PROJECT GOALS AND DESCRIPTION

As you'll learn in class, the Recommended Dietary Allowances are the suggested levels of intake for a variety of essential nutrients. Because not everyone can possibly eat "perfectly" every day, they are meant to be averaged over several days' intake. Think of them as intake goals that you should aim for.

In keeping with the purpose of this class – putting nutritional knowledge into the context of personal health – you will record your diet for three days and then average the nutrient content from those three days. You will then compare your actual three-day average with the RDA goals and other dietary guidelines.

This comparison will give you an idea of how good a job you are doing in meeting your body's needs for today and preventing chronic disease in years to come.

The full instructions for the Virtual Diet Project start on p. 284 of your eBook.

TOOLS NEEDED FOR PROJECT

• Downloaded Virtual Diet Project forms with your name pre-filled in at the bottom in gray [NOTE: Your project must have a total of 6 completed pages with your name on each page (the entire file contains 8 pages, but 1 is an optional extra food form record and 1 is the directions for the MyPlate page)]
  • Three days of completed Food Record Pages
  • Summary Page
  • Calculations Form
  • MyPlate Daily Checklist

• Food Comparison Tables (p. 312 of Appendix in your eBook)
• A calculator
• A PDF editor

HOW TO GET FULL CREDIT ON DIET PROJECT

• Fill in your first and last name + student ID number at the top of all pages
• Submit completed Food Record Pages for three consecutive days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday OR Thursday, Friday, Saturday).
• Submit a completed Calculation Page
• Submit a completed Summary Page
• Submit a completed Comparison Form
• Submit a completed MyPlate Daily Checklist

REASON(S) FOR NO PASS

1. MyPlate Worksheet error
2. Calculation and/or transferring error of %kcal Fat, %kcal Sat. Fat
3. Transferring error: % error: totals, RDA
4. Transferring error: % error: protein, energy standard
5. Addition, averaging, transferring errors on summary page
6. Incomplete/incorrect nutrient information on food record forms
7. Other error
8. Non-original/copies of Diet Project Sheets
9. Incomplete/missing page(s)