I. Looking at the Big Picture
The first step in building a healthy diet you can live with involves putting together your food choices, consumption patterns, and eating triggers into a "big picture" that will help you see not just what you eat, but when you eat it and why.

A. Collect food intake data for three days using the food intake form provided. (You can print out multiple copies of the form below, or make copies.) The illustration, A Rule of Thumb for Serving Sizes, will help you track how much of each kind of food you eat, so that you don't have to carry an assortment of measuring devices with you. Note that the food intake form includes a section for recording your mood and hunger level. NutriQuest can't analyze these feelings, but reviewing them along with your nutrient analysis data can help provide important clues to the factors that stimulate you to eat. Knowing which situations cue you to eat is especially important if you are trying to change some of your eating habits.

B. Once you have completed the food intake forms the next step is to enter and analyze this information using NutriQuest. Begin by entering your vital statistics on the Personal Profile screen. Note that NutriQuest will calculate recommended total calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake based on the information you entered regarding your weight, height, age, gender, and activity level. Print this screen after you have entered all of your personal profile data, and checked it for accuracy. Save the printout for future comparisons.

C. Now enter your food intake data from your food intake log using the Intake Analysis screen. You are ready to analyze your diet. Begin by clicking on the nutrient summary chart icon (ABC). Print this chart. Compare the amount of calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates you actually consumed with the amount of these nutrients NutriQuest estimated you would need based on the personal profile data you entered earlier. Explain any differences in these values.

D. Use the pie charts to determine the percentage of calories you consumed in the form of fat, and to investigate the composition of fat in your diet. How does your intake of total fat, saturated, and monounsaturated fat compare with the levels of intake recommended by health care experts? Are you eating enough monounsaturated fat?

E. Review your nutrient summary printout. How do your cholesterol and fiber intake compare with established norms?

F. Use the RDA bar graphs to review your intake of key nutrients. How would you rate your diet in terms of folate, iron, zinc and calcium intake? Are there any other nutrient deficiencies or excesses?

G. Overall, which types of food should you consider eating less of, and which types of food should you consider eating more of to improve your diet?

II. It's Not What You Say But How You Say It
Some health experts feel consumers are weary of health warnings containing "NO" messages, and suggest it would be more effective to emphasize positive messages such as "eat more produce" than it is to emphasize negative messages like "eat less fat."

A. Are you more likely to follow the advice contained in a positive message?

B. How do you think adding 4 servings of fruits/vegetables to your diet would effect your overall nutrient intake patterns? Would you be likely to eliminate some other foods in your diet to make room for the additional servings of produce? Return to the Intake Analysis screen and add four servings of produce of your choice. Eliminate any foods you feel you may not eat if you are eating more produce. Rerun the analysis. What changes if any do you see in your nutrient intake?

III. Does Your Diet Look Like a Pyramid or a Funnel?
Once you have entered your food intake data click on the Food Guide Pyramid. A picture of the Food Guide Pyramid will appear on screen, and the suggested number of servings of food from each food group will appear beside each Pyramid food category. The actual number of servings of food you consumed from each category will appear in a box below the suggested intake.

A. Compare the idealized number of servings with your actual intake. What types of foods did you eat too little of? Which types of foods did you tend to eat too much of?

B. Draw a personal food pyramid by adjusting the relative size of each food group to reflect your actual intake. Does your pattern of food intake still resemble a pyramid, or is it another shape entirely, like a funnel? Did you consume foods from each food group on the Pyramid, or did you neglect entire categories of food?

C. Could you have predicted the shape of your "pyramid" from the "% of Calories" pie chart?

D. If you do not change your eating habits what type of health problems are you at an increased risk of developing?

IV. Junk Food
Use the Intake Analysis section to analyze the nutrient and calorie contribution of any so called "junk" foods you consume on a routine basis (e.g., nacho flavored corn chips, cupcakes, Coke, etc.).

A. After determining the calorie and nutrient content of your total diet create a separate file containing just the "junk food" you ate during the time you were logging your total food intake. You can do this by adding an extra day to your intake. Next run a dietary analysis on the foods for this day only.

B. Compare the analysis of the "junk food" file with the one you complete for your total diet. What percentage of the total calories, fat, and sugar in your diet came from junk foods?

V. Variety: The Spice Of Life And The Foundation Of Good Health
Variety is a key principal of good nutrition. Although most nutrition students acknowledge that eating a varied diet is important, they have a hard time quantifying how much variety is enough.

Dr. Kathleen Tucker of Tufts University Nutrition Department designed a variety quiz based on 37 food categories. Dr. Tucker found people who consumed foods from at least 27 out of the 37 categories listed over a three-day period had a well-varied diet. Eating foods from a variety of categories is only part of the solution. According to Dr. Tucker, "Eating a variety of foods within each category makes your diet that much better. Take the citrus category, it is better to eat a tangerine, a grapefruit and an orange over a three-day period than to eat three oranges." (Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter, August 1997)

Compare the foods listed in your 3-day food intake log with the dietary checklist shown above. If you can check off 80% (or 32) of the foods on the list over a three-day period, your diet is fairly well-varied. But if you are eating only 50% to 60% of the food categories on the list you should immediately take steps to expand your food choices.

VI. Fluid Intake: The Water Pyramid
Although the dietary analysis software does not indicate it, drinking an adequate amount of water is essential for good health. If you did not keep track of your water intake while logging your food intake track your fluid intake for the next several days.

A. Compare your water intake with that suggested on the Water Pyramid.

B. Print out the Water Pyramid. Beginning at the base of the pyramid shade in one box for each glass of plain water you consumed.

C. The Water Pyramid depicts the amount of water health care professionals feel inactive people need each day just to stay in good health. How do you think changes in environmental temperature would effect these recommendations? Would people in a cold climate have the same basic water needs as people in a temperate climate? What about people in a very warm climate?

D. Would four 8-oz glasses of water be sufficient to meet the essential water needs of a very active person? Why or why not?