Food Intake: 3 Days Report

Food Intake - 3 Days
Tia Wiggins
SCI220
January 7, 2014
Professor Susan Fahrney MPH
Food Intake - 3 Days

For three days I had an assignment to do regarding my three day food intake on which I had to eat fast foods and record what my results were. I chose ChooseMyPlate.gov to document my food intakes, and it was very interesting to see what my report had revealed from my three days of eating.
The foods that provided me with protein were chicken strips, chicken breast, a sausage link, chocolate chip cookies, macaroon cookies, cheeseburger, and baked fish. The foods that provided me with carbohydrates was bread from the cheeseburger, the coated breading on my chicken strips, penne pasta, broccoli, 2% milk, chocolate chip
cookies, macaroon cookies, strawberry-banana yogurt, carrots and onion in my salad, and mocha creamer in my coffee. The foods that provided me with lipids were the butter I put on my broccoli, oil that was on my baked fish, the 2% milk that I had with my cookies, chicken strips, and chicken breast.
My carbohydrates target was 130 grams, but for all three days I went over the recommended dietary reference intake.
My protein target was 46 grams, and the first and third day shows that I went over what I was supposed to eat, but the second day I was under the target amount. My lipid target was between 20%-35%, and again the first and third day indicates that I went over the target amount. The second day shows that I was in the range for the amount of lipids needed. Since my carbohydrates and proteins were outside of the range, I probably would have removed the five pieces of chicken strips, the five chocolate chip cookies, the four macaroon
cookies.
The protein in the foods that I ate for three days shows I was complete and incomplete. On the first and third day I was over the total gram amounts needed, but on the second day I was under the total grams needed. For the second day I could have combined a bowl of rice and beans to complete my protein amount for that day. It is very important to combine foods that are incomplete to create a completed protein because if you did not have enough protein from one source of food, you can compensate with one or two incomplete protein foods to make up for it. It is very important to have the required amount of macronutrient intakes. If you have too little it can cause health problems to occur, such as cancer, diabetes, heart problems, osteoporosis, you can also start to feel sluggish not having enough energy. If you have too much of some macronutrients you can gain weight, or have high cholesterol from eating too many saturated fats. This can cause problems for the blood to not flow to the organs in the body properly (hsph.harvard.edu).
I did not meet 100% of my fiber total for the 3-day food intake, because it was so far under the total amount that was required daily that I needed to have. The total quantity of fiber that I should have daily is 25 grams. The results showed that on the first day I ate only 11 grams, the second day I consumed 5 grams, and the third day I only completed 8 grams. My chart results from ChooseMyPlate.gov, had indicated that I did not meet the total required fiber amount which is 25%. The first and second day I did not have fruit in my diet which was at 0%, and also on the third day I was at 0% because I did not have fruit nor dairy in my foods.
The foods that provided me with the most fiber on the first day were the five pieces of breaded chicken strips, and 1 cup of broccoli.
On the third day I ate a cheeseburger with tomatoes and mayonnaise on a bun, one medium bag of French fries, one cup of broccoli, and one fish with vegetable oil on it. The trends in my food choices that might affect my fiber intake shows that I did not eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. I am usually eating a lot of fried and greasy foods, and I also have a habit of drinking a lot of soda. The changes I would make would be to eat more vegetables like green beans, and eating more fruits like oranges. Sometimes I eat bean dishes but not often, but when I do it usually would be a bowl of
chili. Drinking fruit juice instead of eating whole fruit may not good because it has been processed to where the fiber, and other nutrients from the fruit is completely gone. Lots of sugar is added to it to make it taste really good, but too much of it will make the blood level rise faster and then it drops. This can cause health problems such as diabetes, or weight gain (livestrong.com). Not having sufficient carbohydrates, fats, or fiber can cause health problems within the body. For example, with children it can cause problems in their growing and development. In adults, the body can become susceptible to heart diseases, loss of muscle because bones are weak, memory loss, or energy is low (just to name a few). If you have excessive amounts of nutrients it can also affect your health as to where you can gain weight, or it can block the flow of blood to the organs so your body cannot work appropriately. My conclusion is that in order for us to have healthy bodies, we need to eat healthy foods within our daily intake and in moderation. Not only should we watch the foods that we eat, but have some type of physical activity also.

References

Hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/protein-full-story
Livestrong.com/article/499608-nutritional-value-of-fruit-juice-vs-fruit