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
Monday Morning Update for Nutrition and Health – October 12, 2020 – Questions about the Diet Assignment
Directions concerning Submitting the Diet Assignment 10-12-2020
There will be a Drop Box established in the Canvas Site for the course where you should submit your Diet Assignment. I am still working on it – there are over 300 assignments – I have to get the Drop Box perfect. I will email you when the Drop Box is ready.
The Diet assignment was originally stated as Due on October 15th. Because of numerous emails I received from students, I am extending the Due date to October 19th at 10 pm. This is an absolute due date. You will be able to submit your Assignments starting when the Drop Box is available- most likely on Wednesday, October 14th.
Several students have sent their Diet assignments to my email account. Do not send them to my email! They will get lost with everything else!
I will answer more emails about the Diet assignment during the week.
Here is a letter that asks precise questions concerning the Diet Assignment:
Wed, Oct 7, 11:28 PM (5 days ago) to me
Hello Professor Dixon,
I hope you’re doing well. I have a few questions regarding the diet assignment and I thought it would be easier to send you one email with all of them listed instead of a million emails. Sorry if these questions are annoying, some of them are really small (probably just me overthinking it) but I really want to do well on the assignment and am taking it seriously so I thought it was better to ask and get everything clarified.
Answer: Thank you for your email. The Diet assignment is very important and I am glad to answer your questions.
1. For breakfast I had 2 fried eggs so on myfoodrecord I recorded it as “egg whole cook fried” instead of just a raw egg, is that okay or do you want me to change it and also mention the oil it was cooked with? I think during the lecture you said that we don’t have to do that but I just want to clarify that.
Answer: Good question – Definitely pick the closest item in the database. If you fried the eggs then pick “fried.” Concerning the oil – this is a very difficult answer. I would say don’t put in any oil at this time. Hopefully the “fried” descriptor takes this into account. But this shows how hard it is to get detailed data for food intake.
2. For the second slide of the powerpoint where you want us to list how we kept a record of what we ate, is that all you want on it (just a sentence saying how) or do you want us to also enter that list of everything and the brands for the food? For example, I used the notes app on my iPhone to keep track of everything and then list all of my food there.
Answer: In the past I had students keep a record on a paper food Intake sheet. And of course, the better your notes, the better you can choose foods out of the database. For this semester, I am not asking you for your original notes. On Slide 2 you are to describe how you took notes on the foods you ate. But I want to see the list of foods that you put into the program. For this you need to take a screen shot of your foods as I showed in the PowerPoint example. On slides 3 to 5 you should have the screenshots of all the foods you ate for the day you are analyzing.
3. I am a bit confused about how to find the highest and lowest vitamins and minerals. Do I just look at the daily value percentage and whatever is the highest percentage is the highest vitamin and mineral? For lowest, they fill in the things you’re the lowest in with red (its different from the red dot you mentioned not to use) so do I just put down the lowest from that? Or are we supposed to look at “amount” while finding the lowest and highest vitamins and minerals and not the daily value percentage?
Answer: This is a very important question. Once you get the data readout, you should take screenshots of it and put them into the PowerPoint. Then you should do the analysis as I showed in the example PowerPoint. In the example PowerPoint, it was written:
“Use arrows and writing to identify the highest vitamins and minerals according to % DV. Also use arrows and writing to identify the lowest vitamins and minerals according to % Daily Value. (Don’t use nutrients with red dots next to them)”
So the analysis that is most important is the % Daily Value. The actual mass amounts (gram (g), milligram (mg), or microgram (mg)) required can vary among nutrients, but what you must look for is the % Daily Value. See the New PowerPoint Slide I put together. What is important is knowing the difference between “Percent of a required amount” versus the actual mass amounts of the different nutrients.
Thank you so much for your time and patience,
Answer: Thank you so much for your detailed questions! Sorry it took so long to get back to you!
Joe Dixon
Class 11 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 8 th – Chapter 6 of McGuire Text – Start Lipids (Fat)
Go to the Exam 1 Module in Canvas to see the Distribution of Grades in the Class
Ask questions about Diet Assignment today!
Class 10 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Oct 6th – Exam 1
Go to Canvas on Oct 6th in order to take Exam 1.
There are 55 questions.
Good luck to everyone!
Questions from Students:
Question: Dear Dr. Dixon, I have a question about #42 in Diabetes Progression Practice Question. It said the reason for Type 2 diabetes is unable of secreting enough insulin. But according to your ppt, that is for Type 1. If a person does not respond to insulin, it would be Type 2. Did I misunderstand something? Best, (Note; the students attached some screen shots)
Answer: Thank you for your very insightful question. The answer for question # 42 seems contradictory, but you need to understand this time in the patient’s progression. As the Type 2 diabetic patient is becoming severely Type 2 diabetic (right panel), the pancreas beta cells become “burnt out,” or they stop functioning because they are dead or severely injured. In that situation, the Type 2 Diabetic patient become very similar to a Type 1 diabetic patient. They need insulin injections just like a Type 1 diabetic patient. But remember, they have suffered years of insulin insensitivity and high glucoses, so the whole course of the Type 2 disease is very different than the course of the Type 1 disease. I hope this answers your excellent question! Joe Dixon
Question: Can you do Practice question 28? “pina colada drink question”
Answer: Set it up like –
Alcohol is 20 gram x 7 = 140 Kcal
Carbohydrate is 18 x 4 = 72 Kcal
Fat is 9 x 2 = 18 Kcal
Protein is 1 x 4 = 4 Kcal
Total Kcal = 234 Kcal (answer c)
By the way, all the questions on the real test are much simpler than this question – but it is good to check your answer twice!
Questions from Students over the past few days – Sept 29, 2020
Important Question: Good afternoon, My name is ____________and I have completed the dietary assignment however I have a few questions. I followed the powerpoint as a guideline and did all the calculations for the assignment. On your powerpoint, you calculated the total fat in Kcal as well as the carbs and protein in Kcal. You then added up the amounts you got for each and showed that your calculated sum was less than the sum that was shown to you through the website we used. When I calculated mine, mine was higher than the value given to me by the website. Is this an error? How did this occur? Did I do my calculations wrong? If you could help me with this that would be so wonderful! I’m attaching my results below. Thank you for your time, _________
Answer: Thank you so much for your email and for doing the assignment right away and thus you could ask such a great question. I am not sure why there is a difference between your calculations and the total Kcal you came up with, and the value the program came up with. In some the calculation will be less. I don’t understand why. Nick’s explanations may be correct.
Your calculation: 1996 total Kcal
Program: 1928 total Kcal
The difference is fairly small however. 1996 – 1928 equals 68 Kcal; And 68 / 1928 is about 3 – 4 %.
This is not worth worrying about. I showed the calculation the way I wanted it because I knew this would come up. Just do it as I showed in my powerpoint. Make sure you come up with the % contributions of Kcal from fat, protein, and Carbs
This was the perfect question as I will get many of the emails and I’m sure your question will help others. Joe Dixon
Question: Hi Professor Dixon, For question 2, is the answer really not all of the above? While I was taking the quiz, I was pretty sure that the energy for every single one of those examples originated from the sun. Specifically, I thought that the energy found in oil (due to deceased organic matter), plants (photosynthesis), meat (from eating animals that have eaten plants (photosynthesis)), and fat (from eating plants (photosynthesis) and/or eating animals that have eaten plants (photosynthesis)) has ALL ultimately originated from the sun.
Answer: Thank you for your great email! I gave everyone a point for the problems with QUIZ 2. Your explanation for the answer to question #2 was right on. I am just getting use to Canvas and I hope not to make mistakes in the future! Joe Dixon
Question: Hi Professor Dixon, When I did all the obesity quizzes, it did not show me the quiz grade. Can you check which quizzes I did not get a 100 in so I can redo them to get full credit for it? I really enjoyed reading your book and I really like learning about Nutrition as I am trying to lose weight too! Those protein waffles you recommended the first class were very good recommendations!
Answer: Hi, Thank you for your email. Sorry to get back to you so slow. I’m happy you liked the book. I was wondering why you read it all at once and did all the questions at one time? How long (hours) did it take you to read the book? Did you find the questions helpful in getting the message of the book across?
From some other letters, I thought it was evident how many questions were correct after someone took a quiz. I’ll check on this! Joe Dixon
Question: Evening Professor, my name is _______, I am a student in your Nutrition and Health course 11:709:255:01. I know you’re still getting plenty of questions regarding the Obesity Explosion quizzes, but I have some since I’m a little confused. I understand they’re not due until early November and I have access to both the quizzes and the book. One thing I noticed is that the book is split into parts but the quizzes are labeled as chapters so I’m confused how the information lines up. Also, on the website for the quizzes, I only have access to 14 total quizzes when you said there are a total of 17 but only 15 need to be completed. Let me know how I can go about resolving this, thank you!
ANSWER: Hi, Thank you for your email. Yes, the quizzes are listed by chapter. Chapters 1, 8 and 9 don’t have multiple-choice questions, so, in fact, there are only 14 quizzes in total. So I changed the grading such that you have to do 13 / 14 quizzes to get full points for the Obesity Explosion quizzes. I made a mistake in forgetting about chapters 1, 8, and 9 not having multiple choice quizzes. Sorry about that. Since it is self-study, and students don’t need to have their quizzes done until early November, I hope this OK with everyone. I will check the quizzes Nov 1 and remind anyone who hasn’t completed the multiple choice quizzes. Just as a note of information, chapters 1, 8, and 9 have essay questions attached to them, but I didn’t assign them to 255, so they don’t show up on the Website! Joe Dixon
Question: Professor Dixon,
Can we able to make up obesity quizzes? I kinda forgot to do them. Thank you, Student – Rutgers-New Brunswick
ANSWER: 11:45 AM (5 minutes ago) Hi, The Obesity Quizzes are self-study and are not due until early Nov. Look at the most recent schedule of classes I sent out on Monday. On Nov 1 I will check the quizzes and send out a warning to students who are behind in the Obesity Explosion quizzes. Joe Dixon
Class 8 – Nutrition and Health – Fall 2020 – Sept 29th – Chapter 5 of McGuire Text – Protein
I will go over how to analyze your diet using:
Monday Morning Update for Nutrition and Health – Sept 28, 2020
Monday Morning Update (9-29-2020)
Dear All,
If you have any questions about below – go through older blogs or read letters from students to get information.
Exam 1 – Remember Exam 1 is Tuesday, Oct 6, 2020. It covers up to Chapter 5. I will put a review sheet for Exam 1 on Canvas on Wednesday, Sept 30th.
Lectures – I now only get a couple of emails about not being able to access the Recordings. It most cases, it is an email problem or class registration problem – if you have problems contact Rutgers OIT immediately by phone – they will help you!
Lecture Quizzes – Quiz 3 is now open and it needs to be completed by Wednesday, Sept 30th. I will have the grades for Quizzes 1 and 2 updated today – it is very complicated and I am still learning!
Obesity Explosion Quizzes – You all should have the book (Email or Printed) and have registered for the Chapter quizzes on the Website. This is self-study for now – try to keep up! I have only received one recent email about trouble getting onto the Obesity Explosion Website. Again, please read past Blogs if you still are havng problems.
Diet Assignment – I will spend a few minutes next lecture (Sept 30th) going over the Diet Assignment. It is important that you read through everything so you can ask me questions. It is on Canvas!
USDA graphing Assignment – Don’t worry about this – you have almost the whole semester to do it!
Later today, go to the Blog Site for Class 8’s Outline
Best, Joe Dixon
How to cure obesity 
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