Personal nutritional analysis and dietary recommendations based on CNPP guidelines

Nutritional Analysis

Food Analysis: Week One

Prior to doing my nutritional analysis, I believed that I ate a relatively balanced diet. I maintain a pretty stabile weight and am in pretty good shape, and think that my food choices are generally balanced. However, the results of my food analysis revealed that I am not eating the number of fruits and vegetables that I need to consume in a day. In addition, I have been making a conscious effort to decrease the amount of bread I consume, because of all of the concern about carbohydrates. I realized that my eating habits are not healthy, because they do not comply with the CNPP's guidelines. On the contrary, I am consuming far more protein than I need to consume. Though I have no kidney problems and probably will not suffer any immediate negative impact from my protein consumption, I am also not eating a sufficient number of grains, vegetables, and fruit. If I reduced my protein consumption, I would probably have more room to eat these types of foods.

Fiber

My fiber did not meet 100% of the recommendation for me as calculated by the CNPP website. The website recommended that I take in 38 grams, and my intake was only 21 grams. Therefore, I took in only a little over 50% of the amount of fiber recommended by the website. Before I calculated my fiber intake, I would have guessed that, over all, my fiber intake was probably a little low, but within an acceptable range. I thought so because I actually eat more fruits and vegetables than many of the people that I know, and I try to eat cereals that are high in fiber and select whole grain breads. I realized that my diet choices may have been a little low in fiber, but I still anticipated that I would meet at least 75% of my fiber goals. I was shocked to discover that my actual intake was closer to 50% of my fiber goals.

In addition to failing to meet to my overall fiber-intake goals, I actually failed to take in the minimum number of servings of foods from each fiber-containing group, except for the meat and beans group. Beans can be a very important source of fiber, but I consumed so much animal protein that adding additional fiber to my diet through beans would not be a good idea, unless I made other changes in my protein consumption. The website suggested that I take in 3.5 cups of vegetables, a source of fiber, but I only took in 2.5 cups of vegetables. The website suggested that I take in 2.5 cups of fruit, but I only took in 1 cup of fruit. The website suggested that I take in 10 ounces of grain, but I only took in 4.4 ounces of grain. In addition, my selections in all of the areas tended to be lower-fiber options, rather than high-fiber selections. For example, I ate a tuna sandwich on white bread, but if I had selected bread made of whole grains, I could have increased the fiber content of that meal.

A did make some good selections for my fiber intake. For example, the Raisin Nut Bran, green beans, and bananas are all relatively high-fiber selections. If I made selections like that and ate a sufficient number of servings of those selections each day, I would probably eat my fiber recommendations. However, I also made some choices that provided very little fiber. For example, I chose a snack of string cheese, which provided no fiber and increased my protein, two things I need to change. I ate an additional pork chop, which provided no fiber. I also chose white bread, which does contain some fiber, but not as much fiber as a grain choice should include.

The first alteration I need to make in my diet is simply to increase my intake of vegetables, fruits, and grains, and decrease my intake of meats. If I did this, I would come much closer to meeting my fiber intake guidelines. However, I could choose foods that were higher in fiber. For example, while green beans are adequate in fiber, choosing a food like cauliflower or broccoli, which are very high in fiber, would increase my fiber consumption. Bananas are high in fiber, but there are other fruit choices, such as plums, fruit, apples, and grapes, which are also high in fiber. Moreover, white bread is generally a bad choice for grains; I should choose whole grain alternatives.

Meats and milk products do not make any significant contributions to the day's fiber total. Therefore, I would tell someone who emphasizes meat and milk products at each meal that they are probably exceeding both their dairy and protein requirements. In addition, I would point out that milk and meat products, in addition to not providing fiber, are oftentimes high in fat and other negatives. As a result, I would suggest to these people that they change the emphasis of their diets, and move the focus away from meats and milk and onto fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. In fact, I would suggest the elimination of meat from at least one meal per day, and the elimination of milk from a meal if any snacks included milk products. I would strongly suggest that at least one of their meals include legumes, which are very high in fiber.

Unfortunately, I do not generally follow my own advice about including legumes in a daily diet. For example, I did not include any legumes in the food I had eaten the day of my analysis. In fact, I do not generally include legumes in my diet. I rarely eat chili, beans in a salad, or split pea soup. I do occasionally eat beans when I eat Mexican food, but rarely consume them at other times.

I do not generally drink fruit juice, preferring to eat actual fruit instead of drink fruit juice. I know that if I chose to drink fruit juice rather than eating fruit, the fiber content of my diet would go down. In addition, because people generally consume a greater amount of juice than they would if actually eating fruit, people who drink fruit juices generally tend to consume higher-calorie diets than people who eat whole fruits. However, fruit juices, consumed in moderation, can be a healthy addition to a diet, as long as they are not consumed in lieu of actually eating any whole fruits.

Conclusion

My nutritional analysis revealed that I am not eating a balanced diet. I am consuming too much protein and too little fiber, issues that plague the diets of many Americans. To remedy these problems, I need to increase my intake of fruits, vegetables, and grain products, while reducing my intake of meat products. In addition, because my intake of milk products was also low, I need to look at how to increase my milk intake without increasing protein intake.

Here is the food displayed for jjohn90 on 9/10/2008

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Foods Consumed

Select Serving Size

Number of Servings

Enter a number e.g. 1.5))

BAKED LAY'S POTATO CHIPS

BANANA (BANANAS), FRESH

BEANS, STRING, GREEN, COOKED, FROM FROZEN

BUTTER

HERSHEY BAR

ICE CREAM, REGULAR, CHOCOLATE

MASHED POTATO, FROM FRESH, MADE W / MILK & FAT

MILK, SKIM/NONFAT

MOZZARELLA, PART SKIM LOWFAT CHEESE

PORK CHOP, BREADED, BROILED or BAKED, LEAN & FAT

RAISIN NUT BRAN CEREAL

TUNA SALAD W / EGG

WHITE BREAD

Nutrient Intakes for jjohn90 on 9/10/2008 nutrient recommendation is a target or goal for intake of a nutrient. Your requirement for a particular nutrient is unique to you, but it is likely to be lower than the recommended number. If your intake is at or above this number, then it is probably adequate. If your intake is below this number, that does not necessarily mean an inadequate intake. If today's intake is typically what you eat, and your intake for a nutrient is at or above the recommendation, it is likely that your intake of that nutrient is adequate. To better assess your usual nutrient intake, you should report foods eaten for two or more days and review your nutrient intake over time. Click here if you want to see your nutrient profile with technical assessment information.

Nutrient

Your Intake

Recommendation or Acceptable Range

Food Energy/Total Calories (kcals)

Protein (gm)

Carbohydrate (gm)

Total Fiber (gm)

Total Fat (gm)

Saturated Fat (gm)

Monounsaturated Fat (gm)

Polyunsaturated Fat (gm)

Linoleic (omega 6) (gm)

Alpha Linolenic (omega 3) (gm)

Cholesterol (mg)

Vitamin a (mcg RAE)

Vitamin C (mg)

Vitamin E (mg a-TE)

Thiamin (mg)

Riboflavin (mg)

Niacin (mg)

Folate (mcg, DFE)

Vitamin B6 (mg)

Vitamin B12 (mcg)

Calcium (mg)

Phosphorus (mg)

Magnesium (mg)

Iron (mg)

Zinc (mg)

Selenium (mcg)

Potassium (mg)

Sodium (mg)

1500-2300

Comparison of Your Intake with MyPyramid Recommendations for jjohn90

Your Pyramid Stats

Milk Intake

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/blue.gif

2.2 cup equivalent

Milk Recommendation

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/blue.gif cup equivalent

Meat and Beans Intake

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/purple.gif oz equivalent

Meat and Beans Recommendation

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/purple.gif oz equivalent

Vegetables Intake

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/greenp.gif

2.5 cup equivalent

Vegetables Recommendation

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/greenp.gif

3.5 cup equivalent

Fruits Intake

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/images/red.gif cup equivalent

Fruits Recommendation

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2.5 cup equivalent

Grains Intake

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4.4 oz equivalent

Grains Recommendation

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10 oz equivalent

Pyramid Categories

Percent Recommendation

Milk

Meat and Beans

Vegetables

Fruits

Grains