Discussion: Module 5: Wellness and Eating - Discussion

JG Voss-Blair, MSED-OTL
2014-10-21T11:53:45-06:00

Module 5, Wellness and Eating

Healthy Eating Guides, Food Diary, and Compare Cultures

Discussion Forum

Outcomes

Recognize how healthy eating is represented in a variety of established healthy eating guides from various cultures

Evaluate your current eating behavior

Activities

Part 1, Examine Healthy Eating Guidelines

Examine these American food guides.

The USDA Choose My Plate: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

Harvard’s Healthy Eating Pyramid and New Plate: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid-full-story/index.html

Then, go out and find a food pyramid or guide from another country. There are many options out there.

Part 2, Maintain a Food Diary

Maintain a Food Diary. For four (4) days, monitor and keep a record of everything you eat and drink on the “What Shape is Your Diet In?” worksheets. These worksheets are designed to match your food choices to the Healthy Eating Pyramid published by the Harvard School of Public Health. Your book has a picture of this pyramid in the Wellness and Eating chapter, but there is a much better picture and a more comprehensive description at the Harvard Nutrition Source website:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid-full-story/index.html

Complete a total of four worksheets, one for each day. Complete all parts of each worksheet including:

Detailed food and beverage list that includes type and amount of food.

The squares – one square equals one serving. Fill them out starting from the center.

Daily exercise amount and type (Write “none” if none.)

Water Tally

My Tally (This is a good place to track alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, coffee, etc. -- Anything you are interested in tracking that is not accounted for in other parts of the worksheet.)

· Identify the factors that influenced your food choices.

It is not necessary to change your eating while you are completing the worksheets; eat how you normally eat. The purpose is to establish an accurate account of your current eating patterns so that you can evaluate them and determine how to better align your food choices to established guidelines.

As you complete the worksheets, you will create a data base of your food choices, match your food choices to areas in the Harvard Food Pyramid and identify factors that influence your food choices.

Assessment

After completing both parts, reflect on your experience and discuss the following questions:

1. Discuss some parts of the chapter that stood out to you.

2. What common themes occur between most of the food guides you examined in Part 1?

3. Describe the international food guide you found, and post a link.

4. Discuss what you discovered from keeping a food diary; discuss the process and results. (Include one of your worksheets as an attachment.)

5. Explain the primary factors that influenced your food choices during your tracking.

6. Explain how your daily eating compares to the Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid. And, on page 110, section 4.17, the book suggests some guidelines for healthy eating. What are some of these areas where you are doing well? What are some of these areas that you could target to improve this part of your Wellness Index?

Format Requirements

For maximum points, your posts must follow the discussion criteria outlined in the syllabus

Attach a copy of one of your food diary worksheets.