Evaluation of Popular Diets

Group Project for Basic Nutrition

Dr. Johnson

Troy University

The purpose of this project is to • Evaluate the macro and micro nutrient content of a popular

diet

• Determine the benefits/risks (if applicable) of the diet

• Make suggestions to improve the diet (if applicable)

• Discuss the general palatability, expense, and time commitment of the diet

• Foster collaboration and cooperation in a group activity

• Improve technology skills in displaying student group work and conducting a computer based diet analysis.

What the Student Will Do• Form groups (or will be assigned to a group) at the beginning

of the semester AND will be assigned a popular diet. (Requests for a different diet may be granted with approval from instructor).

• EACH student will find a journal article by searching online databases in the library (PubMed, CINAHL, OVID, Nursing databases, etc.) OR a website that features the diet. Number of journal articles must exceed the number of websites (i.e. 3 journal articles and one website).

• EACH student will develop a day’s menu based on the diet and analyze the day’s meal using MyNATS software.

• The group will form a consensus statement on the quality of the diet, palatability, expense, time involved, restrictiveness of the diet and specific suggestions to improve it.

The Rockstar Diet

Presented by

_________________

Date

Literature Review Table (each student prepares

his/her own table displayed on a separate slide with journal article summary or website summary; number of journal articles must exceed number of

websites - for example a group of four members would find 3 journal articles/1 website)

Team Member

Database/JournalArticle Citation

Summary Statement

Website Summary Statement

John Smith

PubMed

The RockStar Diet and HypertensionJ. of Cardiology44(2); pp 450-455Jones, LJackson, P.Ryan, M

2013

RCT of 40 adults comparing diet to medicationsto lower blood pressure. Diet was as effective as meds. No difference between groups in lowering blood pressure

www.______

Website allows for purchase of RockStar diet foods and supplements required to follow the diet

Website contains information that is not based on sound medicaladvice.

Menu Analysis- each member will prepare a day’s menu

OR find a day’s menu representing the popular diet- (cite source) and analyze the day’s menu using MyNATS software. Cut/paste the results.

Menu &AnalysisResults byJohnSmith

Use Paint orother softwareapplication toimprove readability of these two required tables.

Consensus Statement of Group on the RockStar Diet

• Adequacy?• Balance?• Calorically sound?• Nutrient Density?• Variety?• Expense?• Time?• Based on scientific support?• Other?

• Students must demonstrate they are working well together as a group. Use the tools available to communicate and post work. The instructor has access to this information and will assign individual grades based on participation and quality of participation.

• One group member should serve as a ‘scribe’ to set up a Slide Share account at www.slideshare.net. The scribe will share the account information to other group members to view the finished product and all agree before submitting to the instructor for a grade.

• Note due date on course calendar and pace work accordingly.

Additional Information

Diet Analysis:• Go to http://www.myfoodrecord.com and select version 2.0 on the left side of the screen.• Select the Enter Foods option. Type in the kind of food in the text box and search; a list of

foods will appear where you can find the item most similar to the item that you consumed. Indicate the number of servings and then the Add This Food list. Notice the serving size usually defaults to one ounce portions. Be sure to select the drop down feature and select the appropriate serving size. Remember that some food servings are presented by weight and not volume. For example, an 8 ounce cereal bowl holds approximately one to two ounces of cereal. A serving of potato chips is one to two ounces. Also, if cereal is entered, don’t forget to add milk. The food database is quite broad. It takes a little patience to find all the food items. If you can’t find the exact item, make an appropriate substitute OR piece together the ‘recipe’ by entering individual foods that made up the entrée you ate.

• Select the Add More Food option until all data is entered. When you have entered all the foods you ate or drank in a 24 hour period, cut and paste the food list table to a Word Document.

• Now select the Analyze Food option and be sure to click on the Display All Nutrients radio button at the bottom. The complete nutrient analysis will display information on what you ate for over 20 different items. Note your results. If you see something that looks very unusual (i.e. 40,000 calories or 400 calories for the day), go back and check to assure that you entered the foods correctly.

• Highlight and copy nutrient analysis table to the Word Document as you did the food list. . (You might need to use Paint software to crop the tables before pasting them to the Powerpoint presentation. Both tables must be complete and readable.)