Food Journal Analysis #3

Food Journal Analysis #3

Craig Hull

SCI 220

Matt Dennis

November 28, 2007

Food Journal Analysis #3

My food journal analysis will be done for Thanksgiving Day this week. This is a week when everyone over eats and has to pay the price. The Pyramid Tracker will show the unhealthy decisions made on this day and may change the way I will eat in the future.

According to the Pyramid Tracker, the students recommended daily allowed fat grams are 236.1gm of fat. On this particular day the student consumed 381.2 grams of fat. Though the recommendation is less than what the student ate, for his personal analysis, the recommendation is between 20% and 35%. The student's total fat intake came out to be 32.4%.

In order to keep the student's saturated fat intake from exceeding 10% of the daily caloric intake, the student must not exceed 106.25 grams of saturated fat on this day. For this day the student consumed 126 grams of saturated fat. This exceeds the daily recommended amount for the day. The student's saturated fat intake for the day was 10.7%. Though the number is close to the recommended daily intake, the student still consumed a little too much saturated fat.

On Thanksgiving Day, almost everything the student ate was unhealthy in some way. Instead of eating huge quantities of the Thanksgiving dinner, the student could have indulged some, but could have cut down on portion sizes. No one is going to skip Thanksgiving dinner in the name of health, but it is important that he remember to limit himself on special days. The student could also consider some lower fat alternatives to his favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

On days when being health conscious is not a number one priority, some people tend to throw caution to the wind and eat a high fat version of a meal that they enjoy. When choosing to eat a high fat meal, it is important to remember to pick the rest of the food for the day wisely. A high fat serving of lasagna contains meat, vegetables, grains, and a high content of fat. In order

to get in the rest of the recommended food groups, one may consider choosing fruits, whole grains, and alternative sources of protein for the rest of the day. This may balance the scales where the high fat lasagna is concerned.

In a regular dish of lasagna the ingredients that contribute to most of the fat is the meat and the cheese. Since saturated fats usually come from fats that are solid at room temperature, the meat and the cheese contribute more towards the saturated fats in the dish. Foods that contain dairy products and eggs tend to be high in cholesterol (CNPP, 2007). Lasagna contains eggs, cheese, and ground beef or sausage. All of these foods contribute the high amount of cholesterol in lasagna. In order to change lasagna from a high fat, high cholesterol dish, a change in some of the ingredients will be needed. The ground beef or sausage can be substituted with ground turkey with is lower in fat and cholesterol. Whole wheat noodles can be used instead of the regular noodles. A mixture of yogurt and 1% cottage cheese can be used to replace the whole milk cottage cheese and fat free mozzarella can also be used. Another alternative would be to make vegetarian lasagna.

The student's recommended daily caloric intake is 2345 calories. On this day, the student consumed 10625 calories. This is almost 4 times the recommended value. Based on the amount of calories consumed on this day, the student has exceeded almost every category of vitamins, minerals, and fats. The only vitamins that were under the recommended allowance were vitamin C and vitamin E. Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables could have helped the student reach these recommendations.