The Perfect Day

What would the "perfect" nutritional day look like? Can you get the RDA for all of the nutrients from food alone in one day? Let's find out!

1. Write down a general list of foods you would like to eat for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for snacks, and (optionally) dessert. Keep in mind that you are trying to meet your RDA for each nutrient, so I wouldn’t start with fast food or toaster pastries in your list J. Plan to virtually “home cook” for this project, so list the ingredients for the meals you are planning. For example, if you think you would like to eat chicken kiev, list “chicken breast, butter, lemon juice, parsley, whole wheat flour, olive oil, salt, pepper.”

There are restrictions on your list, too:

a. Your list MUST INCLUDE:

>at least 2 different vegetables,

>at least 2 different fruits, and

>at least one legume or nut

b. Your list MAY NOT include any fortified or enriched foods. Here are some common foods that are typically fortified or enriched, and may NOT be included in your list:

>Breakfast cereals and breakfast bars- most are, but some are not. Check out their websites to be certain.

>Vegetarian processed foods- such as veggie burgers, soy sausage, soy milk etc. Tofu is often fortified with calcium. There are a few examples of these types of products that are not fortified. If you would like to include these types of products, check out the websites of the manufacturers to find out which ones are not fortified. You may include tofu; try to find non-fortified with calcium.

>White bread, white pasta, etc. Anything made with white/refined flour is likely to be enriched. This rule necessitates that all wheat flour based products you list are whole grain.

>White rice

>Energy bars, energy drinks, vitamin water

>You may not include any vitamin/mineral supplements

c. There is one exception to the rule about not including fortified or enriched foods: you may include fortified milk, which is difficult to find otherwise.

2. Click on “Track Diet.” Search for each of the foods you listed, and enter the serving sizes you feel you would eat for each of your foods. Once you have completed entering your foods for the day, go on to step 3.

3. Click on “View Reports,” then “Intake vs. Goals.” Note how close you got to your recommended kcalories, protein, omega-3, and all vitamins and minerals. Write down all that are less than 90% of the recommended amount.

4. Now for the fun part. You will now adjust your food list to meet at least 90% of your RDA for most vitamins and minerals, kcalories, and omega-3s. In addition, you will adjust your food list so that your kcalorie sources fall within recommended limits. You will probably end up adding new foods, and you may end up deleting some. The first rule is: you may not add any food item that you hate! Here are some suggestions for helping you to make adjustments:

>Click on the “Source Analysis” link under “View Reports,” and look at each of the different nutrients you are lacking to see which of the foods you’ve already chosen are the best sources. You may be able to add more of your already chosen foods.

>Search for foods you suspect may be good sources of missing nutrients. For example, dark green leafy vegetables are great sources of lots of nutrients. Perform a search for one (for example, collard greens); when the list appears, click on the “i” icon to the left of the choices shown to you. A pop-up will appear, showing you the nutrient breakdown for a standard serving of the food; you will get a snapshot of whether the standard serving will provide enough of your missing nutrient.

>Use the appendix provided in your text to scan for good sources of the lacking nutrient.

5. The rules:

a. Kcals must be at least 90%, but no more than 110%, of your recommended amount.

b. Percent Kcals from proteins, carbs, fats and sat fats must meet the following criteria:

>Carbohydrates: at least 45% of total Kcals

>Fats: at least 15%, and no more than 40% of total Kcals. Saturated fat must account for less than 30% of total fat (refer to the food labels worksheet for figuring out saturated fat).

>Proteins: at least 10%, and no more than 35% of total Kcals

> The “Macronutrient Ranges” under “View Reports” will tell you the percent of kcalories from each source. The "fat breakdown" option under “View Reports” will tell you what percent of total fat is from saturated fat.

c. Kcals, protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber and all vitamins and minerals must be at least 90% of your recommended amount. *Exception: dietary vitamin D may be below 90%.

d. Sodium may not exceed 110% of your RDA.

e. Many vitamins and minerals will exceed the recommended amount. Many can also be harmful when taken in high doses. While vitamin and mineral toxicity is primarily only an issue with supplements- with few exceptions, food alone will not create toxicities- keep these in mind when designing your day and try not to exceed them, particularly vitamin A from animal sources.

You may exceed the UL for up to two of these nutrients, but no more.

Here are the Tolerable Upper Intake Levels for each vitamin & mineral (the amount reported on your bar graph should be less than the following numbers):

--V-A: 3000 µg; <300% of your RDA

--V-D: 50µg; <4000%

--V-B3 (niacin): 35 mg: <200%

--V-B6: 100 mg; <10,000%

--Folate: 1000 µg; <250%

--V-C: 2000 mg; <2000%

--calcium: 2500 mg; <200%

--phosphorus: 4000 mg; <400%

--magnesium: 350 mg; <150%

--iron: 45 mg; Males,<400%; Females, <225%

--zinc: 40 mg; <400%

-the other vitamins and minerals have no restrictions. Keep in mind that you are unlikely to get dangerous levels of vitamins & minerals from diet alone, even if you exceed the UL, because you are taking in these nutrients in small doses throughout the day (rather than at once, as with a supplement). This "rule" is simply a way to try to get you to keep your food list realistic & reasonable :)

f. Omega-3s must be at least 90% of the recommendation

g. If you are a vegetarian, you are allowed to be deficient in vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) for the day; however, you must also ensure that you receive complete protein for the day.

6. Answer the following questions. (You don’t need to write these down; go to your answer form through webCT to write down the answers to the questions. There are some extras here that you don’t actually have to send in).

a. i. Of all your foods listed, which three provide the greatest overall amounts of vitamins and minerals? How much of each of these foods did you “eat?” To answer this, you will need to use the “Intake Spreadsheet” under “View Reports” and make an estimate.

ii. Of all the foods listed, which 3 provide the greatest overall amounts of nutrients with the least amount of kcalories?

b. What were the 2 most difficult nutrients, or kcalorie percents, for you to meet the rules for this assignment? How did you finally work it out for each?

For the following questions, use the “Source Analysis” choice under “View Reports.” From the pull-down menu under “Choose a Nutrient,” choose the appropriate nutrient. All of your foods will be listed in descending order; those listed at the top are the best sources of the nutrient; those at the bottom are the worst. Keep in mind that a good source of a nutrient still will not provide much if you don’t eat much of the food; therefore, the following questions ask you to indicate the amount of each food you “ate.”

c. Which two foods provide the most total fat? How much of each did you “eat?

d. Which two foods provide the most saturated fat? How much of each did you "eat?"

e. What were the top two sources of omega-3s, and how much of each food did you "eat?"

f. What were the top two sources of ______, and how much of each food did you “eat?”

f. Which two foods provide the most protein? How much of each did you "eat?"

g. If you did not include any animal products, how do you know you obtained complete protein for the day?

h. Which two foods provide the most fiber? How much of each food did you "eat?”

i. How many grams of fiber did you intake?

j. Do you have any non-plant sources of fiber? Why not?

k. How much cholesterol did you intake?

l. Which two foods provide the most cholesterol? How much of each did you "eat?"

m. Do you have any non-animal sources of cholesterol? Why not?

n. Do you have any non-animal sources of vitamin B12? Why not?

o. Do you generally like the foods listed? Would this be a convenient diet?

p. Did you reach 90% of your RDA for vitamin D? Regardless; how can you ensure that you get enough vitamin D even if you don’t get it from food?

q. Click on “My Pyramid Analysis,” under “View Reports.” Which two food groups are best represented? Which two are least represented?

r. Do your results from this assignment support the design of the food pyramid? Explain; explain why there might be discrepancies.

s. Based on this assignment, discuss the importance of dietary variety.

t. Do you think it’s realistic to get 100% RDA for each and every nutrient, every day, with food alone? Explain and expand. How COULD you get complete nutrition from food alone?

u. Pretend all vitamins and minerals are equally stored and are equally important for immediate maintenance of homeostasis. Based only on general availability from whole foods, which 3 nutrients do you think might be most important to supplement? Which 3 nutrients do you think might be least important to supplement? Explain.

7. Hints:

-list ingredients individually, rather than assuming the DA program's preset foods are exactly what you're eating. For example, instead of listing "hamburger," you may wish to list "ground beef +bun+lettuce...etc." That way you can adjust the amount of each of the ingredients. Also, if you enter ingredients separately, then you can choose "lean" ground beef, whole wheat buns, etc. I highly recommend that you use this approach! This will allow you to see EXACTLY where each nutrient comes from, and avoids the possibility of including fortified/enriched products (for example, white hamburger bun).

Another example of why listing ingredients is important: the DA program has a food called "spinach salad." If a student picks this salad, they will find that it is a good source of vitamin B12. Then, they will answer the question regarding non-animal sources of B12 (incorrectly) "yes, I have a non-animal source of B12: spinach salad." Well, in fact this is a prepared salad that includes bacon and egg! So, you can see that to be more precise and specific, you want to list the ingredients of the spinach salad you would eat rather than just clicking on "spinach salad."

-do not choose name-brand items from the Diet Analysis program if you can avoid it. Often, the name-brand foods are missing information about nutrients they contain (for example, many are missing information on folate even though they contain folate). This project will be much easier if you get credit for all of the nutrients that are present in the foods you’ve chosen.

-use the vitamins & minerals chapters and appendices in your textbook to identify foods/types of foods that are good sources of nutrients you lack in your original list. This will help you add foods to fill in missing nutrients.

-Some foods that may help you fill in some blanks: beans/lentils, avocadoes, walnuts, broccoli, asparagus, kale, almonds, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, artichoke, chard, collard greens, mustard greens.

-Don’t forget about condiments and spices! Spices and herbs, especially, can help you out a lot. They are virtually free of kcals and most are LOADED with vitamins and minerals.