Class 17 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 29th – Finish Chapter 8 of McGuire Text – Commodities, Exercise, and Diets
Letter from a Student Concerning Obesity Explosion
Tue 10/27/2020 5:23 PM
Question: Professor Dixon, I know it is late in the semester, I have been so behind due to the other science classes I am taking (biology and physics + both of their labs and recitations), but I found an email you sent earlier in the year mentioning the book I should purchase on cengage. However, below that was another book, and I wanted a clarification on how to get access to the obesity quizzes. Again, I am sorry I am emailing you about this so late, but I have had so many things on my mind this semester that it has been difficult to concentrate.
In short, I would like to know what book I am supposed to buy in order to complete the quizzes, please let me know as soon as possible. I would also like to know on what day these quizzes are due. Thanks, MP
Answer: Thank you for your email. I am sure other students in class have the same questions you have. There is still plenty of time to get the Ebook and do the quizzes. But the process is a little complicated, so follow these instructions. You have to have all the Obesity Explosion quizzes done by 11-19-20
In the Syllabus, 2 books were listed:
Mcguire/Beerman – Nutritional Sciences: : From Fundamentals to Food, Enhanced Edition – Price: $199.95 (Upgraded 3rd edition) ISBN: 9781337565332 (Hard cover version) (This is also available, used, on-line for about $20)
Second Book – Obesity Explosion – The Collision of Nutrition, Culture, Politics, and Food, by Joseph L. Dixon, Published on August 24, 2020; Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
To buy the Obesity Explosion book: Go to
https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/obesity-explosion-collision-nutrition-culture-politics-food
The Ebook is $24 – This will give you access to the on-line book and also to the quizzes. These are on two separate websites from two different companies!
After you buy the Ebook, you will receive a book access code by a second email (Keep an eye out for it! It sometimes goes to your spam)
You need to go to:
https://online.vitalsource.com (This is the Ebook access company)
and sign up for an account. You will then have access to the EBook.
Then you also need to get access to the quizzes, which are at a different Website. You do this by going to:
Put in the Quiz access code you got from Kendall Hunt. It is quite long and looks like: ABCDE-7AB1A-ABC2X-4A12A (This is an Example!)
After you get access, you need to go through the long account sign up process! Be patient!
You will need to confirm the book (Obesity) and the University you are at. Then you need to pick the course you are in – Nutrition and Health 255 – Section 1 (two courses use this book so be careful!)
Then you continue to sign up for your personal Account. After filling in all the information – address etc.:
Then you go back to the Sign In page on www.khpcontent.com
and use your account user name and password to get access to the Quizzes. The quizzes can be taken an unlimited amount of times! (Just like in Groundhog Day Movie!)
You need to do the quizzes until you get 100% of each quiz correct! If you get a question wrong, look it up, and do the quiz again!
You can keep track of the quizzes you take by going to the Grade Book – Grid Button – you will see something like this:
The Quizzes are self-study!
You must have all the Obesity Explosion quizzes done by 11-19-20
Class 15 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 22nd – Finish Chapter 7 of McGuire Text – Electrons and Oxidative Phosphorylation
Exam 2 Moved to Tuesday,November 10th
Class 14 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 20th – Start Chapter 7 of McGuire Text – Finish Lipids/Start Metabolism
First Lipid Quiz Due on Wednesday
Some Interesting Slides on Coronary Heart Disease:
Monday Update for Nutrition and Health – October 19, 2020 – Questions about the Diet Assignment
Just some general comments first:
The Lipids Quiz is published and you need to take it before Wednesday at 5 pm.
The due date for the Diet Assignment has been extended one more time – until Wednesday at 11 pm. However, the Drop boxes will remain open until Friday.
Most of the questions I am receiving now have already been asked. Please go back trough this Blog to see the answers to the questions I have already posted. But here goes some more questions and answers:
Question: Sun 10/18/2020 1:22 PM Good afternoon, there was a delay to buy the obesity book due to financial issues but I did just received the book. I haven’t been able to take the weekly quizzes and I’m concerned that it will affect my grades. Will the missing quizzes be counted or can I make up for them? Thank you in advance.
Answer: Hi, Thank you for getting in touch with me. The Obesity quizzes are not due until early November, so you have plenty of time to complete them. The book and quizzes are self-study, and you need to complete 13 out of 14 quizzes. Go back and read some of the earlier answers in this Blog. Sincerely, Joe Dixon
Question: Sun, Oct 18, 11:02 AM (20 hours ago) Dear Professor, For question 4 for on the Diet Assignment, how do we determine the vitamin highest to our DRI? Since the DRI measurement is in (ug) and myfoodrecord measures in grams, how would we convert this number to determine if it is a toxic amount?
Also, is using Google Slides acceptable as oppose to using a Powerpoint? Thank you,
Sorry for the succession of emails, but I noticed you noted on the Powerpoint that the Diet Assignment cannot be more than 10 slides. However, for the questions, there are multiple parts for multiple questions. With the screenshots of my diet and analysis answers, my assignment will be over 10 slides. Is this okay with you? Thank you,
Answer: Your questions are technical in nature and your need to read the whole assignment through several times and get an overview of how the assignment needs to be done. Concerning, determining the highest vitamin, it is true the vitamins can vary greatly in amount, but the question is asking which has the highest percent DRI, which is on the analysis print out. So I am looking for relative comparisons here.
As long as you submit the document as a pdf you can use Google Slides.
Please note the questions are uploaded as a separate document – word or pdf. Sincerely, Joe Dixon
Question: Hello Professor Dixon, A few of us are getting summed total calorie value that is higher than the total Kcal value the analyzer calculated. We don’t understand what is wrong. For example, here is my data and work: (See Below) Does this mean there is no remaining? What is causing this? Best,
Answer: Hi, Sorry for the delay in responding. I think I have commented on this several times. The difference you are concerned about, that you calculated, is about 1%. This is exceedingly small – I wouldn’t worry about it. (See figure below!)
Most important is that calculated the difference and observed this. I’m not sure how the program computes the total Kcal consumed. Remember, the data base in this program is huge, and there could be some mistakes. But I would ask you this question: “How accurate were the amounts of the various, different foods you keyed into the program?”
The basic concept here is that this is very rough all around. It just gives you snapshot of one day, but it can give you insights into how you eat. Joe Dixon
Friday Update for Nutrition and Health – October 16, 2020 – Questions about the Diet Assignment
Message to the Class:
Dear All, I want to again emphasize that the due date for the Diet Assignment is now Monday, October 19th at 11 pm. But I also want you to know that the “Drop Boxes” for the Diet Assignment will remain open to Friday October 23rd. If you submit it during next week, you will receive only a very small point penalty.
Students seem to get a lot out of the diet assignment, and therefore, I want you to take the time to do a good job on it. Also, you have 3 chances to upload the assignment. If you upload again, it will just write over the previous one.
On another note, I realize that it is difficult to keep track of everything during this crazy time. For this course, read the Course Blog several times a week to stay up on the class. You can keep it open as a window on the Browser of your phone, and just press update when you want to see something new.
I know you are all suffering from the restrictions of the Covid crisis. This is a time when you should be socializing as much as possible. But it is dangerous to do this. Last weekend I spent time visiting friends and family in New York City. I did this now because I think a new lock down is coming. I took all the precautions one should take. So I became behind in my work, but it was important to see people I know and love. These days, it is even more difficult to balance personal life and work and studies. I know that.
Most important, please take precautions to protect yourselves during work and when you meet friends. I am more impressed than ever with our Rutgers students. I wouldn’t trade them for any other student body from another University.
Joe Dixon
More Questions from Students RE Diet Assignment:
New Question Friday afternoon:
Question: Oct 15, 2020, 10:15 PM (17 hours ago) to me Hi Dr. Dixon, I’m having trouble finding food on MyFoodRecord. Whenever I type some variation of hamburger buns, nothing shows up. I also eat ethnic food during the day and none of what I eat is listed. Can I use the nutrition facts on the back of the foods I ate to calculate the macros and calories, or can I use MyFitnessPal instead?
Answer: Hi ________, Thank you for your email. This is an important question. Several other students asked the same thing. I know it is hard, but I want you to use myfoodrecord.com. You will need to break ethnic foods down to the ingredients. You can use MyFitnessPal, but only after you do the whole assignment as I requested. If you want to see if you get the same data with MyFitnessPal, try it after you finish using myfoodrecord .com. I might even give you extra points. However, in my experience, no one has done the assignment in full correctly using MyFitnessPal – just saying.
Also, I was able to find hamburger rolls in about 20 seconds. Also, note that the three different hamburger rolls come in different serving sizes and weights! So it is not the easiest thing to do! Joe Dixon
More Questions:
Fri 10/16/2020 12:41 AM
Hi Professor,
Question 1. When I am adding up my percent of calories from each macronutrient, the sum is only coming up to 99.99% and not 100%, so I am wondering if I should leave it like that or just round it up to 100%.
Question 2. On slide 5 of the project, where you ask “where from” what are you referring to?
Answer: Hi _________, Thank you for the questions:
- Don’t worry about a difference between 99.99% and 100% – the whole project is fairly rough in scope. So use either one.
- The little aside, “Where from,” just was asking where might the extra calories have come from? But sometimes the value a student calculates will be lower than the one the program calculates, and sometimes it will be higher. Usually the difference is small, and I wouldn’t worry about it. The main reason for the assignment is to get a snapshot of how your diet was on a pretty usual day for you.
Joe Dixon
Question: Fri 10/16/2020 9:55 AM Hi professor, I have a question regarding the assignment submission. Is the file upload the same as the dropbox? If not then how do I sign in to the box because it’s not letting me sign in Thank you!
Answer: Hi, I am sorry you are having problems with it. I really don’t know what you see when you go to upload your assignment to the place where it should be placed – I call it a drop box. I am going to have Nick help you with this. Maybe at the review session this afternoon, Nick or another student can help you. I can tell you that, I myself, feel high anxiety working with Canvas for the first time!
Question: Tue 10/13/2020 3:52 PM
Good afternoon, While doing my diet assignment I ran into an issue with the fat values in my analysis. My analysis says I ate 38 grams, but then the break down says I at 16g saturated fat, 5g polyunsaturated fat, and 7g monounsaturated fat. The issue is that all these values add up to 28g, not 38g as the analysis says. So when I do the break down of fats on slide 8 of the diet assignment, should I calculate the percents from the total that the analysis gave me (38g) and have my numbers not properly add up. Or should I make my total fat 28g so that the numbers line up? Thank you
Answer: Thank you for your question. If you go to Slide 8 (Big Slide 8) in my PowerPoint Example, I take the individual fat values, add them up and then used that value to get the percents. So 84 g was just the added fats in my example. The total fat they calculated was 92 grams. I am not sure why their total value is higher (Could be trans fats plus short chain fats etc). If you look closer, I write: “Don’t worry about the total fat they calculated” So use the total fat value you calculated to get the percents.
Sincerely, Joe Dixon
This is for a student in class who loves mushrooms – for lunch today I had a Portobello mushroom burger:
Grilled Portobello mushroom, tomato, avocado, and cheese on a whole wheat bun:
Class 13 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 15th – Chapter 6 of McGuire Text – Finish Lipids (Fat) – What are Lipoproteins?
Diet Assignment is Due Monday, Oct 19th at 11 pm in the 2 Canvas Assignment Boxes; First – Upload Food Analysis and Calculations as a .pdf File; In the Other Assignment Box – Upload Answered Questions as one of these types of files: .pdf, .doc, or .docx.
Class 12 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 13 th – Chapter 6 of McGuire Text – Continue Lipids (Fat)
Important Update – You Need to Convert Your Diet Assignment PowerPoint into a pdf Before Uploading to the Canvas Drop Box!
More Letters from Students:
Letter: Hello professor, I had a question in regards to the diet assignment. This may sound odd but do you take off points for the assignment if our numbers aren’t similar to yours presented on the PPT? For example, I documented my diet exactly the way I usually eat and when I calculated my Kcals for protein, fat, and carbs, it is not in the ideal numbers of 15%, 35%, and 50%. I hope that it won’t penalize my grade for not having the accurate amount of nutrient amount in the assignment. Additionally, my potassium to sodium ratio is less than 1. My numbers seem to be very different then yours in your PPT. I hope you can clear this confusion for me and I am sorry for any inconvenience.
P.S. I am a vegetarian and I do not eat eggs, can this be a reason as to why my numbers look different. I just don’t want the numbers being a reason I can’t get a great grade on the assignment. Sorry if this is a irrelevant question. Sincerely,
Answer: Dear _________, Thank you for your email and great question. The Diet Assignment is not for me, it is for you! There are over 300 students in the class, and most of them will be quite different from my diet. By doing this assignment, you will discover interesting things about your diet. When we grade your assignment, we are looking that you spent time doing the assignment and thinking about the assignment. There are students in class who eat high protein diets, and students who eat low fat diets. There are vegetarians like yourself. This assignment gives a snapshot of the class. No one has a right diet, and no one has a wrong diet. It will be interesting for you to see your Kcals from protein, fat, and carbs. So my advice is to do the assignment on a usual day for you and do the best job possible so you can get insight into your diet, and not my diet!
Thank you for this philosophical and important question. I am sure many students have the same question! Best, Joe Dixon
Question: Dear Dr. Dixon, If you want to add some photos I took for my diet into presentation, which slide I should choose? Can I put them in slide 2 which is used for showing the way I kept diet?
Answer: This is an excellent question. I don’t require photos. You won’t receive extra points for photos. The photos are to help you remember exactly what you ate. You can include photos – but only use one slide to do this. Slide 2 is OK. The photos will be for you so that you can get a thumbprint of your diet. If you want to carry diet analysis forward for your own health, you will see the photos are helpful. Thank you for this excellent question.
Question: Hi Professor, hope your day is going well. I was working on the diet assignment that’s due in a few days, and I have an issue with following some of your instructions, particularly your calculations from slide 8, these:
saturated fat Kcal 234
Total Kcal 2733
Percent of total Kcal = 8.9%
Where do we also get 2733 and 8.9% from? I tried dividing and multiplying them by numbers on those slide but couldn’t figure it out. I’d appreciate your guidance on this. Thanks,
Answer: Hi, I made a small mistake: The attached PowerPoint shows the corrections! 2733 is from the data read out – see slide attached
8.9% is from: 234 divided by 2733 is 0.0889, or 8.9%
Thank you for pointing this out to me! Joe Dixon
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