Step 1: Record Your Dietary Intake You will need to keep track of everything you eat and drink and your activity patterns for a FIVE-day period (forms for doing this are attached; note that these forms do not need to be turned in). These FIVE days do NOT need to be consecutive days, but at least one day should be a weekend day (Saturday or Sunday). Include all condiments such as catsup, mayonnaise, etc. You do not need to record spices, but you should include water and or vitamin/mineral supplements. During this 5-day period, you should not try to change your diet or activity in any way; this should represent your typical dietary intake and activity patterns.

When you record your diet, you will need to write a brief description of the food/beverages as well as the amount you consumed (e.g. 8 oz of 2% low-fat milk, 1 slice of whole-wheat bread, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, 3 oz fried chicken breast with skin, etc). Be as specific as you can. If you eat out, include the name of the restaurant (some of them are included in the SuperTracker database). You may need to ask what is in a particular food. Just do your best! If a food is a “composite food,” write down all of the components (e.g., salad = lettuce + tomato + carrot + dressing + etc). Use the following guidelines for estimating serving sizes.

Cheese

1 ounce of cheese   =           the size of four dice put together

¾ ounce of cheese =           1 slice of wrapped American cheese

Meat

3 ounces of meat     =           chicken breast

medium pork chop

piece of meat the size of a deck of cards

4 ounces of meat     =           piece of meat that fits into the palm of your hand

Beverages

1 can of soft drink    =           12 ounces or 1.5 cups

1 medium glass of milk        =           1 cup

Snacks

1 handful of snacks (chips, pretzels, nuts, etc)   =    ½ cup or 1 ounce

Step 2: Use SuperTracker to Evaluate Your Current Diet SuperTracker (https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/) can be found in the “Online Tools” tab at the ChooseMyPlate website (https://www.choosemyplate.gov/). To use SuperTracker, start by clicking on the “Create Your Profile” box on the right-hand side of the page so that your dietary requirement estimates are as accurate as possible. You will need to personalize your profile, register to save your profile, and submit your profile to complete this assignment.  Once you have completed your dietary assessment/activity log, you must enter all of the information into SuperTracker. The information

generated from this diet analysis exercise can then be used to assess your current diet and set goals for improvement.

To assess your current diet, you should explore all of the information made available to you on SuperTracker. In particular, print out the following “reports” (look in “My Reports” tab): Meal Summary, Physical Activity, Nutrients Reports, and Food Groups & Calories. Use this information to answer the questions on the assignment page entitled “Assessing Your Current Diet.” Your answers must be typed.

Step 3: Identify Areas in Need of Improvement Based on these results, you must write a brief (½-page, 12-pt font, 1-inch margins, typed; inside the box) essay describing 3 areas that could be improved upon and how you might go about making these changes (what foods could be increased/decreased). Your brief essay must be typed (not handwritten); any text running outside the box will not be read.

Step 4: Assembling Your Assignment TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT, THE FOLLOWING PAGES MUST BE STAPLED TOGETHER IN THE ORDER LISTED BELOW WITH YOUR NAME AND STUDENT ID NUMBER ON EACH PAGE.  You can find most of these pages in the “My Reports” tab; use the “Export Report as PDF” button to save and print them. 5 points will be automatically deducted from your assignment if it is not stapled together.

• Meal Summary report (this is NOT your own written record of foods and beverages consumed; it is the report that you print out from SuperTracker)
• Physical Activity report
• Nutrients report
• Food Groups & Calories report
• Completed worksheet entitled “Assessing Your Current Diet” (answers must be typed)
• Typed essay on worksheet entitled “Reflections on Current Diet:” (12-pt font, typed) – note that this assignment is posted to Blackboard; you should use that electronic copy to complete your essay! Handwritten essays will NOT be graded.