Your Food Log:
Your first task is to document your eating for one full day. You may use any format.
After you document your food intake, you will analyze your daily nutrition based on the online tool MyPlate Plan.
Your MyPlate Plan:
You will generate your own MyPlate Plan on MyPlateLinks to an external site. by clicking on the “Start” button under “Get Your MyPlate Plan”, then entering your age, gender, and activity level, then click “Submit”. female age 27, 140lb, 5’2
Then, you will see one or two blue buttons that say “____ Calories to achieve a healthy weight” and/or “____ Calories to maintain your current weight”. Select one of these options, and then download your MyPlate Plan document. You will submit page 2 of your MyPlate Plan with your assignment. You may print this document and write your responses on page 2 to help with your analysis.
Analysis:
Compare your daily food log to your MyPlate Plan. Analyze the results of your 24-hour personal food intake; make sure you sort your foods into each of the food groups:
Grains
Vegetables
Fruits
Dairy
Protein
Oils/Fats
Be specific about what foods you ate in those groups:
specific portion sizes you ate (in cups, ounces, or grams)
fat content (grams)
sugar content (grams)
sodium content (milligrams)
For example, if you ate a vegetable, you need to include what vegetable and the portion size (1/2 cup carrots).
You will compare your personal intake to the daily MyPlate Plan recommendations. You may refer to additional information from Chapter 12 in our textbook. In addition to submitting your 24-hour daily food log, and your written analysis, you will include Page 2 of the print out from your personal MyPlate Plan
Your analysis must include all of the following:
The foods you recorded over a one-day period, organized by the recommend food groups on MyPlate, and including all information outlined in #2 above (specific food item, portion size, fat, sugar, sodium).
How do your portions compare to the recommended portions from your MyPlate Plan?
Your personal goals after you analyze your daily personal intake; this will include an analysis comparing what you ate, what is recommended from My Plate, and what you need to change to increase the nutritional value in your diet.
What are your goals for changing your food purchases?
What will you add to your shelves? Remove from your shelves? Reduce from your shelves?
How will you adjust your sodium intake or purchase of processed foods with high sodium levels?
This is a college level assignment and your answers to all of the above questions need to be included in paragraph format in your analysis.
You will be graded on:
Thorough recording of your personal food intake and liquids over 24 hours including portion size, and the fat content for dairy products (i.e. low fat milk). You will include exactly what you ate in the body of the analysis.
Accurate and supporting evidence from your MyPlate Plan
Providing a copy of your MyPlate Plan on a second page separate from the body of your analysis
Rationale must reflect your understanding of a healthy food plan including portion size and why it is important for a healthy diet
Format of your analysis needs to be in paragraph format using complete and coherent sentences
Grammar, spelling, college level writing
Tips for success:
Be sure to include all food and beverages that you consumed on your daily food log, even if they are empty calories or do not fit into one of the main food groups (for example, chips, crackers, candy, and other snacks).
Please focus on including all food groups in your analysis. The goal is to have balanced nutrition across all of the food groups. If calorie guidelines are met, but only 1-2 food groups are consumed, this is not balanced nutrition.
Be sure to read labels and look up nutrition facts to ensure accuracy of food groups and portion sizes.
For example:
an egg is in the protein group (not dairy)
non-dairy coffee creamer is not a dairy product
The portion recommendations on your MyPlate plan are target amounts, not minimum amounts.
If your MyPlate Plan says 2 cups of fruit and you had 3 cups of fruit, then you had 1 cup more than recommended.
The goal is to match the guidelines as closely as possible while consuming foods from all of the food groups.
You may also use the MyPlate app or any free app such as MyFitnessPal, or similar, to enter your foods and get the nutrient information (this is not required, but may be helpful)