Three-Day Food Intake Nutritional Analysis Protein, Carbohydrates,

Three-Day Food Intake Nutritional Analysis

Protein, Carbohydrates, and Lipids

Generally, most of my meals contained an adequate source of protein, from poultry (chicken), red meat, and eggs. The primary sources of carbohydrates were bread and bagels, rice, beans, cereals, and fruit juices. All of the sources of protein from poultry, meat, and eggs provided complete protein. Rice and beans alone provided incomplete vegetable protein by themselves but would have provided complete proteins had they been consumed together instead of separately as side dishes of different meals (Rinzler, 2004). Almost all of the main foods that I consumed contained excessive levels of lipids because the chicken was fried in oil, the meat was a flank steak with considerable intramuscular fat, and the eggs were cooked on an oil skillet and included all of the egg yokes.

I was surprised by how much fat I consumed because I always considered chicken and meat and eggs to be healthy protein foods. Based on the excessive fat content, I will no longer select fried chicken and will substitute baked or broiled chicken from now on. Likewise, I may reduce my intake of red meat, especially the juiciest cuts that typically cost the most because their high fat content gives them the best flavor (Rinzler, 2004). I may try chuck steaks and lean ground turkey breast as substitutes. Finally, I never realized how much fat is contained in ordinary eggs. I may try to eat an all-white omelet or at least remove most of the yolks and I will learn to cook them on a pan sprayed with low-fat aerosol oil spray to reduce the amount of fat from the cooking oil.

Macronutrient Intake Ranges

My diet provides an insufficient amount of macronutrients such as vitamins, largely because I do not eat any salad or vegetables and only occasional apples. Because I eat very little dairy foods, I may also be getting too little calcium. Macronutrients such as vitamins are important for various biological functions and to maintain healthy skin and collagen-based tissues, such as hair and nails (Larson-Duyff, 2007). I consume enough protein but people who do not are prone to muscle-wasting diseases such as kwashiorkor (Hamric, Spross, & Hanson, 2009). Too few carbohydrates and fats may result in lack of energy but, realistically, it is very difficult to consume too little carbohydrates or fat by people in the industrialized world who are not living in poverty (Hamric, Spross, & Hanson, 2009). Too much protein is associated with kidney problems (Hamric, Spross, & Hanson, 2009), but the issue with my protein consumption was more about choosing protein sources and cooking methods that add unnecessary fat in the process.

Fiber Intake Ranges

I did not consume enough fiber because my fruit juices were mostly imitation fruit with corn syrup and artificial flavoring, something I never realized before I started checking labels for this project. The only real source of fiber in my diet over this period was an apple and a banana. To increase my fiber, I will try to increase my fresh fruit consumption, substitute fresh fruit juice for imitation fruit juice, and I will substitute whole wheat flour bread and whole grain or whole wheat cereals for the enriched wheat flour breads and cereals containing large amounts of sugar.