Diet Analysis

You are what you eat! The new food pyramid gives us an idea of what we should be eating. We will analyze our dietary habits in this lab to see how we compare. For one full week (7 days), record everything that you eat and drink (except water, which has no calories). Here's the simple equation that determines your weight:

Background: Remember that food is like fuel. It contains energy, which we measure in calories. When you digest your food, you break it down and release the energy found in the bonds between molecules. If you take in more fuel than you need, the excess energy is stored as fat, a lightweight (does this surprise you?) high energy storage molecule. When you need energy and none is readily available, you can break down the fat and release the energy again. Unfortunately, most of us consume more food and are less physically active than we should be, and this has led to an obesity epidemic in the developed world. The Red Cross recently announced that in 2012, more people die of obesity than of starvation. What changes in our lifestyles account for it? Most of us don't have jobs that are physically strenuous. We have all the food we want, and we have more unhealthy food choices than in the past. We drive almost everywhere we go. We spend more time in front of TVs and computers and less time outside being active. All of these factors contribute to the problem.

For practice, look up the following foods to get a sense of how many calories are found in each item. Skip the last 2 columns for now.

Assignment: Download and install the free trial of the Diet Sleuth software for Mac or Windows, which works without registering for up to two weeks. If you like the program, you can purchase it for further use. Use Diet Sleuth to keep track of everything you eat (not just what, but how many servings) for 7 days. If you prefer not to use the program, you could instead read the labels on the packaging and record this information directly into a table like the one shown above, either on paper or in a spreadsheet.

1. Total up all of the calories you have consumed for a 7 day period, and divide by 7 for your daily average intake. Is there a pattern? At what time of day do you consume most of your calories? Is there any difference between weekdays and weekends?

2. What percentage of your total diet is fat _____% , carbohydrate _____% , protein _____%

3. Choose your activity level. (These are for adults. If you are still growing or have a high metabolism, choose a higher number.)

• 17: Very Active (exercise almost every day at least an hour per day)
• 16: Active (exercise at least one hour two or more times a week)
• 15: Average (walk often, take the stairs instead of the elevator, exercise about once a week)
• 14: Low (infrequent exercise, occasionally walk for exercise)
• 13: Very Low (almost never exercise, drive almost everywhere, usually take the elevator instead of the stairs)

4. Calculate calories needed per day:

5a. One pound of fat contains 3500 calories. If you want to lose 25 pounds, for example, how many calories is that?

5b. If you want to lose one pound (3500 cals) per week, you would need to burn an extra 500 calories per day, or reduce your intake by the same amount. (3500 cals / 7 days = 500 cals/day)

5c. How much exercise do you have to do to burn 500 calories per day? Try this exercise calculator for an estimate.

6. If you want to lose all of the weight in 1 month (30 days), how many extra calories per day must be burned? Is losing this much weight in a month practical?

7. Take a look at the Recommended Daily Intake tables, and determine how your diet compares to the Daily Reference Values (DRVs) for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and protein.

8. What is the importance of vitamins? What's the difference between fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins? When can fat-soluble vitamins be dangerous? Do people with good diets need vitamin supplements? What is a vitamin deficiency? Look up scurvy and rickets on Wikipedia.

9. 1 gram of fat yields 9 calories. 1 gram of protein yields 4 calories and 1 gram of carbohydrate yields 4 calories. If you eat 250 grams of a food which is 25% fat, 35% protein and 40% carbohydrate, calculate total calories consumed? _________

10. Refer to the weight tables for adult males and females, and the recommended caloric intake of adult males and females. How will you change your diet based on what you have learned?

A few important take away points:

1. Control what and how you eat:

• Eat smaller portions of foods you like. Don't go back for seconds.
• Make healthy food choices more often.
• Snack on raw fruit and vegetables between meals to arrive at the table less hungry.
• Train yourself to stop eating before you're stuffed.
• Eat more for breakfast and less for dinner.
• Don't skip meals.
• Eat at the table; not in front of the TV.
• Replace sodas with carbonated water or unsweetened iced tea.
• Reduce your alcohol consumption. Alcohol has almost as many calories as pure fat.

2. Exercise more and you can diet less:

• Exercise doesn't require a gym membership or expensive equipment.
• Walk more. It's easy and it's good for you.
• Bike to and from work, or when running errands.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Get your heart rate up for just a few minutes every day.
• Play a non-competitive sport. The less you think about it, the more fun exercise can be.
• Make exercise part of your daily routine. You have to make the time.
• Feeling stressed? Exercise is great for reducing stress too!
• Since muscle is more dense than fat, you may not lose weight right away, but will feel stronger.

3. Keep your expectations realistic:

• Don't subscribe to fad diets. They are mostly nonsense.
• Don't expect immediate results. Months and years are your targets.
• Don't believe in easy tricks and miracle weight-loss scams.
• Don't be too hard on yourself. Crash diets are impossible to sustain.
• You can easily lose one pound a month. Don't worry about looking like a supermodel. Just do it to be healthier.
• Believe in yourself. You can do it!