Health and nutrition, particularly my own, is something I have taken special interest in lately as I’ve come to realize I’m rapidly approaching the second half of my life and want it to be as good as, or even better than, the first half. If I were to be asked eight weeks ago if I was a healthy person, my answer would be a resounding, “Yes;” my regular physicals and blood work confirming my response. And while I still believe that to be true, what an eye opener the Diet Analysis project was, as far as understanding my actual nutritional intake in comparison to the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) of nutrients recommended for optimal health and well-being. The following paragraphs not only detail the Diet Analysis PLUS program used for this project,
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In my case, that data is as follows:
Height: 5 feet 5 inches Age: 44 Gender: Female
Weight: 173 BMI: 28.8 Activity Level: Active
The next step in the process is to plug into the program your food and drink intake for a day, over a number of days, essentially tracking your diet. That information is then shown in a number of different reports meant to analyze your diet and the related nutritional values, allowing you to see your strengths and weaknesses, and make any necessary corrections in an effort to improve your diet/health. One of the first reports I looked into was “Intake vs. Goals.” This report analyzes the intake of nutrients under the categories of: Energy, Vitamins & Minerals, and compares them to the personalized DRI’s applied to my profile. The results were both a mixture of the expected and the unexpected, and most definitely interesting.
Energy:
Nutrient DRI Intake Result
K/calories 2559 1813 71%
Carbohydrates 281-406 224 …show more content…
A leading contributor to the outlandish percentage of the “Empty Calories” category shown in the “My Plate Analysis” report was a margarita, I find myself very thankful that I’m not a big drinker…because, really, what a waste. The other area I took note of in the same report was the “Dairy” category. It took only one days’ worth of entering and monitoring my food intake, for me to see that I had a big problem with meeting my dairy needs, and was able to make a corrective adjustment from a yogurt and almond milk, fruit smoothie every day for breakfast, to a yogurt and skim milk, fruit
In my case, that data is as follows:
Height: 5 feet 5 inches Age: 44 Gender: Female
Weight: 173 BMI: 28.8 Activity Level: Active
The next step in the process is to plug into the program your food and drink intake for a day, over a number of days, essentially tracking your diet. That information is then shown in a number of different reports meant to analyze your diet and the related nutritional values, allowing you to see your strengths and weaknesses, and make any necessary corrections in an effort to improve your diet/health. One of the first reports I looked into was “Intake vs. Goals.” This report analyzes the intake of nutrients under the categories of: Energy, Vitamins & Minerals, and compares them to the personalized DRI’s applied to my profile. The results were both a mixture of the expected and the unexpected, and most definitely interesting.
Energy:
Nutrient DRI Intake Result
K/calories 2559 1813 71%
Carbohydrates 281-406 224 …show more content…
A leading contributor to the outlandish percentage of the “Empty Calories” category shown in the “My Plate Analysis” report was a margarita, I find myself very thankful that I’m not a big drinker…because, really, what a waste. The other area I took note of in the same report was the “Dairy” category. It took only one days’ worth of entering and monitoring my food intake, for me to see that I had a big problem with meeting my dairy needs, and was able to make a corrective adjustment from a yogurt and almond milk, fruit smoothie every day for breakfast, to a yogurt and skim milk, fruit