Herbal Medicine Worldwide

Answer

A Five-Day Meal Program Analysis

Once more, I used Super-Tracker to record my nutritional intake for five days. Super-Tracker is effective for capturing dietary intake over a period and provides an analysis of the components of the diet on spot. After completing the analysis, I noted marked improvement from the previous dietary entries that I had inadequate vitamins and excess cholesterol. I have taken the recommended amounts of the vitamins with only vitamin D excessively falling under the required concentration. As documented in figure two, the recommended average for vitamin D is 15µg while I took an average of 4µ.

Another area I had remarkable improvement was proteins in which the target was 56g and I managed an intake of 67g. According to Deutz et al. (2014), proteins help in building the body by forming body structures. One of the measures that I took in improving protein intake was using plant sources of proteins such as peas and beans as evident in figure one. This strategy was an improvement from the reliance on animal proteins that have high risks for carrying zoonotic infections. Another advantage of relying on plant proteins in this second phase is the reduction in the amount of eggs consumed that led to a record of normal range for cholesterol consumed. Cholesterol level in the previous record on Super-Tracker was way above the normal limit. However, the cholesterol level was 294mg while the recommended average is below 300mg in this second entry. This improvement is recommended for healthy nutrition due to the health risks associated with high levels of exogenous cholesterol. High cholesterol levels in the blood are related to poor health outcomes such as coronary artery disease (Lu et al. 2014).

The total and saturated fats were considered within the normal limits. However, I still need improvements especially in carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. I had very slight variations in minerals from the normal range. For example, the average zinc intake was 10mg while the recommended daily amount is 11mg. Also, I took about 100mg excess of sodium. Excess sodium in the diet is a contributing factor to the development of hypertension in adults (Jackson et al. 2016). The zinc deficits could be corrected by increasing the amount of milk in the dietary intake because milk has adequate levels of minerals. On the other hand, sodium is mainly obtained from the table salt and a reduction in the amount of table salt added to food could help to reduce the sodium intake. Lastly, I could improve on the amount of calories by taking energy-giving foods such as potato chips and energy drinks as snacks between the meals. The snacks would be useful in replacing the energy I use during the day to execute various activities.

I have found information on this course useful in performing a complete nutritional analysis to identify and correct nutritional deficits or excesses. The contents of the course such as use of programs for recording nutritional intake have been helpful in identifying dietary imbalances. There are several non-communicable diseases that are mainly associated with lifestyle conditions such as diet. I have been able to improve my nutritional intake by working on the areas of weaknesses indicated by the meal program report. Therefore, nutritional analysis and assessment is beneficial in determining the risk for such morbidities to avoid development of complications.

Figure 1: Meal Summary

Figure 2: Nutrients Report

References