NUTR 150: W07 ASSIGNMENT – DIETARY ANALYSIS REFLECTION

NUTR 150: W07 Assignment – Dietary Analysis Reflection

Name: Julia Gleason

During this unit, you have learned to record and evaluate dietary intake, specifically looking at your own individual intake. In this
assignment, you will have the opportunity to reflect on these experiences, what you have learned, and what changes you may want
to make in the future.

Reflection

1. Reflection.
a. Review your dietary intake and analysis from the W06 Assignment. Reflect on your experience in
completing that assignment. Think about what went well, what was difficult, and what you would do
differently if doing the assignment again.
b. Then answer three (3) of the following four (4) reflection questions below.

Grammar and Spelling (3 points). Correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation is a requirement for NUTR 150
assignments. Please spell/grammar check your reflection answers and then re-read your responses to make sure
you catch and correct errors. (Note: Microsoft Word does highlight some of your spelling and grammar errors.
Make sure you click on those highlighted errors and correct them).

Choose 3 of the 4 reflection questions to answer (9 points total):

A. Level of Hunger (4 points).
 In 1-2 paragraphs, discuss how your level of hunger before you ate influenced the types of foods
you selected to eat.
 Give at least two (2) specific examples from your dietary intake record to support your main
thoughts.
 Reflect on how you can apply your insights of how hunger influences your food selections to achieve
healthy eating patterns.
 Describe at least one (1) change you would like to make in your eating patterns to minimize
influences of hunger.
 List at least one (1) barrier that you might face in making this change.

I realized the hungrier I was, the more likely I was to choose something that was quick and convenient.
Typically, these things were less healthy and didn’t have any particularly helpful nutrients. For example, once
I reached a level of hunger that was lightheaded (1). I quickly got a baked potato out of the fridge and loaded
it up with sour cream, taco mixed cheese, and butter. The starch of the potato wasn’t the best already, but I
also loaded it with fatty toppings which reduced the nutrient density. I also noticed one of the main reasons I
chose the potato was because it was convenient and easily available from a party a few nights back. Another
example of this was when I was at a 3 before bed and did not want to go to bed hungry, so I made some hot
chocolate and had a slice of white bread. This also doesn’t have a huge variety of nutrients and was a very
fast and convenient food.
I think that because when I am hungry, I typically go for convenient food, I should make sure that the food
I have on hand is healthier. I could meal prep on one day of the week like Sunday when I am not typically too
hungry and make plenty of healthy food I could quickly grab and heat up next time I’m hungry. That way the
adverse effects of my hunger would be minimized. A barrier I might have is time to cook that much food or
finding enough room to store my premade food. I will have to use the outside fried to store my food and plan
out enough time to work.
 NUTR 150: W07 ASSIGNMENT – DIETARY ANALYSIS REFLECTION
B. Peers/Location (4 points).
 In 1-2 paragraphs, discuss how others around you and/or the location influenced what you ate.
 Give at least two (2) specific examples from your dietary intake record to support your main
thoughts.
 Reflect on how you can apply your insights of how peer/location influences your food selections to
improve your eating choices.
 Describe at least one (1) change you would like to make in your eating patterns to minimize
peer/location influences.
 List at least one (1) barrier that you might face in making this change.

There were a few times that people influenced what I ate. This semester, I live at home and so many times
my mother cooks for us. When she did this, I felt obligated to eat what she made to not hurt her feelings
because she worked so hard. When she made chocolate chi muffins one morning, I felt bad turning them
down, even though I knew I should have chosen something healthier. However, she also influenced me to eat
healthy as well. She brought me home an apple to eat one day and I also didn’t want to turn it down, so I ate
it with some peanut butter, which is a lot healthier than what I probably would have chosen for a snack.
So, I know that others can help me to eat either healthy, or not so much. I could try shopping with my
mother, and we could by more fruits and vegetables together, or we could cook healthy meals together. A
challenge here might be working our schedules around each other, but if we plan, we should be able to work
it out.

C. Surprised You (4 points).

 In 1-2 paragraphs, what surprised you about your dietary analysis? Are you doing as well or worse
than you thought?
 Give at least two (2) specific examples from your dietary intake record to support your main
thoughts.
 Reflect on how you can apply your new insights to improve/maintain healthy eating patterns.
 Describe at least one (1) change you would like to make in your eating patterns.
 List at least one (1) barrier that you might face in making this change.

There were many things that surprised me from this assignment. One being the lack of fruits I ate. This
may be due partially to the season, but I have always found myself fond of eating it, so I was surprised when
I realized I didn’t eat as much as I thought. On Day 1, I ate 0 cups of fruit. Another thing that surprised me
was the amount of sodium I took in. I try to avoid it, but I don’t think I was doing as good a job as I thought.
The single slice of pepperoni take-out pizza had 578 milligrams of sodium.
I was not intaking as much good nutrients as I thought, and I was taking in more unhealthy nutrients than I
should. To fix this I would like to start making a lot of my meals by hand so that I can control what I put in,
like more fresh vegetables and less sodium. The hard part of that is convenience, because it is often a lot of
work, but I can research healthy and fast recipes online to help me.

D. Weekday vs Weekend (4 points).

 In 1-2 paragraphs, what differences did you observe between your weekday and weekend eating?
 Give at least two (2) specific examples from your dietary intake record to support your main
thoughts.
 Reflect on how you can apply your insights to improve/maintain healthy eating throughout the
week.
 Describe at least one (1) change you would like to make in your eating patterns.
 List at least one (1) barrier that you might face in making this change.
 NUTR 150: W07 ASSIGNMENT – DIETARY ANALYSIS REFLECTION
Type reflection here . . .

W07 Bonus Code Word Submission (Optional)

After attending the “Weekly Instructor Review” or watching the recording, complete this section to earn 2 bonus points.
 Complete this on your own without help from another person.
 Please be sure to spell and enter the code word exactly as it was given to receive credit.

W07: Type in the bonus code word: