L.

Noelle Murphy

Carol Wilson-Robbins

PED-105

March 2019

Journal 3: Personal Nutrition Assessment

Journal Reflection & Analysis:

From the day that I chose to assess my nutritional habits, I definitely saw may strengths

and weaknesses. Although my dietary assessment only assessed the nutrition of one day, it

helped to build a framework of how to live a healthier and more nutritional lifestyle. What I

mean by this, is that it has helped me to understand the foods, vitamins and the amount of

water I need to intake on a daily basis to be considered healthy. I have learned very much from

this assessment and will explain in further detail.

Like I stated before, from this assessment I have learned that I have many weaknesses in

my diet. These weaknesses are broken down into whether I had deficiencies or excessiveness of

any certain nutritional aspects. My first weakness that I noticed would be the fact that I am

deficient in “good fats”, such as Omega-3 and Omega-6. Additional deficiencies would include

water, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, folate, calcium, zinc, selenium, and fluoride.

The nutritional aspects that I exceeded the DRI on this day include saturated fat, trans fatty

acids, sodium and manganese. There are many ways for me to turn these weaknesses into

strengths. These attempts to turn my weaknesses into strengths may include adding certain

foods into my diet or excluding certain things from my diet. I have always thought about
turning to vitamin supplements but after doing the assessment I have decided to try to fix the

problem by changing my diet before leaning to the decision of supplements.

Although I had many weaknesses which discouraged me, I also had a few strengths

within my assessment as well. These strengths were broken down by whether I met the goal

exactly or whether I was slightly above or below the goal DRI. The intake that exactly met the

DRI included overall fat intake, cholesterol, and carbohydrates. The next intake of nutrition was

slightly below the DRI. This included my total calorie intake, fibers, magnesium, phosphorus,

potassium, and copper. The last group of intakes was slightly elevated than the DRI. This group

included protein, sugars, vitamin C, and Niacin.

From this assessment I have learned many things about my nutritional intake. I

definitely have a few things I need to look for when I am planning a meal or things I need to

avoid. I am not drinking enough water, not getting enough vitamins, not consuming enough

calcium, consuming way too much sodium and much more. The lack of or the excessiveness of

certain nutrients can eventually lead to health issues which is why it is so important to be aware

of your own intake. Having awareness on this topic as well can help us as future educators. We

can bring this knowledge into the classroom in order to educate our surrounding staff as well as

our students.

One major change that I can make in my diet would be to drink a lot more water

throughout my days. I am constantly dehydrated but I continue to put it off which is very

unhealthy for my body. Another change that I could make would be to eat more items like

salmon and milk to bring of up vitamin D levels. Another vitamin I could bring up would be

vitamin K if I ate more things like kale and spinach. I definitely do not each much salad or many
greens so this would help exponentially. Another thing that jumped out to me was that I am not

obtaining anywhere near enough folates, which is very important if I ever plan to become

pregnant. Before this assessment I was not aware of this as well as many other things such as

having “bad fats” and “good fats”.

From this assessment I have learned a lot of new information that I plan to keep an eye

on when buying foods, drinks, and etc. I will definitely try to stay away from packaged and

processed foods and try to eat more natural fruits and vegetables as well as more protein in

order to bring my vitamin D levels up. I am very glad that I did this assessment and I plan on

doing a longer one once I start my healthier diet to see if I am continually receiving the right

amount of nutrients. I am also excited to have the ability to bring this knowledge with me into

my classroom in the future.