Diet Analysis Project Using Cronometer

Diet Analysis Project Using Cronometer

Choose one of the following 4 projects.

Submit on d2l in assignments folder

Diet Analysis Project

Diet Analysis Project Using Cronometer

Must purchase Gold Membership – $5.99 per month

1. Log into the Cronometer program https://cronometer.com/:

a. Start by creating a profile, which includes entering your age, height, weight, activity level etc. and register your profile. (age: 22, height: 5’2’’, weight: 95lb.

b. Purchase Gold Membership. This can be canceled when you are done with the project.

1. Record your food intake for 7 days (more is fine)

a. Open the diary tab to enter daily food.

b. Click on the meal and then click enter foods.

c. You will have a chance to select 3 nutrients that you want to track when you print your reports. Go to nutrient report – add nutrient chart.

1. Try to be as accurate as possible. You might want to measure your favorite bowl or glass to see how much it holds. If you eat out, do your best to guess how much you ate. When you are logging foods, be as specific as you can.

a. For example: turkey sandwich – 3oz turkey, 1 tea. mayonnaise, 1 tea. mustard, 1 slice tomato, 1 lettuce leaf, 2 slices of whole wheat bread. If you don’t want to log individual food items, you can pick a prepared/processed choice but your results will not be as accurate.

b. If you eat homemade meals, do the best you can. You might need to enter each ingredient individually. The program allows you to create recipes or typical meals that you can name and use to make entering food easier. Please note that if you create recipes and enter servings of a personalized recipe, I will need to see what the recipe is to accurately provide you feedback. Please include your recipe(s) as an attachment. There is a recipe tool in this program. Click the foods tab and then new recipe. Make sure to adjust the number of servings.

c. Please do not enter your vitamin supplement into the program. The goal is to see how your food choices stack up. A vitamin supplement can make a poor diet look great.

d. Please note that this program will not have every brand of a particular processed food. You may need to select a product that is closest to what you would normally consume.

e. For each day imputed, make sure to save it by clicking on the 3 dots at the top right of the page and mark the day completed. If you miss a day, you can use the calendar on the right to select the date for food entry.

1. Running your Reports – 7 points for each day, 5 points for summary, profile and charts = 12 points for all printed reports.

a. Click on Trends and click on Nutrition Report

b. Unclick the supplement box – I don’t want supplements included in this report

c. Select the date range that works best to cover your 7 days or more if you skipped some days

d. Select Print Reports – make sure to unclick supplements

a. Check the boxes for:

i. Profile summary

ii. Nutrition summary

iii. Daily diary

iv. Charts – choose 3 nutrients that you want to track – click on add nutrient chart then scroll through list to choose your micro or macro nutrient. Click nutrient chart 3 times to choose 3 to track.

1. Writing up your personal analysis.

a. Start by telling me a brief overview of your experience keeping the log and what you learned about your eating habits. Ex.: “I eat late at night because I never have time to eat during the day” or “When I am out with friends, I tend to eat or drink more.” This should take about 2 to 3 paragraphs. 3 pts.

b. Look over your average report pages.

a. For every micro and macronutrient that is below 70%, you will need to take action. Do not include vitamins and minerals above 100% (except those listed below) unless they are 10x the RDA.

b. For saturate fat, sodium and iron over 100%, you will need to take action.

c. Take action! This means figuring out what you can do to change your diet to get more nutrients or alter areas of concern. What food will you eat more or less of to correct the problem? Make sure to look up good food sources. Put this information into a table. 15 pts.

Points will be deducted based on how many corrections were required in the table. If you only needed to include 5 vitamins/minerals/other dietary components in your table, and you do not include one, you will lose 3 points while if you had 15 items that were required in your table and you exclude 3 items, you will lose 3 points.

This is how I want your table to look (see below) but make sure to put all the nutrients that are below 70% or high (above 100% for iron, sodium, saturated fat or anything that is 10 times the RDA) in this chart. Do not put vitamins and minerals in this chart if they are over 100% except for those listed. This is an example only and does not mean that these are the only nutrients that need to go into the chart.

Charts for finding DRI:

Minerals: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t3/?report=objectonly

Vitamins: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t2/?report=objectonly

Macronutrients, Fiber and Essential Fatty Acids; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t4/?report=objectonly

Nutrient/Category

You will need to look up RDA for each area you are low or high

Your actual intake in grams, miligrams or micrograms

What % you consumed of the nutrient compared to RDA

Correction

(What you are going to do to increase or decrease the nutrient)

Total Calories

1400

69%

Increase calories by 489 daily by eating larger portions or an extra snack daily

Carbohydrates

Minimum 130 grams

130 grams

56%

Add a serving of whole grains daily

Linolenic Fatty Acids*

1.1 grams

.5 grams

43%

Add a serving of salmon twice per week

Fiber

21 grams

10 grams

49%

Eat oatmeal, switch to whole wheat bread

Saturated fat

22 grams

101%

Switch to skim milk, order sandwiches without cheese

Vitamin E

15mg

6 mg

41%

Eat sunflower seeds on salads

Calcium

1200 mg

800mg

66%

Add a serving of yogurt daily

Sodium

1500mg

2607mg

200%

Switch to low sodium soup, cut back on fast food

Vitamin D

15ug

.12ug

1%

Increase salmon intake

c. Sugar analysis:

You can find out what foods were highest in added sugar by holding the cursor over the no target box and it will show you all the foods that contained sugars (both natural and added). 4 pts.

· How much added sugar did you consume? Remember that this includes both natural and added sugars as this program does not separate the added from natural. Don’t flip out because natural sugars in fruit and dairy are fine.

Total sugar in grams: _________

· Look over your source analysis for sugar report, what were the top 3 foods highest in total sugar?

Food Item

Grams of Total Sugar

· Of the 3 foods you listed, do any include only natural sugars (fruit, plain yogurt or milk are the most common)?

· Do you believe any contain added sugars? Is this food something you consume often? Is this something you would consider cutting back on?

d. Looking at your average calorie intake, were you able to get all of your nutrients in appropriate amounts i.e. all categories are 70% or higher by eating that number of calories? Do you feel that it represented about what you eat or was it high or low? Are you trying to lose weight or gain weight? How will you use this information to aid your weight management plans if need be? 2 points

e. What were the 3 nutrients that you decided to track? Why did you choose these nutrients? What did you learn about each of them over your 7 days of tracking? 3 points

f. Often, low vitamins and minerals or other low essential nutrients are linked to low consumption of the different food groups. Thinking about the MyPlate Food Groups (vegetables, fruits, dairy, grains, protein, fat), do you think that any of your low vitamins, minerals or other essential nutrients were related to low consumption of any of these food groups? What nutrients come to mind and what food group would they be linked to? Complete the chart below based on your personal assessment of your diet.

i. For example: you find you are low in vitamin D and calcium. Perhaps you don’t consume much if any dairy, this might be the reason. If you are low in folate but don’t consume many green vegetables, that might be why. Please put your responses in the table below. I have provided guidance as to what to think about when answering these questions in green followed by an example response in black. 5 points

Food Group

High/Low

Impact on Diet

and Correction

Dairy

Low

Low intake of dairy could result in low vitamin D and calcium. High fat dairy will increase saturated fat intake.

Because I don’t drink any dairy my calcium and vitamin D are quite low

Vegetables – did you eat a variety of vegetables of all colors?

High

Make sure to note if you eat a variety of vegetables -leafy greens, orange colored, etc. Variety helps with attaining nutrients. Lack of vegetables could result in reduced vitamin K, A, C folate, and potassium.

My high intake of leafy greens allowed me to get adequate amounts of K, A, and folate

Fruit

Low

Low intake of fruit usually is linked to low potassium, vitamin C and fiber intake to name a few.

Low intake of fruit lead to a lower potassium level

Grains

High

Are most of your grains whole grains or are you eating mostly white or processed grains? This could impact your fiber, iron, zinc and many B vitamins.

I consumed adequate grains but they were mostly processed so my fiber was low

Oils/Fats

High

If you are eating healthy fat, higher fat may not be an issue but if the fat is from saturated fat or empty calories, this could lead to an increase in disease. Healthy polyunsaturated fats contain essential omega 3 fatty acids. Low fat consumption or poor choices could result in low vitamin E.

I have been using coconut oil which does not have vitamin E or essential fatty acids

g. Do you eat any fortified foods such as energy bars, protein shakes, fortified cereal etc. on a regular basis? Breakfast cereal can increase iron and folic acid to toxic levels. Please state what foods you eat regularly that are fortified. What impact do they have on your diet? Did they increase a particular vitamin or mineral? Speculate as to what would happen to your diet if you did not eat fortified foods? Examples would be daily consumption of fortified breakfast cereal, vitamin water, Red Bull, Luna Bars, Calcium/Vitamin fortified orange juice. D fortified orange juice or fortified soy products etc. 2 pts.

h. Some nutrients, if over or under consumed, can lead to an increased risk of disease. If you have several that are off for a disease, you are at risk. Look over your diet analysis to see if you are at risk for:

Disease

Nutrient Connection

Am I at risk?

Osteoporosis

low calcium, vitamin D, vitamin. K, low fruits/veggies, High soda intake

Heart Disease

high saturated fat from animals, high intake of animal fat, trans fatty acids, high cholesterol intake, and low fiber, high-refined carbohydrates, high refined sugar intake

High Blood Pressure

high sodium, low potassium, low calcium, low intake of fruits and vegetables, low fiber

Diabetes

overweight, high refined carb intake, low fiber, and high added sugar intake

Colon Cancer

high red meat intake, low fruits and vegetables, low fiber intake

Breast Cancer

high saturated fat intake, high alcohol intake, low fruits and vegetables, low fiber

Other Cancers

low fruits and veggies, high animal fat, processed foods

Are you at risk for any of these diseases? Base your response on diet alone not just on your family history. If you have a family history of any of the above diseases, your risk is higher if your diet is poor. Healthy food choices may help to lower your risk. If you feel you are at risk based on your report, check the box. You might not have every nutrient connection listed for each disease but if you have several, you might be at greater risk. 3 pts.

i. Out of every dietary correction that you have made above, realistically, what one item do you think that you might change/adopt in the coming months that might help improve your diet? Why? 2 pts.

Finishing Up:

1. Article Review Forms – Researching your personal nutrient issues

Looking over your nutrient deficiencies or problem areas in your diet, select 3 and find an article that discusses each particular issue. If you learned that you were low in vitamin D or some other nutrient,