Your Tasks
TASK 1- FOOD LOG
You will keep a 3-day food log, where you will record the meals and snacks, along with their nutrients, that you ate throughout each day. You can choose to track this using Cronometer or the provided Word document.
Actions
This week’s focus: water, sodium, potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, calcium, and iron.
You may record carbohydrates, fat, and protein; however, they are not required for this week. Please see the Everything You Need to Know About- DIETARY ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENTS page for more specific details on this process. TASK 2- ANALYSIS
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences:
In regard to last week’s ‘challenge’-Did you try your protein/fat additions or replacements? If so, how did it go?
In regard to water-Did you meet the recommendations for water intake? What are considerations that a person needs to make when determining water needs?
What drinks do you mainly drink to meet fluid needs? Do you think that those are healthy choices (caffeine, alcohol, sugar)?
In regard to micronutrients-What is your fruit and vegetable consumption like? Are you meeting recommendations? What are ways that you can increase your consumption?
What were your averages for salt, potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, calcium, and iron? Were these values above, below, or at the recommended values? Did these averages surprise you?
Were you taking a multivitamin prior to this course? After seeing these values, do you think you will continue taking the multivitamin or will you start taking a multivitamin? Why or why not?
Looking forward-What are foods that you can start eating in order to increase the above micronutrients (except salt!) in your diet?
What are ways that you can cut back on salt in your diet?
Purpose
In short, the purpose of these assignments is to practically apply what you are learning in your day-to-day life.Assignment Components
ASSIGNMENTS 1 AND 6
The only task for you in these two assignments is to answer a series of questions. Assignment 1 will assess your current understanding of nutritional topics, and will allow you to examine your current dietary practices. Assignment 6 will involve a reflection of what you learned via the course and the dietary analysis assignments. Please complete both of these assignments using complete sentences. More specific instructions can be found in the assignment pages. ASSIGNMENTS 2-5
In assignments 2-5 you will have two tasks and a “challenge”: TASK 1- FOOD LOGYou will complete a 3-day food log during Weeks 2-5 of the course. We are doing 3 days in order to get a basic understanding of our eating trends, although you are welcome to track for more days in order to have more robust data.. You can choose which consecutive days you complete the log; however, I would strongly encourage you to do the log between Monday and Friday since we are generally more consistent in our eating habits during these days (example- parties and other celebrations are more likely to occur on weekends). You will be responsible for recording a list of the foods/beverages from each meal/snack, as well as their serving sizes and nutrients. Students have several options for accomplishing this:Using the Word document provided for the week 2-5 assignments.I have created a space for you to record your meals, and specify which nutrients you need to track for that particular week. Pros of this option- This option is best for students who are less comfortable using technology, and would prefer a simpler form of tracking. This also provides students the opportunity to print the document for easy recording access throughout the day. Cons of this option- Nutrition analysis is done manually. In other words, it requires an understanding on reading a food label. Also, you will need to type everything up at the end of the week should you choose to print and record manually. One tool that can help in obtaining nutrient values for fresh foods is the FoodData CentralLinks to an external site. from the USDA. Using the website CronometerLinks to an external site..You also have the option of utilizing an online tracking tool. For this class we will be using Cronometer, since it provides more information compared to other free nutrient trackers. If you already have a paid subscription to a service like MyFitnessPal then you are welcome to use that.
This is similar to using the Word document; however, you will track your nutrition using their database. I provide step-by-step instructions for how to use Cronometer on the following page. Pros of this option- This is best for students who are more comfortable using technology. Also, you can save meals that you commonly eat, which makes the tracking process faster in the long run. The biggest pro of this option is that the nutrition analysis is done for you, as opposed to manually logging each nutrient,
Cons of this option- There is a slight learning curve when it comes to how the tracking process works. Also, you will need to keep in mind that the food selections and nutrient information are based on the site’s users, which means that they might not be 100% accurate and they might not have certain brands…this will require you to use your best judgment. Finally, you will need to remember to take screenshots or download a file for assignment submission. Using a combination of bothFinally, for some of you it might be easiest to utilize both the Word document and Cronometer. Pros of this option- This allows for the greatest flexibility. During the week you can simply write down the foods that you ate in the Word document (printed or online). Then you can use Cronometer at the end of the 3 days so that you don’t have to figure out the nutrients on the food label. Cons of this option- This option will require the most work, since you are essentially recording your food twice. TASK 2- ANALYSISThis is similar to Assignments 1 and 6 in that you will be answering a series of questions in complete sentences. Questions will be based on the specific nutrients that I am asking you to focus on for that week. Here are examples of what some questions will look like:What was your average [nutrient(s) for the week] this week? Is this within the daily intake range? Were you surprised? What foods contributed to these values? What type of [subcategory of nutrient] did you consume the most of? Did this affect how you felt physically? THE WEEKLY “CHALLENGE”In Task 2 I will ask you to think of 2 food swaps that relate to the nutrient focus for that week. I then present you with the challenge of actually implementing those swaps during the next week’s food log. You aren’t required to participate in the challenge; however, I will ask you about it in the following week’s Task 2 questions.
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