Nutritional Dietary Analysis Paper

Dietary Analysis I try to have a well-balanced diet but since doing this food diary, I have realized that my diet is not as good as I thought it was. I partially blame this on the fact that I am in college, living on a budget, and I do like to eat out with friends on the weekends. For the first day that I recorded my food intake, I was at sorority recruitment, which I ran, and I wasn’t really able to eat anything in my apartment. I was out for most of the day and actually had to have food, Chipotle delivered to the school. I don’t typically have food delivered because finically it doesn’t make sense. On Monday it was the final day of recruitment, Bid Day. So while all the meals were very typical for me, the snacks were not. Our theme was Candylane, so I was surrounded by candy and baked goods. I ate a lot of sugary things and took note of them in my food diary. For me, Tuesday was probably the day that most reflects my diet. Vegetables: I know that I should eat more vegetables and when I go home, I’m stuffed full of them. But when it’s up to me to eat them at school, I tend to fall short. The recommended daily amount is 2.5 cups daily, which is more than I would eat on average. I only ever have vegetables for dinner and that’s not every night. For me, I think the best way to get more vegetables into my diet would to have them for snacks. As of right now, I have junk food snacks in my room whereas all the fruits and vegetables are in the refrigerator in the kitchen. So when I am studying I tend to reach for the snacks in my room, which are not healthy. I also tend to pack a lunch or snack for work. I think that instead of packing pretzels, I’ll try packing some carrots in a reusable container. Fruits: The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends 2 cups a day and for those two cups to be whole fruits, not dried or canned. I fell short of this as well. The only time I ate fruit was when I had applesauce that had a lot of added sugar, which I didn’t need. As well as fruit snacks, which I personally don’t count regardless of the box saying it’s made with real fruit juice. I think adding fruit at breakfast is a good first step at starting to fix my diet. I don’t eat a very large breakfast and then I get hungry and have to eat a snack before lunch. If I ate my typical breakfast and took a banana or an apple to class with me as a snack it would be a lot healthier. I’d also probably need to make sure that I only eat applesauce in moderation. I should lean more toward eating whole apples rather than their sugary cousin. Whole Grains: The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends 6 oz of whole grain a day. I never eat whole grain so not one of these days did I eat or even come close to the recommendation. This has really opened my eyes and has made me want to remedy it. I love carbs but I never really feel good about eating them. If I worked in some whole grains I might still eat too many carbs but at least I’ll be getting the benefits of whole grains. I would probably start with a whole grain pasta since it is my guilty pleasure. Fats: The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends only 27 grams of fat a day. My total fat for the average of the 3 days was 49 grams. My average is almost double that of the recommended value. For Sunday the Chipotle chips that I ate had a lot of fat, 27 grams. On Monday, the lasagna I ate had the most fat per item of food that I ate, totaling in at 15 grams. Finally, for Tuesday the item of food that had the most fat was the Purdue chicken pattie at 9 grams. Other than the chips, this was surprising for me. I never thought that my lasagna would have the most fat per item and the same with the chicken pattie. I actually thought that the Chicken Noodle Soup I eat would be higher than the pattie. The real culprit behind the fat was saturated fat as that was the type of fat I had the most. I had an average of 15 grams per day of just saturated fat. If I could reduce the amount of saturated fat that I intake it would greatly reduce my overall fat intake. I think that the best way to reduce my saturated fat intake would to be more careful and make sure to moderate how much fatty dairy I consume. Protein: The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends 5.5 oz of high protein and my average protein intake was 64 g for the 3 days. I was actually below on my amount of protein. This doesn’t shock me because I tend to lean toward carbs instead of meat and other proteins. I think if I was able to eat eggs for breakfast that it may help. I could also eat a hard-boiled egg for another healthy snack. Sodium: Even though I make a lot of my meals at home and I am able to control how much salt I put in them, I still went over on my salt intake. The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends less than 2,300 mg per day. My average for the three days was actually under the recommendation at 2,175 mg. But I went over the sodium recommendation on both Sunday and Monday. After seeing this I will have to make sure that I pay attention to food labels while cooking. Micronutrients: I found it interesting that I met or exceeded the recommendation for Vitamin C all three days. But I was low on all the other micronutrients that I recorded for. I think that the easiest way I could help rectify this is by adding a multi-vitamin to my diet. If I do eat more vegetables, fruits and add whole grains to my diet too this would also help with my deficiency in micronutrients. Day 1: Sunday, Feb. 2 Day 2: Monday, Feb. 3 Day 3: Tuesday, Feb. 4 Day 1: Sunday, Feb. 2 Foods Calo Car ries bs Fat Prot ein Cholest Sodiu Sug Fibe Potas erol m ars rs sium Vita min D Vitam in C Calci um Iron 140 39 g 5g 3g 30 mg 190 mg 19 g 2g 3g - - - - 130 23 g 3g 2g 0 150 mg 23 g 2g - - 2% 2% 2% Burrito Salad 435 1 bowl 30 g 15.5 g 44 g 95 mg 985 mg 5g 12 g - - 70% 31% 31% Tortilla Chips 4 oz 570 73 g 27 g 8g 420 mg 4g 8g - - 2% 4% 6% 228 22g 8g 18 g 50 mg 579 mg - 6g - - - - - Fruit snacks 1 pouch 80 19 g - - - 30 mg 10 g - - - - - - Smores bar 1 bar 130 22 g 4 g 1g - 95 mg 13 g 1g - - - 15 g 10 g Prot ein Cholest Sodi Suga erol um rs Fibe Potas rs sium Vita min D Vitam in C Calci um Iron 4g 15 mg - - - 25% 25% Breakfast Pumpkin Bread 1 slice Lunch Rice 3.5 oz 0 Dinner Chicken Noodle Soup 1.5 cups Snacks Day 2: Monday, Feb. 3 Foods Cal orie s Car bs Fat 190 27 g 7 g Breakfast Eggo Homestyle Waffles (2) 360 mg 2g 55 mg Lite Syrup .2 cups 100 26 g 0 g 0g 0 mg 180 mg 24 g 1g - - - - - Chicken Noodle Soup 1.5 cups 228 22g 8g 18 g 50 mg 579 mg - 6g - - - - - Saltines 5 crackers 60 11 g 1.5 g 1 g 0 mg 140 mg 11 g - - - - - - Saltines 5 crackers 60 11 g 1.5 g 1 g 0 mg 140 mg 11 g - - - - - - 350 31g 15 g 23g 45 mg 800 mg - - 23 g - - - - Snickerdoodle 1 cookie 136 3g 5.4 g 2.8 g 34 mg 174 mg .5 g 1.6 g 28 mg - - 2.5% 2.7% Fruit snacks 1 pouch 80 19 g - - - 30 mg 10 g - - - - - - Mini Airheads 4.5 bars 210 46.5 g 2.2 g - - - - - - - - - - Gummy Bears 15 bears 130 31 g - 3g - 15 mg 18 g - - - - - - Brownie 1 bar 220 35 g 3g - - - - - - - - - Lunch Dinner Lasanga 1 slice Snacks 9g Day 3: Tuesday, Feb. 4 Foods Cal Car ori bs es Fat Prot ein Cholest Sodiu Sug Fibe Potas erol m ars rs sium Vita min D Vitam in C Calci um Iron 190 27 g 7g 4g 15 mg - - 25% 25% Breakfast Eggo Homestyle Waffles (2) 360 mg 2g - 55 mg Lite Syrup .2 cups 100 26 g 0g 0g 0 mg 9g 22 g 85 mg 13g 20 mg 180 mg 24 g 1g - - - - - 95 mg - - 195 mg - 2% - - 670 mg 7g - - - - - 4% Lunch Chicken Pattie 130 1g Purdue-1 pattie Dinner 98% Fat-Free Honey Ham Steak (3 oz) 110 7 g 1.5 g Frozen Peas 1 cup 107 18.7 g 0.7 g 6.7 g - 200 mg 5.3 g 6.7 g - - 10.7% 2.7% 13.3% Cooked Pasta 1.5 cups 332 64.5 g 1.9 g 12 g - 1.5 mg 1.2 g 3.8 g 93 mg - - 1.5% 13.5% Applesauce Motts 1 cup 90 - - - 22g 1g 70mg - 20% - - .5 g 1.6 g 28 mg - - 2.5% 2.7% - - - - - 24 g - Snacks Snickerdoodle 136 3 g 1 cookie 5.4 g 2.8 g 34 mg 174 mg Fruit snacks 1 pouch - - 30 mg 10 g 80 19 g - - 3 day total AVERAGES: Total calories: 1,632 calories calories from fat: 477 saturated fat (g): 15g total carbohydrates (g): 225g sodium (mg): 2,175 mg sugars (g): 62g Vitamin C (%): 1.66% Calcium (%): 16.33% total fat (g): 49g dietary fiber (g): 17g protein (g): 64g Vitamin A (%):13% Iron (%): 52%