Daily Consumption Analysis
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1. Refer to the attached data sheets.
2. The total number of servings I consumed from the grain products, vegetables and fruit, milk products, meat and alternatives, and other foods were found to be 7.5, 9, 3, 1, and 2 respectively.
On the day of recording, my consumption was within the acceptable range, albeit near the upper end, in the grain products and milk products category. I consumed more than the minimum recommended number of servings in the vegetables and fruits category, and under consumed in the meat and alternatives category. The water was the only other category that I had on this day, because I did not have any condiments on my bagel in the morning which was quite unusual. Water, of course, is an essential nutrient and must be consumed in order to maintain health, so that is not a concern. In order to improve my diet, it would be advisable for me to consume more servings from the meat and alternatives group, possibly a boiled egg in the morning and maybe drop the ÐÐ bagel, or consuming a cold cut sandwich for instance for supper instead of vector cereal. I do not believe that over consuming in the vegetables and fruits category is of any concern whatsoever.
3. Refer to the attached data sheets.
4. My percentage of calories from fat, protein, and carbohydrates were found to be 11.02%, 18.02% and 73.65% respectively (for calculations see attached calculations page). These percentages all fall within the acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges of 10-35%, 20-35%, and 45-65% for protein, fat, and carbohydrates respectively except my carbohydrates which is 13.65% higher than it should be. Since these percentages all fall within the acceptable ranges except for carbs, I do not have to make many changes to my current diet in order to fall within the acceptable ranges. I would change eating the Vector cereal at night and possibly replace it with a meat and alternative product, possibly a peanut butter sandwich that would give me more grain products as well. When I ate, it was a Wednesday night on campus, I was studying for my test the next day for statistics as well as going to the gym to play intramural basketball; I did not consume alcohol on this night. Therefore, alcohol did not contribute whatsoever to my energy intake.
5. My percentage of calories from saturated fats was found to be 3.54%. This is within the acceptable range of less than 10% of total calories. The foods that I consumed that contributed to my saturated fat intake were 2% milk, chicken, and vector cereal. Since my intake of saturated fats is not above the recommended limit, I do not have to make any changes to my diet in that regard.
6. In total, I consumed 51 g of fiber on the day of measurement. This is greater than the adequate intake of 38 g per day for my age and gender category. Essentially every food I consumed contained at least minimal amounts of fibre. The exceptions to this rule were milk, chicken. Although such a high intake of fibre could under normal circumstances cause intestinal blockage. I typically consume rather copious amounts of water. This increased intake of water would compensate for the increased intake of fibre preventing this fibre from hardening and consequently blocking the intestine. Therefore, this extra intake of fibre is not and issue. Also, having cereal such as Vector and Raisin Bran twice in a day is very unusual for me, but on this particular night I did not like the selection in the cafeteria.
7. In some cases the foods consumed within each food group were highly varied, but much less in others. For instance, I consumed a great variety of foods from the fruits and vegetables category; however, my choices became increasingly less varied from the grain products to the milk products, and finally the meat and alternatives group. Since I only consumed one serving from the meat and alternatives group, variety was not possible. With regards to the milk products, the only thing that I consumed was 2% milk as a part of the cereal I consumed. The number of servings that I consumed in the grain products category is not all indicative of the variety consumed within that category. I consumed three different things in rather copious quantities. That being said, the three things were at least fairly varied. As stated earlier, the total number of servings that I consumed from each food group were not always within the recommended range, but were not far off in most cases.
The amount of whole grains and enriched grain products that I consumed would undoubtedly meet the criteria for consuming these said products more often. In fact, I consumed no refined grain products whatsoever, and thus, my consumption of grain products consisted entirely of enriched and whole grain products. This is highly typical for me. I very rarely consume refined grain products unless whole grain options are unavailable in the cafeteria, which they usually are in most cases.
My consumption of dark green and orange vegetables and orange fruit was fairly high, a fair number of the fruits and vegetables I consumed were either dare green or orange, with exceptions being bananas, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and mushrooms. That being said, the exceptions constitute the majority of my servings from the fruits and vegetables group. Nonetheless, the dark green and orange vegetables did represent a high number of total servings; however, that number was diluted do to the fact that so many total servings were consumed from this food group.
I did not consume lower-fat milk products at all on this particular day. I consumed purely 2% milk on this occasion. However, this is an atypical day in that regard. I usually use skim milk, but the cafeteria was out of skim milk when I was there to eat. Therefore, on a normal day, I would have satisfied the criterion. That being said, I do not fell that I need to change my diet because I did not meet this criterion on this particular day as it is generally met on most