Assignment 1: My Diet Analysis

During week 1, you learned about several different tools for analyzing your diet. With this assignment, you will use several of those tools to discover the quality of your diet.

There are three parts to this assignment.

Record Food Intake

Record the foods and beverages you consume for three days. Don’t leave anything out (like alcohol) or change your eating habits. I am not grading the quality of your diet. There is a diet record form attached to this assignment. You can use this to record the foods and beverages you eat. I suggest you try to include two weekdays and one weekend day. This selection should give you a better representation of what you usually eat. If you are deployed and not eating your usual foods, makeup three days, but try to select foods and beverages you would typically eat and/or drink while at home. There is no right or wrong to this assignment. You will not be graded on the healthiness of your diet, so be honest and enter what you usually eat. The goal of this assignment is for you to learn about your diet.
For more complex foods, you will need to record each ingredient. For example, if the food contained green peppers, red peppers, pineapple, pork, sweet and sour sauce, you need to write each of these down and the amount (x cups pork, x Tb sugar, x Tb vinegar, x cup diced onion, etc.). Be as detailed as possible.
Analyze Food Record

When you are done recording the foods and beverages you ate, then it is time to analyze your diet. We are going to use the diet analysis program, SuperTracker. It is available free at this URL: https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/.
Here are brief instructions. A quick start guide is attached to this assignment. Here are two websites that you may find helpful:
https://supertracker.usda.gov/sitetour.aspx (This website has many short videos demonstrating the various functions of Super Tracker.)
https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/Documents/SuperTracker_FAQs.pdf (This website has answers to many frequently asked questions)
Briefly, once you are on SuperTracker’s home page, click on the words, “Log In/Create Profile.” You can create a profile that the site will remember or you can create a profile that is not saved. You should create a login ***
Register and set up a new account. Remember to write down your username ***
You will now enter the site. Click on the word “Class” and select “Add profile.” Fill in the boxes and when everything is completed, click on the box labeled “Submit.”
On the next page, click on the words “Track Food and Activity” and select “Food Tracker” from the list.
Here is where you will enter the foods and the quantity you ate and/or drank for the three days you recorded. Be sure to divide the foods and beverages into their respective days.
You can always leave the program and come back and enter more foods later. If you have a particular product you consumed, for example, sweet and sour pork at a restaurant, you will need to enter each ingredient. If you don’t find a food when you enter it in the food search box, try a different name. For example, if you have the apple slices from McDonalds, select “apple”, not “McDonalds Apple” for the food. You can also enter the raw data from the package under My Combo or make a recipe under My Recipes. As a last resort, you may have to find a substitute. 
Lastly, enter the info requested under "Physical Activity." This information will be used to evaluate your activity level.
Once you have all the info entered, go to "My Reports" and click on “Overview.” You will see a list of reports. Have fun looking at each one.
Click on “Food Groups & Calorie Report.” Enter the first day of your food analysis and the last day. Click on “Create Report.” This is the first report you need to turn in. Click on “Export Report As: pdf” and save to your computer. Be sure the file title includes your name, for example, “ByerleyFoodGroupsCalorieReport.” What did you learn about your diet?
Now, click on Nutrient Reports. Enter the first day of your food analysis and the last day. Click on “Create Report.” This is the second report you need to turn in. Click on “Export Report As: pdf” and save to your computer. Be sure the file title includes your name, for example, “ByerleyNutrientReport.” What did you learn about your diet?
Now, click on Physical Activity. Enter the week of your food analysis and the last day. Click on “Create Report.” This is the third report you need to turn in. Click on “Export Report As: pdf” and save to your computer. Be sure the file title includes your name, for example, “ByerleyPhysicalActivity.” What did you learn about your activity?
There is one report option titled "Food Details." Click on these words. As before, enter the first day of your food analysis and the last day. Click on “Create Report.” This is the report you may find helps you complete subsequent assignments. Click on “Export Report As: Excel” and save to your computer.
Write Report and Submit Assignment

Now answer each question below. The total length of your report should be at least 500 words.
Where did your dietary intake fall short of the Choose My Plate food group recommendations?
What changes might you make to meet the Choose My Plate food group recommendations? Be specific. Discuss each food group that is less than 100%.
Which nutrients were less than 100% in your diet?
What role did physical activity level play in your dietary plan?
In closing, provide a personal evaluation of this website. Do you feel that it was informative and useful? If so, what did you learn?
In the assignment area, submit the following:
A Word document containing your answers to the five questions above. The responses should be typed in a Word file with your name included in the file title.
Your Food Groups & Calorie Report. Be sure to the report appropriately.
Your Nutrient Report. Be sure to the report appropriately.
Your Physical Activity Report. Be sure to the report appropriately.

Do not paste your responses to the questions in the text box provided in the assignment area of the classroom.

Required Course Textbook:

“An Introduction to Nutrition”. Medical LibreTexts. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Jun. 2017.