MyPlate Assignment

N331 Life Cycle Nutrition Spring 2012

Note: Items logged on the charts below may be handwritten.

Overview directions: This assignment involves five steps:

1) Keep two 24-hour logs of your food intake. For purposes of this assignment, do not include dietary supplements.

2) Keep two 24-hour logs of your activities. These should be the same two days on which you record your food intake!

3) Generate an eating plan and analyze your food intake and physical activity according to MyPlate online (www.myplate.gov).

4) Go to “My Reports,” provide the info requested, and print out your food intake and physical activity along with your personalized plan.

5) Using your results, evaluate the quality of your food intake and your activity level.

Detailed directions:

1) On the diet logs attached, record everything you eat in two 24-hour periods, carefully noting amounts. Remember to keep track of beverages and condiments, too. The more accurate you are in recording amounts, the more accurate your analysis will be. For help in judging portion sizes, you can use the “Size Up Your Servings” handout available in the Oncourse Resources folder (i.e. 3 oz of meat is like a deck of cards…).

2) On the activity log attached, write down every activity you do beginning at 7 a.m. on one day and ending at 7 a.m. the following day. Remember to include all activities of daily living such as dressing, showering, driving a car, reading, etc. Include work and recreational activities, and include weekly activities that don't occur every day. The log gives you an example of how to convert weekly activities into hours/day.

3) Generate and eating plan and analyze your diet according to the SuperTracker https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/ Look on the right side of the page, under the heading Get Started. Click on Create Your Profile or choose the general plan. If you create your own profile, the system will tailor advice specifically to you, and will store your information so you can track your progress. If you choose the general plan, you will get a plan for a 2000-kcalorie diet.

Analyze your two days of food and physical activity by following the directions for Food Tracker and Physical Activity Tracker.

4) Within the SuperTracker, follow the link for My Reports. You should use this information to help evaluate your diet (step 5).

5) Type up and include your evaluation of your typical eating and exercise patterns. Consider your level of intake of nutrients, intake of kcalories, and energy expenditure (energy balance). Note at least one positive aspect of your eating and exercise habits and one suggestion for improvement.

6) Be sure to include all computer-generated printouts (your eating plan, Food Details, Physical Activity) with your project when you turn it in.

Your diet/activity logs are on the following pages

Diet Log

Name Day 1/Date

Time start-end / Meal or snack / Place / Food / Amount / Posture / Associated activity / Social situation / Mood / Hunger level

Diet Log

Name Day 2/Date

Time start-end / Meal or snack / Place / Food / Amount / Posture / Associated activity / Social situation / Mood / Hunger level

Activity log Name

Record your activities below based on a weekly or daily basis. Remember to include activities of daily living, e.g., dressing, showering, driving car, cleaning, shopping, socializing, reading, etc. Include your work and exercise/recreational activities. For example: Lift free weights for 15 minutes, 3 times per week. Shower 20 minutes daily.

Next convert your activity into hours/day. Enter this information into the shaded column. Using the two activities above as an example, free weights would be 45 minutes total for the week. Divide this by 7 days/week, and it is 6.4 minutes per day. Divide this by 60 minutes/hr, and you lift weights 0.1 hr/day. Showering 20 minutes per day: divide by 60 minutes/hr, and you shower 0.33 hr/d.

Here is an example

Activity / Duration / Frequency / Ave.
hr/da / Activity / Duration / Frequency / Ave.
hr/da
Free weights / 15 min / 3 x week / 0.1 / Clean / 1½ hr / 1/week / 0.21
Shower / 20 min / daily / 0.33 / Read / 2 hr / 4d/wk / 1.14

Now, add your activities below.

Day One Day Two

Activity / Duration / Frequency / Ave.
hr/da / Activity / Duration / Frequency / Ave.
hr/da