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Journal 3: Personal Nutrition Assessment

Journal Reflection & Analysis: In addition to your dietary assessment results write a summary
evaluation of your dietary assessment. What did you learn from this assessment? What were your
deficiencies and strengths? Discuss at least two changes you need to make to improve your
overall dietary intake. Be sure to tell why you think those changes need to be made, based on
what you’ve learned in this part of our class.

Since this dietary assessment only showcased my nutrition for one day, it does not show

if I am continually meeting or exceeding the recommended dietary guidelines for my age group.

This assessment was helpful to see what areas I need to monitor regarding my nutrition and to

understand what foods I need to eat to meet my recommended nutritional guidelines. From the

evaluation of my dietary assessment, I had more weaknesses than strengths. This tells me my

dietary habits need to change to become healthier.

My weaknesses included going over the recommended amount and not meeting the

recommended amount for certain aspects of nutrition (deficiencies). I went over the

recommended amount for the following: fat, saturated fat, trans fatty acids, vitamin K, and

sodium. My deficiencies include the following: linolenic acid (O-3), linoleic acid (O-6), water,

vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, thiamin, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium,

copper, selenium, fluoride, vitamin B12, and choline.

Even though there were more weakness, I still had some strengths from the assessment.

The strengths were portrayed in three ways: meeting the goal, being right below the goal by a

few numbers, and a couple numbers over the goal. The strengths where I met the goal were

cholesterol, carbohydrates, sugars, phosphorous, zinc, and manganese. The strengths where I was

right below the goal were protein, fiber, riboflavin, and calcium. Niacin

There are numerous things I learned from taking this assessment. I learned I am not

drinking enough water. I am not obtaining any vitamin D from my food. I am eating too much
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sodium, saturated fat, and sugar than the recommended limit set for people my age. This can lead

to numerous health issues if I continue to eat this way or worse. I also learned that I am not

eating enough foods that contain linolenic acid (O-3). I also need to increase my intake of

vitamins because the values were very low compared to the guidelines set by the DRI. I

definitely need to change some aspects of my diet for me to meet the ranges that are set in the

DRI.

One change I could make is to incorporate more fresh fruit into my diet. Fruit can

increase the amount of fiber and contain the vitamins I am lacking in my diet. Another change I

could make to my diet is to incorporate fish to boost my linolenic acid (O-3), which are good fats

to have. Incorporating fish into my diet can also help me gain the few points I need for protein to

meet the guideline.