Student ID(s)#:0309439 Student Name(s): Meagan Brandon Team Name: N/A Lab Assignment #: 6 Lab Title: PLM Date: 150430 PURPOSE / OBJECTIVE(S): To analyze my hypothetical personal nutrition for a light, average, and heavy food intake day. SUBJECTS; 27 year old female, height 5 foot 10 inches, roughly 185 pounds HYPOTHESIS: Caloric intake and nutritional benefits should be lower then an average day and even though the caloric intake will be higher on a heavy day the nutritional benefits will still be lower than an average day. I will consume more empty calories on the heavy day than any other day. The average day should be the best example of a well balanced diet, either meeting or nearly meeting my daily goals in fruits, vegetables, dairy, grains, and protein. I should be under on recommended nutrient levels on nearly every category on a light day. I should be over on recommended nutrient levels in nearly every category on a heavy day. METHODS / TOOLS / INSTRUMENTATION / PROCEDURES; Signed up for an account at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/supertracker so that I could keep track of my daily food intake for specific types of eating for various days. I logged hypothetical daily meals for a light caloric intake day, an average caloric intake day, and a heavy caloric intake day. Page 1 of 20
The three days are described below: Page 2 of 20
RESULTS TABLES: Table 1 shows nutrient report for my light day. Table 2 shows nutrient report for my average day. Table 3 shows nutrient report for my heavy day. Table 4 shows food groups and calorie report for my light day. Table 5 shows food groups and calorie report for my average day. Table 6 shows food groups and calorie report for my heavy day. RESULTS FIGURES: Figure 1 shows total calorie intake for the light, average, and heavy day. Figure 2 shows empty calories intake for the light, average, and heavy day. Figure 3 shows protein intake (in grams) for light, average, and heavy day, as well as the % of calories from protein for that day. Figure 4 shows my Carbohydrate intake for the light, average, and heavy day as well as the % of calories from Carbohydrates. Figure 5 shows my total fat intake for the light, average, and heavy day. Figure 6 shows my Cholesterol intake for a light, average, and heavy food intake day. Figure 7: Shows my Sodium intake for a light, average, and heavy food intake day. Figure 8: Shows my Folate levels in a light, average, and heavy food intake day. Page 3 of 20
ANALYSIS TABLES: Table 1 shows that on a light day I am under the recommended levels on most categories, however I was surprised to see that even on an extremely light eating day I was still in the ok range for categories such as protein, fat, and cholesterol. It proves that it really does not take much food to reach the recommended levels. Table 2 shows that on an average day I am in the OK range of recommended levels in most categories. I was happy with this finding because the food I recorded for this day is close to a typical day for me, which means I am getting most if not all the essential nutrients I need throughout the day on a regular basis. Table 3 shows that in some of the categories such as calories, fat, and cholesterol I am extremely over the recommended daily intake. I expected this to be true, however I did not expect to be in the OK range for as many categories as I was. Tables 4 shows that on a light day I do not eat all the essential foods from each of the different food groups and this directly correlates with the small amount of calories acquired for that day. Surprisingly, I still managed to eat enough refined grains for that day even though I ate minimal amounts of food, Table 5 shows that even on an average day I do not eat enough whole grains, fruits, or vegetables. My calorie and fat levels are good. It surprised me that I was still low on so many categories for the average day. Table 6 shows that even though I was way over on my calorie intake for the day, in the food groups such as fruits, vegetables, protein, and grains I was still under the recommended daily limits. This means that the high calorie count is due to high fats and empty calories which provide little nutritional value. Page 4 of 20
ANALYSIS FIGURES: Figure 1 shows that the light food intake day has the lowest caloric intake where as the heavy food intake day has the highest caloric intake. This comes to no surprise, the more food you eat the more calories you ingest. However it is possible to eat small amounts of food and have high calorie counts if the food you are eating are high calorie foods. Figure 2 shows that on my light and average food intake days I was below the recommended limit for empty calories and to no surprise I was well above the limit on my heavy food intake day. I was happy to see that on my average day I still manage to stay in the healthy zone and thought it was very interesting that on the heavy day nearly half of my total caloric intake was empty calories. Figure 3 shows that as my food intake increased so did my protein levels. It makes sense that the more food ingested would correlate to more protein ingested. What was interesting is that the percent in calories from protein had the exact opposite trend line that total amount of protein from each day. Figure 4 showed the same kind of increase as figure 3. The heavier the food intake the more carbohydrates, however the percent of calories from carbohydrates stayed relatively the same between the light, average, and heavy food intake days. I found this to be interesting. Figure 5 shows the percent of calories in fat. I was surprised by how little the percentages changed from the light, average, and heavy food intake days. It worried me that even though I was within the limit for the average day I was close to going over, This is something I must watch out for. Figure 6 shows that on my light and average days my cholesterol levels are pretty close to the same. It came to no surprise that on a heavy food intake day the cholesterol levels would be extremely high. Figure 7 shows a steady increase in relation to the amount of food ingested and the increase in sodium levels. On a light food intake day I was below the recommended sodium levels. On the average and heavy food intake day I was above the recommended sodium levels, with the heavy day being the highest. This showed me that I need to watch my sodium intake on my average day. Figure 8 showed the same kind of trend line as many of the other nutrients. The amount of food ingested directly correlates to folate levels. As a woman I was happy to see that on the average day I meet and exceed my recommended folate levels. Page 5 of 20
Table 1. Shows nutrient reports for my light food intake day. Page 6 of 20
Table 2: Shows nutrient report for an average food intake day. Page 7 of 20
Table 3: Shows nutrient report for a heavy food intake day. Page 8 of 20
Table 4: Shows food groups and calorie report for my light day. Page 9 of 20
Table 5: shows food groups and calorie report for my average food intake day. Page 10 of 20
Table 6: Shows food groups and calorie report for my heavy food intake day. Page 11 of 20
Figure 1: Shows total calorie intake for the light, average, and heavy day. Page 12 of 20
Figure 2: Shows empty calories intake for the light, average, and heavy day. Page 13 of 20
Figure 3: Shows protein intake (in grams) for light, average, and heavy day, as well as the % of calories from protein for that day. Page 14 of 20
Figure 4: Shows my Carbohydrate intake for the light, average, and heavy day as well as the % of calories from Carbohydrates. Page 15 of 20
Figure 5: Shows my total fat intake for the light, average, and heavy day. Page 16 of 20
Figure 6: Shows my Cholesterol intake for a light, average, and heavy food intake day. Page 17 of 20
Figure 7: Shows my Sodium intake for a light, average, and heavy food intake day. Page 18 of 20
Figure 8: Shows my Folate levels in a light, average, and heavy food intake day. Page 19 of 20
Conclusions / Further Considerations: This analysis showed me that it is much harder than I anticipated to reach the recommended daily levels of all the food groups. I learned that I need to work on staying away from refined grains and look for more whole grains. I learned that I need to increase my daily vegetable and fruit intake. I found that while I thought I ate relatively healthy balanced meals, my sodium and fat intake were on the higher side, something I need to watch out for. This experiment shed light on a topic that I typically don t think too much about. It made me realize that I need to take a conscious look at what I put into my body. This analysis provided me with nutritional information that I had not previously possessed. It would be interesting to see the results if I tracked my foods on a long-term scale without implementing any hypothetical situations. I plan to take the knowledge I have acquired to plan out healthy balanced meals to see how my health and body change when receiving a nutrient full diet. References / Literature Cited: 1. 1. Food Tracker Website https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/ 2. 2. Choose My Plate http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ Page 20 of 20