PERSONAL FOOD CHART
Details of the assignment are given below with links to aids. If you want just the links, they are
Food Chart Template with some nutritional data
A Calculator to convert % RDI to food chart units
A Calorie Calculator that converts grams of fat, carbohydrates and proteins into percentage of total calories
An Activity Calculator That will help you convert your activities into calories expended
BMR - a better estimate can be found here
Each student will keep track of food intake for 5 consecutive days. Using the tables at the back of the study guide, compute the daily consumption of calories, fat, protein, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and folic acid. Compute the consumption in each of the categories for each day of the 5 day period. Compute an average daily consumption for each nutrient.
Answer the following questions: Food Chart Template ----More foods version --
To convert the information on a food label from % RDI to real values, use this calculator
1. Does your dietary intake meet the RDA for your age group and sex? If not, in what areas are you lacking? What foods could you add to your diet to increase your consumption and bring you up to the RDA?
2 .What foods in your diet are the major contributors of calories? Protein? Carbohydrate? Calcium? Iron? Vitamin A? Folic acid? Vitamin C?
3. What percentage of your calories were derived from fat? From protein? From carbohydrate? Calorie Calculator
A.g of fat X 9 cal/g =calories from fat
B.g of carbs X 4 cal/g =cals from carbs
C.g of protein X 4 cal/g = cals from protein
Total calories = sum of cals from pro, fat and carb
% of cals from fat = [calories from fat / total calories]100
4. If you wanted to lose one pound per week ( approximately 3,500 calories ), what changes would you make in your diet? HINT! You should provide a list of foods and amounts that add up to 3500 calories.
5. If you were to complete a food chart and find that you failed to meet the RDA in several categories, would this mean that you were headed for nutritional disorders? Explain briefly.
6.. Using the data supplied, approximate your caloric needs for a typical day (Show calculations in your report). Activity Calculator
7. If you wanted to lose one pound ( approximately 3,500 calories ) per week, how could you accomplish this by exercising and not by altering your eating habits?. HINT! ( Show calculations)
8. There is much interest in low fat diets today. Put together three meals having a total calorie content of at least 1800 calories that has no more than 10% of the calories from fat. You do not need to have all of the foods have less than 10% of their calories from fat, but the average should be 10% or less. Try to make this something you might actually consider eating.
HINT: Start with your day that has the lowest % of calories from fat and make substitutions or additions/deletions as needed. You may want to utilize a list of foods sorted by % calories from fat that is on the webpage.
Nutrient Composition of Common Foods (Tables from Study Guide)
USDA Nutrient Database http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl