Reference no: EM133221389

Students will use the data from their profile reports and apply their nutrition knowledge from the course to this paper about their nutrition and exercise habits.

The paper should be written at a college level.  It should be interesting to read, factually correct, and free of grammatical and spelling errors. It would help if you registered in complete sentences, organized in paragraphs.  Do not write "bullets" or lists to present information.

After completing your paper's first draft, use the PDA Evaluation Checklist to review it for completeness.  Revise according to your findings.  

Organize your paper according to the guidelines on the next page.  Use underlining, bold, or larger font to set off each topic heading.  For example:

Weight and Activity Level

My Body Mass Index (BMI) is 23.6, which puts me in the "Healthy Weight" category......."

What to Write

Organize your paper using the following topic headings.  Beneath each title, I have supplied you with the information that should be included in that report section.  Treportnformation is to help you understand what to write. 

Do not list these cues in your paper.

Weight and Activity Level

In three or more paragraphs, address the following questions. (Again, do not state the questions in your paper.  They are provided here to get you started writing about this topic.).  Use your Intake Compared to the DRI report to find this information.

• How many calories did you consume during the three-day diet study, and how does that compare with your estimated needs from your profile?  If you are maintaining weight, but according to your printout, you are consuming more/fewer calories than you need, how is this possible?  What are some potential errors in your food records and the energy calculations?
• What is your Body Mass Index (BMI)? You will find this number located under your Profile in profile.  You can also find BMI calculators online if you can no longer access your profile.
• In what weight range is your BMI? Briefly describe your lifetime weight history.
• Describe your family history of diseases related to weight. (Specifically, do you or any blood relatives have chronic illnesses known to be affected by weight, such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, breast cancer, or heart disease?)
• Do you exercise regularly?  Describe your specific physical activities, sports, and exercise program.  Averaged out over a week, estimate how many minutes you engage in moderate-intensity exercise daily.

Fruit and Vegetable Choices

Refer to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for recommendations for consuming fruits and vegetables. 

• Using the information from the MyPlate report, write one or more paragraphs about how well you met the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables.  Did you eat various fruits and vegetables, as the guideline suggests?  If not, why did you not have a type?

Whole Grains and Dietary Fibers

Look at your Intake Compared to the DRI report and find the section on fiber.  You may need to reference your textbook or other sources to obtain information about which foods contain whole grains. 

• How did your intake of whole grains compare to the recommendations? Give the names of any whole grain foods you ate during the diet study period.  The 2015 Dietary Guidelines suggest that we consume at least three servings daily.  How did your intake compare to that?  If you fell short, please describe when and how you could include more whole grains in your daily diet (ex: "To add more whole grains to my diet, I could eat Frosted Mini-Wheats or oatmeal for breakfast, and .....")
• How did your fiber intake compare to your RDA for fiber?
• Describe the specific amounts over the three days.  If your fiber intake fell short on one or more days, please give at least four specific examples of foods you could add to your diet that would add more fiber.  Include the serving size of the food and how much yarn it would add.  (Ex: "I could add 3 grams of fiber by including a banana as a snack in the mid-morning", or "instead of having corn flakes in the morning, with 1 gram of fiber per cup, I could choose raisin bran with 7 grams per cup".).  Use reasonable servings and do not choose foods that are excessive in calorie content.

Fat and oil choices

• Using the Intake Compared to DRI report, calculate the percent of calories from saturated fat consumed during the diet study. It would help if you calculated this percentage as it is not part of the report. 
• Calculation to find the percentage of calories from saturated fat. Find saturated fat grams and then multiply by nine, giving you calories from saturated fat.  The next step is to divide the saturated fat calories by the total calories you consumed and multiply by 100.  You probably did the calculation correctly if you get a percentage that is somewhere in the 4-40% range.
• In a separate paragraph, describe the types of oils or solid fats (soft or stick margarine, Crisco, lard, butter) used in your home.  On average, how many servings per week do you eat commercially deep-fried foodsFrench restaurants rich in trans fatty acids?  (Examples include French restaurant fries, chicken nuggets, onion rings, fish filets, "crispy" chicken patties, fruit pies, and doughnuts.).  How well did you meet the goal of having no trans fatty acids in your diet? Remember that the "other/unspecified" category in the fat breakdown table is probably trans fatty acids.
• How well did you meet your omega-3 fatty acid goal? Discuss how often you consume fish.  Describe other sources of omega-3 fatty acids that you regularly consume (examples: walnuts, canola oil, and flaxseed).

Sugar intake

• Describe all the foods and beverages you ate high in added sugars.  This would include cookies, candy, cake, pie, pastry (including doughnuts), ice cream, soda, punch, sweetened coffee drinks, fruit drinks (unless "diet" or "sugar-free"), and cereals with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving.  Comment on your intake of sugary foods and drinks.

Sodium intake

• Using the Intake Compared to DRI report & the Single Nutrient for Sodium report, summarize your usual sodium intake.   Discuss specific foods that may have contributed to excessive sodium intake.
• Are you at risk for developing hypertension?  Why or why not?

Vitamins and Minerals

• Summarize your vitamin and mineral intake using the Intake Compared to DRI printout & the Intake Spreadsheet reports. (Ex: "On all three days of the diet study, I was low in vitamin A, folate, and calcium.  On two of the three days, I fell below 100% of the RDA for thiamin, iron, and...") Make sure to include a discussion of all vitamins and all minerals.
• Choose any three vitamins/and or minerals where your intake was low on one or more days and list three good food sources for each.  Do not use fortified products such as breakfast cereals, Slim Fast, Cliff bars, etc.  Do not say you will take a vitamin supplement.  If you were not low in nutrients, indicate this in a simple sentence.  If you were only low in one or two vitamins/and minerals during the three-day diet study, describe three good food sources for each nutrient.
• In a separate paragraph, describe whether you take any dietary supplements.  Describe what they contain.  Comment on whether or not you are reaching ULs for any of the nutrients.  Besides vitamins and minerals, list any protein supplements, fish oils, or other supplements you regularly use.
• Discuss whether or not you think supplements are necessary for your diet?  If you do not take supplements, please discuss whether or not you believe you should be or any supplements you may be considering taking based on your results.

Use of Alcohol

• Did you consume any alcohol during the diet study?  If you did, indicate whether your intake met the guidelines for moderate information: no more than one drink daily for women and no more than two drinks daily for men.  (A "drink" is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ½ ounce of hard liquor.) If you did not consume alcohol, just state that you did not drink alcohol.  You do not need to say why you did not consume alcohol.

Factors affecting food intake

Eating habits are very personal and are the product of many factors.  These factors can include your ethnicity, budget, time constraints, preferences of other people in your household, weight or diet concerns, emotional comfort, sports programs, childhood memories, cooking ability, and personal likes and dislikes.  Take a few minutes to make some notes about which factors affect your food choices.

• Wright at least one or two detailed paragraphs explaining to the reader what influences your food choices.  During the discussion, you can also mention any changes you have made as a result of taking this nutrition course, but be sure you first provide information about your total dietary influences.

Self-evaluation

• Based on what you have written in this paper, briefly describe the strengths and weaknesses of your current eating and exercise habits.
• List two or three changes you could make to improve your diet and fitness.  At least one of these must be related to diet.  For instance, general (unacceptable) statements would be, "I know I need to exercise more," or "I need to increase my intake of fruit."  Specific (acceptable) statements would be "I could take a walk for thirty minutes after dinner most days with my friend" or "I could start bringing a piece of fruit to school to eat in place of getting an order of fries at the cafeteria."