Healthy Eating Plan Comparison

1.     Assignment: Healthy Eating Plan Comparison

·         Resources: Food Diary, Healthy Eating Plan, and http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov

·         Due Date: Day 7 [Individual] forum

·         Complete the Food Diary CheckPoint a second time.

·         Compare your recent responses to the activity questions with the responses you provided in Week One.

·         Write a 1,050- to 1,750-word paper, outlining how your nutritional habits have changed, if at all, since the first week of this class.

·         Use your findings from the comparison and the Healthy Eating Plan paper as reference tools.  

·         Address the following questions:

o    What changes do you see in your diet? If nothing has changed, explain why.

o    What are you more aware of now when making food choices?

·         Format your paper according to APA standards.

·         Post your paper as an attachment135.

           My diet is still lower than the recommendations I received on the Food Guide Pyramid if I only calculate my actual food intake.  Each day is a little different than another since I pick different dinners.  Lunches and breakfast are usually the same.  I created another chart below that shows my comparison with my three day analysis and the recommendations as I did with the previously.  This chart does not include my amazing grass powder I have incorporated into my daily food intake.  This powder formula is quoted as being the nutritional equivalent to five to seven servings of fruit and vegetables.  I have included a serving of fruit into my breakfast with my yogurt in order up my fruit intake for the day. 

Food Group	Day one	Day two	Day three	Recommendations
Milk	3.9 cup	3 cup	.3 cup	3 cup
Meat and Beans	0	2.6 oz	1.7 oz	6.5 oz
Vegetables	2.6 cup	0 cup	1.3 cup	3 cup
Fruit	1	1	1	2 cup
Grains	6.2 oz	4.9 oz	3.3 oz	8 oz

I am still finding the pyramid tracker to be an inefficient tool for my needs.  Several items could not be displayed accurately.  For example, one meal included homemade pasta salad.   The salad was made with ranch mix packet and added broccoli slaw.  Unfortunately there is no entry for this side dish.  This handicap, I believe, would show an inaccurate count of my vegetable or milk intake since what I ate had more vegetables and milk than a generic chicken flavor, which is all they offer.  With this tool, it makes it difficult to plan a healthy dinner that is not box made or incorporate homemade meals or side dish that does not come from a box.  This is a common practice for me as no box meal will feed my family totally.    

I have made many changes to my diet in recent months, some as recent as a few weeks.  I have modified my normal breakfasts in the work cafeteria by simply not getting them.  I bring my breakfast from home which is usually cereal or yogurt with fruit.  I also have incorporated special k granola bars or hard boiled eggs for snacks instead of chips or chocolate.  I chose yogurt and hard boiled eggs for their iodine content to ensure my thyroid is working properly and is not the reason for my weight.

 For dinner I usually keep baby spinach leaves, broccoli and carrots in my refrigerator.  I find by keeping these items on hand I am more likely to find a way to incorporate them into a dinner in order to add more nutrition into mine and my family’s diet.  Even if only for the simplest reason of, to use it before it goes bad. 

One other change I have made is to add more vegetable nutrients into my diet by way of the amazing grass powder.  After the assignment that included comparing some common multivitamins I decided to add a multivitamin to my diet.  I now take a women’s one a day tablet along with my fish oil vitamin.