Nutrition

Dietary Analysis Ch. 3

The information you log in this assignment shall be used with all of the future dietary analyses. You can use a
dietary analyses program you find along with MyPlate, or use the website found on #1. Without changing your
diet, record in detail using the Daily Food Log, three days’ worth of food and beverage. Use a separate log for
each day. One of the days should be Friday or Saturday. Put in Dropbox for Week 3.
Analysis:
Using nutritional analysis software, analyze your daily food intakes as follows:
1. Load a software onto the computer (or on your phone) if you found one, or log on to software on the
internet. (I found a good one at: Nutritional Values For Common Foods And Products (nutritionvalue.org)
2. Choose the DRIs or related nutrient standard from Measurement of Intakes. It will take into account
your life stage and sex.
3. Enter the information from the 3-day food intake record (found in submodule in Assignments). Be sure
to enter each food and drink and the specific amounts (you may have to estimate these).
4. The software program should be able to give you the following results to be recorded in the following
table:
a. The appropriate RDA (or related standard) for each nutrient
b. The total amount of kilocalories for each nutrient consumed for each day.
c. The percentage intake compared with the standard amount for each nutrient that you
consumed each day.

RDA RDA in Percentage

Nutrient RDA (+ / -) Kilocalories
Standard Diet RDA
Proteins

Carbohydrates

Fats

Salts

5. Keep these assessments for future Dietary Analysis.

Evaluation of Nutrient Intakes
Remember it is not necessary to consume the maximum of your nutrient recommendations every day. A
general standard is meeting at least 70% of the standards averaged over several days. It is best not to exceed
the Upper Level (if set) over the long term to avoid potential toxic effects of some nutrients.
A. For which nutrients did your average intake fall below the recommended amounts, that is, to less
than 70% of the RDA/AI?

B. For which nutrients did your average intake exceed the Upper Level (if a UL has been set)?

MyPlate
This activity determines how your diet stacks up when compared to the amounts of foods from each food
group that are recommended by ChooseMyPlate.gov (you can find this under [MATERIAL] – [Links] – MyPlate).
1. Refer to your 3-day diet record. Classify each food item in the appropriate food group of MyPlate. For
each food group, indicate whether you ate the recommended amount daily for your sex, age, height,
weight, and physical activity level. Note that some of your food choices – pizza, for example – may
contribute to more than one food group. Enter a minus sign (-) if your total falls below the MyPlate
recommendations for each food group.
2. Go the following website: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/resources/MyPlatePlan and click on the button
that says “Start.”
3. You will enter your sex, age, height, weight, and physical activity level. This will give you calories for keeping
your weight and calories for losing weight. What amount of total calories did MyPlate recommend?
_____________
4. Fruits: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/fruits scroll down the page until you see “Daily Fruit Table”
and click on the arrow to show the table. Use this table to calculate the amount of fruit needed in your diet.
Record on the table under “Amount that should be ingested per day.” Fill in the amounts for your day 1 through
3 dietary analyses in fruits (i.e. 1 cup, ½ cup, 2 cups, etc.) You can look at Cup of Fruit Table to find a way to
estimate how much fruit you ate.
5. Vegetables: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/vegetables. Follow the rest of the instructions used
in Number 4.
6. Grains: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/grains. Follow instructions above
7. Dairy: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/dairy. Follow instructions above
8. Proteins: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/protein-foods. Follow instructions above
 Amount Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Average for 3 days +/-
required amount Amount Amount (day1 + day2 + day3)/3

Fruits

Vegetables

Grains

Dairy

Proteins

Submit this assignment to Week 4-5 Dietary Analysis 3. dropbox.