Introduction
Obesity is a metabolic disorder that occurs due the accumulation of excess calories in the form of fats, which consequently alter metabolic processes and cause adverse effects on the body. When people consume more calories than they are utilizing, excess calories accumulate in the body and cause biochemical disorders. In modern society, obesity has become a significant health issue because it predisposes individuals to a number of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Statistics show that 35.8 million people experience disability-adjusted life years annually due to obesity and overweight, which consequently cause 2.8 million deaths annually (Heymann and Goldsmith 2012). These statistics depict that obesity and overweight are serious health issues, which the health care systems across the world need to tackle. To tackle obesity and overweight, individuals need to ensure that they balance energy intake and energy output in the form of calories. Therefore, the coursework seeks to review the energy intake among students, and establish if energy intake matches energy output.
Why is it Important to Monitor What People Eat?
Monitoring what people eat is important because the nature of foodstuffs determines their health condition. Since food intake influences health condition, humans regulate food intake, as a way of improving or maintaining their health conditions. People should take nutrients such as proteins, calories, minerals, and vitamins in the appropriate proportions so that they can maintain their health conditions optimally. Excess intake of calories like carbohydrates and fats normally causes obesity and overweight. In addition to improving maintenance of health, monitoring of food intake enables people to manage health conditions such as obesity and overweight. Low energy foods such as vegetables and fruits reduce weight, while high-energy foods such as fats and sugars predispose individuals to obesity and overweight (Heymann and Goldsmith 2012). Thus, clinicians, dieticians, and nutritionists should monitor food intake of obese and overweight individuals, with a view of developing a nutrition plan, which helps them to improve their health condition.
Nutritional Needs for Healthy Young Adults
Nutritional needs of an individual vary according to age and activity. Recommended dietary allowance allows people to maintain their weight and prevent the occurrence of lifestyle diseases like obesity, overweight, and diabetes. Since young adults are still very active, their recommended diary allowance is greater than that of old adults. Macronutrients are nutrients that the body require in large quantities. Macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats have significant influence on body weight of an individual, and thus their intake should not exceed that of the recommended dietary allowance. Ryan-Harsman and Aldoori state that recommended dietary allowance requires adults to take 20% of their calories from proteins, 55% of calories from carbohydrates, and 30% of calories from fat (2006). Moreover, the recommended dietary allowance for fibre is 21g to 38g daily to reduce the occurrence of gastrointestinal disorders and prevent other chronic disorders. Thus, adherence to the recommended dietary allowance is helpful in maintaining or reducing weight among obese and overweight individuals.
In contrast, micronutrients are nutrients that the body require in small quantities. Micronutrients also play a significant role in human health because they regulate metabolic activities, and thus maintain physiological conditions optimally. Insufficiency of micronutrients in the body causes chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, and central adiposity (Alzadbakht and Esmaillzadeh 2012). Hence, micronutrients are essential in the body for a person to maintain good health. According to Kennedy and Meyers (2005), recommended dietary allowance is 900 retinol activity equivalents of vitamin A, 400µg of folate, 1300mg of calcium, 18mg of iron, and 11mg of zinc. If an individual meets the recommended dietary allowance for micronutrients, the physiological mechanisms will function optimally. Therefore, micronutrients are essential in reduction or maintenance of weight among obese and overweight individuals.
What is a Food Diary?
A food diary is a record that shows food intake over a given period like a day, a week, or a month. Food diary enables individuals to monitor their food intake with a view of reducing or maintaining their weight. Since food diary lists the types of food that one has consumed in a given day, one can use it in assessing intake versus output of calories. Intake of foodstuffs such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins, should be done in specific proportions to prevent their accumulation in the body. Carbohydrates and fats are some of the common foodstuffs that promote obesity and overweight when an individual fails to balance their intake and utilization. Ello-Martin et al. (2007) recommend clinicians to use food and activity diary in the management of weight among obese patients to prevent obesity and overweight from predisposing them to other health complications. Hence, a food diary is a tool, which enhances individuals to regulate their diet by adhering to what the records stipulate.
Types of food diaries that are applicable in the management of the obese and overweight among individuals vary according to the number of days. The common food diaries used are a one-day diary, a three-day diary, and a seven-day diary. A one-day food diary is the simplest diary that shows eating patterns of an individual. The one-day food diary is important in providing a glimpse of foodstuffs, which a person should consume in a typical day. A 24-hour recall diary is an example of a one-day diary, which assesses food that one has consumed within the past 24 hours. Comparatively, a three-day diary is an advanced food diary, which depicts eating patterns over a period of three days. Since the three-day food diary shows the variety of foodstuffs that one consumes in a period of three days, it provides eating habits of a person in a comprehensive view. Yang et al. (2010) state that, nutritionists mainly prefer a three-day food diary because it is easy to administer to participants and analyze its contents. In cases where nutritionists require detailed and extensive information about eating patterns, the seven-day food diary is appropriate.
Three-Day Food Diary
A three-day food diary is a diary that provides records of what a person eats within a period of three days. The three-day food diary is appropriate in assessing eating habits and patterns among individuals. By examining three-day food diary, nutritionists are able to ascertain if a person is leading a healthy lifestyle or not. Since different types of food diaries exist, which depend on the number of days, the validity of the information in the food diaries usually decreases with an increase in the number of days. In determining the validity of the three-day food diary, Yang et al. found out that a three-day food diary is more valid than a food frequency questionnaire, but its weakness lies in the characterization and customization of a person’s diet due to personal variation in daily dietary intake (2010). Hence, the three-day food diary is the best type of food diary when compared to other types of diaries because it provides valid and accurate data, which depict eating habits and patterns of a person.
Since a three-day food diary provides valid and reliable data on the eating habits and patterns of a person, it is important in the assessment of eating lifestyles among students. In creating a three-day food diary, two days of a week and a weekend day are appropriate days in the assessment of eating habits and patterns of an individual. Inclusion of a weekend day is crucial because people tend to exhibit different eating patterns on weekends (Yang et al. 2010). Hence, the project considers using Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday as three days of the three-day food diary. Therefore, the following table is a three-day food diary that the project utilizes in assessing eating patterns and habits of students.
Table 1: A Three-Day Food Diary (Yang et al. 2010)
Methodology
The study uses a prospective research design in assessing dietary intake among students in college. The actual plan of the study focuses on recruitment of participants, collection of data, data analysis, and presentation. To complete the three-day food diary among students, the project plans to recruit male students from the college and request them to fill a three-day food diary. In the recruitment of students, the project will use the convenience-sampling method. Since the number of participants determines the validity of data, the project will recruit 30 male students (N = 30). According to Yang et al. (2010), a three-day food diary is appropriate in determining eating patterns and habits among certain populations. Moreover, it is easy to administer and analyze a three-day food diary as compared to seven-day food diary, which is very complex. As eating patterns depend on the day of the week, the project will administer a three-day food diary to students on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
Moreover, in the collection of data, the study will require the participants to make informed consent and learn about the requirements of the study before allowing them to take home a three-day food diary. To enhance accuracy of the data, researchers will remind participants to fill a three-day diary during breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacking time. The participants will note down their dietary intake in terms of the quantity of macronutrients and micronutrients. After the completion of the three-day food diary, the study will analyze collected data using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and present the findings in the form of tables and charts.
Conclusion
Obesity and overweight are health disorders that are increasing in the modern society due to changes in lifestyles. The changes in lifestyles in terms of food intake and activity explain why a significant number of people are becoming obese and overweight in the modern society. To help people prevent and manage obesity and overweight, nutritionists and dieticians have developed food diaries. Common food diaries include a one-day food diary, a three-day food diary, and a seven-day food diary. The appropriate diary for assessment of eating habits and patterns is a three-day food diary, because it is simple to fill and easy analyze. By using three-day food diary, one can easily manage to monitor intake of macronutrients and micronutrients, according to the recommended dietary allowance. Hence, administration of the three-day food diary among students will provide valid and comprehensive information, about their eating habits and patterns.
References
Alzadbakht, L., and Esmaillzadeh, A. (2012) ‘Macro and Micro-Nutrients Intake, Food Groups Consumption and Dietary habits among Female Students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences’. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal 14(4), 204-209.
Ello-Martin, J., Roe, L., Ledikwe, J., Beach, A., and Rolls, B. (2007) ‘Dietary Energy Density in the treatment of obesity: A year-long Trial Comparing 2 weight-loss Diets’. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 85 (6), 1465-1477.
Heymann, E., and Goldsmith, D. (2012) ‘Best Approaches in the Battle against Globesity? Learning Lessons from Our Experience Tackling HIV-AIDS and Tobacco Smoking’. Journal of Royal Society of Medicine 3 (7), 1-9.
Kennedy, E., and Meyers, L. (2005) ‘Dietary Reference Intakes: Development and Uses for Assessment of Micronutrient Status of Women – a global perspective’. American Journal for Clinical Nutrition 81 (5), 1194-1197.
Ryan-Harsman, M., and Aldoori, W. (2006) ‘New Dietary Reference Intakes for macronutrients and Fibre’. Canadian Family Physician 52 (2), 177-179.
Yang, Y., Kim, M., Hwang, S., Ahn, Y., Shim, J., and Kim, D. (2010) ‘Relative validities of 3-day food records and the food frequency questionnaire’. Nutritional Research and Practice 4 (2), 142-148.