Diet Analysis Program for Windows

This document contains instructions for using the Windows version of the Diet Analysis software provided by the text publisher. These instructions should be printed and taken to the computer lab when you do your assignment.

You must submit the average of your 5 day data print-out from the diet analysis program to receive credit for this assignment. Please note that you can only see the average of all days analysis when you select Print-Average from the print menu.

Introduction
The Diet Analysis computer program provides you with a personal nutritional profile based on your age, weight, gender and activity level. Diet Analysis also analyzes the nutritional content of your diet for up to seven days. It is essential that you keep an accurate diary of everything that you eat for the days you choose to analyze.

 Recording Your Food Intake for Five Days
Record your daily food intake, including serving quantity on the diet intake forms. (The forms can be downloaded and printed from the Biology 130 class internet site.) Be as accurate as possible. For many dishes, you will need to list the ingredients separately. For example, you may not find a database entry for the mixed salad and "vegie" sandwich on pita bread that you had for lunch. You will have to list each of the foods that were in the salad and in the sandwich.

Using the Diet Analysis Program in the Science Study Center, B-113
Note: To save your work, either provide a zip disk (all computers have zip drives) or if using a floppy diskette, ask the assistant to provide you with a floppy drive to attach to the USB port of the computer you are using. You must return the floppy drive to the assistant when finished.

  1. Click on the Start Windows icon on the computer desktop to start Virtual PC.
  2. Open the ESHA Diet Analysis application.
  3. Under the File menu, select "New" to start the program.
  4. Follow these instructions and those which appear on the screen to complete your analysis.

Personal Profile Information
The computer will prompt you to provide your personal information for your RDA profile. The flashing vertical bar (the cursor) following "Name" shows you where to start typing. The cursor always indicates where the computer wants you to enter data. You can use the tab key to move from one text entry field (box) to another.


Profile Screen

1. Type in your name. Press the tab key.

2. Use the arrow at the right of the gender field to select your gender. Press the tab key.

3. Use the arrow at the right of the activity field to select activity level and press the tab key.

Activity levels can be determined using these guidelines:

  1. Sedentary
    Rarely active. Energy level is for basal metabolism plus 15% for minimal activities.
  2. Lightly Active:
    Most students, office workers, professionals, etc. About three hours spent daily in light activity such as walking or housekeeping, and about one hour each day in moderate physical exercise.
  3. Moderately Active:
    Active students, most persons in light industry, building workers, department store workers, etc., jobs which require being on your feet for most of the work day.
  4. Very Active:
    Full-time athletes, dancers, some agricultural workers, forestry workers, etc.
  5. Extremely Active:
    Athletes in training and those employed in rigorous vocations, such as construction.

You can also tailor your profile to your personal activity level by clicking on the 24 hour activity button and making entries in the window which opens. 4. Type your height, weight* and age. Press tab after each entry.

* The program will print a profile for maintaining the weight you have entered. The program also has an option for creating a weight gain or weight loss profile if you would like to see a "target" weight profile. This can be accessed after you have created this profile.

5. Type in your student ID# and type in Nutrition for the Class Info. Press the tab key after each entry.


When you have entered your personal profile data, click the OK box. The computer will display your personal recommended nutrient intakes. You can print your recommended nutrients at this time if you wish. To do so, pull down the File menu and select "Print".


 Sample Personal Nutrient Profile

 If you need to edit your profile, you must have the profile screen visible, and then select Personal from the Profile menu. This is also where you can access the window for weight gain or weight loss profile adjustments.

Some cautions about the program's profile information:
 The profile is a guideline only. Generally you could be anywhere from 80% to 120% on all of the nutrients and still have healthy eating habits. For fat, cholesterol and sodium, you can be much lower than the recommended amount.

  • The grams of carbohydrate listed on your profile should be considered the minimum amount.

  • The grams of fat listed should be considered the maximum amount. The program is based on 30% of your calories for fat. You might want to consider lowering that to 20 to 25% of your calories.
    To calculate a lower amount of fat grams do the following:

    Take your recommended calorie total , and multiply that by the % desired fat. Divide that number by 9 to obtain the grams of fat you could consume daily. For a 2000 calorie diet with 25% fat the calculation would be: 2000 calories X .25 = 500 /9 = 55.6 grams of fat daily

  • You will now need to add extra grams (about twice the number of grams that you have reduced your fat by) to your carbohydrate intake to make up the additional calories you need. For example, if your profile recommend 66 grams of fat, and you choose to eat only 55 grams, you will need to increase your carbohydrate by 22 grams. (66 - 55 = 11*2 = 22)

  • The recommended fiber amount will probably be less than the 25 - 30 grams most of us should try to consume daily.
    Many women will want to increase their calcium intake to around 1200 mg/day.
    Some health experts recommend increasing the amounts of vitamin C, beta-carotene and vitamin E for their anti-oxidant properties. The program lists their nutrient level only.
    Entering your Food Intake Information into the Computer
    A. Day 1 Data Entry:
    1. You can enter your foods for day one by clicking on the "1" button or by selecting "Daily Intake 1" from the Profile menu.



    Using the Windows menu to highlight "FoodList"


    FoodList Screen


    1. Type in the name of the first food from your food diary. The database for all foods in the Diet Analysis program for that food category will appear on the screen. You use the mouse to scroll up and down to find the entry that matches your specific food item best.



    DataBase for Cereal

    Note If you are using the food codes, type in the food code of your first food item. Your specific entry will appear in the food item space when you press enter after typing in the code number.


    You must now enter in the amount of the food you ate. This step requires two entries.

    1. First you must enter in the numeric quantity, such as 1 (for one cup) or 3 (for 3 ounces), etc. After entering a number, click enter (or return).
    2. Then you enter in the measuring unit, such as cup, pound, each, etc. The allowable measures for each food item are highlighted . You only need to type the first letter of the measure. Click enter again.
    You can now continue to add the additional foods eaten on day 1.
    1. If you discover an error, simply click on that item from your FoodList shown on the screen and the item will reappear in the entry fields so you can modify it.
    2. You can delete an item by highlighting it and clicking the delete button.

    B. Analysis of your Day 1 Data:
    1. When you have completed your day 1 entries, you will be ready to analyze your foods. With your Day 1 FoodList on the screen, select "FoodList" from the menu and click on "Analysis/Reports"

    2. A choice of report formats for what you ate will show on screen. You may select the format you prefer. Two samples are shown below. You may print this report now, or wait until later. If you choose to print it now, select print from the file menu, and the analysis can be printed.


      Selecting Analyses/Report forms


      Sample Analysis Report in Bar Graph format


      Sample Analysis Report in Pyramid format

    3. Your Day 1 Spreadsheet
      The spreadsheet report gives you a breakdown of nutrients for each food you ate. You can use the spreadsheet to find out which foods contributed the most to each of your nutrients. You can also choose to print your spreadsheet now.

    4. Other reports available are discussed in the instruction booklet from West/Wadsworth. After you have viewed your reports, close your Day 1 FoodList. You must do this step or the program may not function correctly.

    C. Entry and Analysis of Day 2 to Day 5:
    1. Click on th "2" button in the tool bar or use the Profile menu to select Daily Intake 2.

    2. Follow the steps used for Day 1 data entry and analysis. Remember, you can print each report as you do them, if you wish.

    3. Repeat these steps for each subsequent day.
    D. Averaging the five days and Printing your reports.
    You will find an average analysis of all days useful. Close all food intake windows so that your profile shows on the screen. Click on the Print icon or select File-Print from the menu bar to access the Print Report menu. You need only to print your profile and the daily average reports for this assignment. However, other reports are useful for the additional assignments you will be completing this term, so you may want to print all of the reports.

    Print Menu

    You can select print from the file menu, and print all reports at this time if you did not print each report as you completed them earlier.
    Analyzing your Nutritional Status
    Your computer printouts include a personal recommended nutrient profile, nutrient analyses of what you ate, and detailed reports in the spreadsheet view for all of the foods you ate. The spreadsheets analyze each food item in terms of total calories, calories from carbohydrates, calories from total fats, unsaturated fats and cholesterol, and calories from protein. The spreadsheets also show the amount of dietary fiber in each item, as well as the amounts of several vitamins and minerals. Although it takes a little time, you can use the spreadsheets to analyze just where your specific nutrients are coming from. This is usually enlightening.

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