Energy and nutrition projects

OVERVIEW:
No matter where you look these days one can’t help but notice how many different diets there are mentioned in the news and different forms of media. Many of us because of gender, age, and level of physical fitness often need to consider what we are eating on a daily basis in order to either gain weight or lose weight. One helpful and important aspect of many diets is the need to consider what kind of energy the food source being consumed will provide and allow you to do the most work. We often also evaluate how each food source will provide us with the nutrients we need.

PLANNING FOR THIS PROJECT:

You will need to make note or keep a diary of all the food you ate for one meal (3 items minimum) and take a photo of that meal. Make sure the photo is clear and all food items can be made out. Note also that you want to be able to describe the amount or serving size of each food item you consumed as well.
If you’re at a restaurant, often times they will have nutritional information about each food item – take a picture of this if possible
Before starting, do look through all of the questions below to get a feel for what will be asked and the purpose of the assignment.

NOTE: Three minimum reference sources are required. Your textbook, specifically Chapter 3 – Matter and Energy, would be very useful for this assignment.

ASSIGNMENT:

Address the questions listed below fully with complete sentences, inserting tables when necessary. Make sure to put it in your own words, paraphrasing and summarizing. Only use quotes when necessary, citing all sources used. Do make sure to apply the appropriate in-text citations when necessary. Make sure to review the Instructions page for this assignment as well.
For this assignment begin by reviewing Chapter 1, 2 and 3.

1. Create an “Introduction” section. In the first paragraph of this introduction, briefly describe the purpose of this assignment. Also write a brief paragraph(s) that addresses the following questions:

  • a. Are you currently on a diet now or have ever been on one? Add a description if so about the general type of diet.
  • b. If you’ve been on a diet, did you do any calorie counting or take into consideration the energy of the food you were eating? If so, what was your method?
  • c. Did you ever take into account how much exercise you’d have to do to burn off a certain meal or indulgence? If so, how did you calculate that?

2. Using your notes or your diary of all the foods you ate in one meal. Tell us if it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The meal needs to include at minimum 3 food items. List the food items you ate during that meal along with their amounts (or serving size). Include a picture of all the food items. You can create a table similar to the below:

  • Meal:
  • Food item

3. Review the Nutritional Facts for food each item.

  • a. If it is available, take a picture/include of each Nutritional Fact Label and insert it as a figure in your Word Document. Make sure it is properly titled.
  • b. If your food item does not have Nutritional Fact Label, research what the food item’s nutritional facts are. You are mainly looking for Carbohydrates, Fat and Protein. Include a picture or weblink on where you found the information. For example, McDonalds has a weblink that will calculate nutritional values of their food items. Example:

4. You will be creating tables and a calculation section for what goes into your tables. Make sure to label all columns and rows. All other calculations can be shown with the individual questions below.
Create a table for your food items showing the “Composition and Energy Content” listing the energy value for each food type (mass of Carbohydrate, Fat and Protein) along with the total Energy. Example shown below.

Table 3.7 shows the energy values for food obtained from burning 1g of carbohydrate, fat, or protein in kilocalories or kilojoules.

Food Carbohydrate (g) Fat (g) Protein (g) Total Energy (kcal)

5. Using Table 3.7, calculate the total kilocalories for each food type in this meal (round off the kilocalories to the tens place) and fill in your table. Then calculate the Energy in kilocalories for each food type based on amount of mass, along with the total energy for the entire meal.
See example table below (but do not show your calculation inside your table, only the result).

FOOD ITEM SNACK CRACKERS
Energy Content Mass (g) x Energy Value = Energy

Carbohydrates(g) 19 g x 4 kcal/1g = 76 kcal
Fat(g) 4 g x 9 kcal/1g = 36 kcal
Protein(g) 2 g x 4 kcal/1g = 8 kcal
Total Energy = 76 kcal + 36 kcal + 8 kcal = 120 kcal

6. Based on the total energy for the entire meal, use Table 3.9 to determine

  • a. What percentage of your typical energy requirements you consumed. (Show your full calculation)
  • b. How much more of the Typical Energy Requirements for Adults you have left for the day based on your Gender, Age and Activity level.

7. Using Table 3.10, determine the number of hours of sleep needed to burn off the kilocalories of this meal. (Show calculations.)

8. Using Table 3.10, determine the number of hours of swimming needed to burn off the kilocalories of this meal. (Show calculations.)

 

9. CONCLUSION:

  • a. Create a Conclusion section, make sure to put it in your own words, paraphrasing and summarizing. Only use quotes when necessary, citing all sources used.
  • b. Summarize the major findings you found above. How did your Total Energy for this meal compared to Typical Energy? How long would it take you to burn off the energy you consumed – looking at how many hours of sleep and swimming was needed to burn off your Total Energy for this meal.
  • c. Discuss if the food items were a good energy source for you. If not, discuss why not. Foods differ in their density of a wide variety of nutrients as compared to just the calories they give you.
  • d. Explain why you chose each of these food sources and if you would select differently next time. If you were on a particular diet how would your meal fit into that diet. You may have selected the food for other reasons. The foods you select will contain the same classes of biomolecules that you read about in your textbook: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, vitamins, and minerals.
  • e. Give any final thoughts about this meal and if you would do anything differently next time. Explain.