Online Health 1

Course Contents      Assignments    

Food Diary

10 points

If your stomach disputes you,
lay down and pacify it with cool thoughts.

Leroy "Satchel" Paige

---

Directions:

This assignment consists of two parts: Data Collection and Data Evaluation. Each part is worth 5 points.

Data Collection - 5 points

For two days that are representative of your usual food consumption patterns, keep a list of everything you eat, from a carrot to a hamburger. Record...

• the name of each food item
• the quantity of each food item
• the time of day each item was consumed
• whether consumption was part of meal or as a snack
• whether you ate because of hunger or for other reasons
• your feelings at the time you ate
• the social circumstances surrounding eating (alone, with friends, family etc.).

In the body of an e-mail (not an attachment), submit your data to the instructor. You may submit text (one line for each datum) or an imbedded table. Downloadable Food Diary chart

Food Diary Example

Food	Quantity	Time of Day	Meal or Snack?	Hungry?/Other?	Feelings?	Social?
oatmeal	bowl	7am	meal	hungry	sleepy	alone
banana	one	10am	snack	hungry	usual	friends
burrito (TB)	one	lunch	meal	hungry	happy	with Joe

Data Analysis - 5 points

Download this image of Healthy Eating Pyramid. Use it for the Data Analysis for this assignment. Then, attach a hard copy to your refrigerator.

Respond to the questions below. Each is worth 1 point.
Download the image and place it on your refrigerator.

1. Count the number of servings of each food item you consumed during the two days. You can count partial servings, 1/2, 1/4 etc. Divide the total number of servings by two to get the average number of daily servings.

2. Draw a food pyramid specific for you. Use the same seven food-boxes of the Healthy Eating Pyramid. Let the size of each box roughly correspond to the number of servings in your diet. How does your food pyramid compare to the Healthy Eating Pyramid? For example, how close are you to the recommended Five-A-Day servings of fruits + vegetables?

3. Describe your snacking patterns.

4. Describe ways your feelings affect your food consumption

5. Assess the quality of your diet. Start with 10 points and subtract points as indicated here:

• Subtract 2 points if you consume 6 or more sodas per week
• Subtract 1 point if you consume between 3-5 sodas per week
• Subtract 2 points if you consume 6 or more fast food meals per week
• Subtract 1 point if you consume between 3-5 fast food meals per week
• Subtract 2 points if you consume 0-8 servings of fruits and vegetables per week
• Subtract 1 point if you consume between 8-15 servings of fruits and vegetables per week
• Subtract 2 points if you eat breakfast 0-2 times per week
• Subtract 1 point if you eat breakfast 3-4 times per week
• Subtract 1 point if you patronize vending machines 3 or more times per week

Total points:

What could you do to add a few points to your diet score?

---