your diet (again be specific).
Please Note: If your micronutrient values fall within the accepted ranges (Excellent for you!), however, for
discussion purposes simply select a value that approaches the low and high limits of the recommended
range.
Energy Balance
For this section, you will examine the results obtained from the “Energy Balance” section of the “3-Day
Average” report as well as the “Activites spreadsheet”. Briefly examine your energy requirements for daily
activities (Kcal burned) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) (kcal burned) in comparison to the kcal consumed.
What is BMR? What is your net Kcal? Can you improve on your physical activity habits? If so, how?
Conclusion
Lastly, summarize and highlight the key findings from your diet analysis. Does the data support your
hypothesis? Why or why not? How adequate is your diet and are your physical activity habits sufficient (>
150 min of moderate activity per week)? What changes (if any, will you make?).
Scholarly Paper Format
This assignment is a scholarly paper and is to be completed independently. You may use first person if you
would like in your writing as this is a personal analysis. Please submit your paper as a pdf file only when
submitting it to the assignment drop box on Blackboard; other files are not accepted and will be given a
grade of 0/15. A formal paper requires an introduction, a discussion section (include macronutrients,
micronutrients and total daily energy needs) and a conclusion. Correct sentence structure and paragraph
format are required.
Please follow the APA 6
th
edition http://www.apastyle.org/ to format your paper. For example, please
double-space all lines and use 12-point font. Pay attention to the margins on your paper and the order of
your reference page relative to the appendices.
Total Length = 5 written pages maximum to discuss your analysis/results (excluding the cover page,
references and appendices). Papers that are too long will not be read or marked beyond the fifth page. All
4
facts must be cited in your paper, using the APA 6
th
edition formatting. Remember to create an appendix
for the report.
CAUTION: Do not alter font or margins to allow for more space for the written report.
Include the Sizer et al. textbook in your references plus at least 2 additional peer-reviewed articles.
List the Diet and Wellness Plus Software as an electronic resource available with the text in your reference
list – you will not be referring to it but you did create the data for the appendices with it so it must be on
your reference list.