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Use
the Internet to evaluate your diet
Sept. 1, 05
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
In
your quest to eat well, there probably has come a point when
you’ve wondered, “How am I doing?”
There are several ways to go about getting a meaningful evaluation
of your diet.
First, though: If you follow a therapeutic diet for a medical
condition such as diabetes or kidney disease, it’s best
to have an ongoing relationship with a registered dietitian
who is qualified to assess your progress and give you individualized
advice. Most health care providers can refer you to a dietitian
for counseling, or you can call the American Dietetic Association
at 1-800-366-1655 for a referral to a dietitian near you with
expertise in your particular disease or condition.
If you’re on your own, however, and are healthy, you
may be interested in learning about some free tools you can
use to help you evaluate your diet by yourself.
These tools are designed to give you a general sense of how
you are doing. Most don’t provide an in-depth, comprehensive
assessment of your intake of vitamins and minerals. An assessment
on that level usually requires you to keep a detailed food
diary for at least several days or weeks plus someone skilled
in using food databases to get as accurate an analysis of
your diet as possible.
That’s not practical for most people, and it’s
also not necessary.
Instead, you can use some online self-assessment tools to
get a very good general sense of your overall diet quality
and guidance in making simple changes in your food choices
that can result in substantial improvements in your total
diet.
Where to go:
* The fat screener and the fruit and vegetable screener, both
available free of charge by NutritionQuest at http://nutritionquest.com/freetools/index.htm.
These simple quizzes take less than five minutes each to complete
and provide helpful feedback on saturated fat, fiber and fruit
and vegetable intakes for reduction of cancer and heart disease
risks. The researchers who developed these tools also offer
a more comprehensive tool ordered via the web site that produces
results similar in accuracy to those obtained through detailed
food diaries. The larger quiz takes about half an hour to
take using pencil and paper and costs $15.
* NIBBLE nutrition information site sponsored by the University
of Massachusetts-Amherst. A collection of simple quizzes at
http://www.umass.edu/nibble/ratings/queslist.htm
gives feedback on your levels of sugar, sodium and fat intakes.
* Rate Your Restaurant Diet at http://www.cspinet.org/nah/quiz/index.html.
This quiz from the Center for Science in the Public Interest
is useful for assessing how you do when you are away from
home.
You can calculate your body mass index or BMI – an indicator
of total body fat – by using an online calculator from
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm.
If you find you need to lose weight, go to http://wwwusers.med.cornell.edu/~spon/picu/calc/beecalc.htm
where Cornell University maintains a handy calculator for
determining the number of calories you need each day to maintain
your current weight. To lose a pound a week, subtract 500
calories.
There are some online tools for assessing kids’ weights,
too. Go to a Baylor College of Medicine site at http://www.kidsnutrition.org/bodycomp/bmiz2.html
for a tool that calculates kids’ BMIs and provides guidance
on interpreting the results. A second Baylor site at http://www.kidsnutrition.org/consumer/nyc/vol1_03/energy_calculator.htm#
calculates kids’ energy needs and offers a list of other
resources on handling children’s weight problems.
What you put into your body plays a fundamental role in determining
your health. Take the time now and then to assess how you’re
doing so that you can make adjustments when they’re
needed. These tools can be an enjoyable, convenient and inexpensive
way to get you started.
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