The Diet Analysis Plus software is used in many nutrition classes as a student learning aid. The software allows students to develop personalized nutrition profiles and track the food they eat and physical activity they perform. Commonly, students are required to use Diet Analysis Plus to track this information for three days. At the conclusion of the three-day period, the students will often analyze their nutrition and activity reports, pointing out healthy choices and areas that leave room for improvement. Utilizing this tool provides students the opportunity to critically evaluate their own diets and exercise habits and apply the knowledge they learned throughout the nutrition course to make healthy changes.
Step 1
Log on to the Cengage Learning website. Input your PIN from your Data Analysis Plus access packet, which can often be found at your college's bookstore.
Step 2
Create your personal profile by inputting your birth date, gender, height, weight and activity level.
Step 3
Edit your recommended daily allowance, or RDA, values, which were automatically computed based upon your personal profile, if you have diet restrictions that require you to consume different amounts of the nutrients listed. For example, you may need to reduce the sodium RDA if you have hypertension and require a low-sodium diet.
Step 4
Click "Daily Intake" at the top of the screen to add an entry to your food log.
Step 5
Select the appropriate day on the left side of the screen. For example, if you are inputting your food consumption for the first day of your analysis, you would click "Day 1."
Step 6
Type the food you want to add to your log in the search box and click "Find." A list of foods matching or similar to the one you listed will appear. Click the one that best describes the food you ate.
Step 7
Select the breakfast, lunch or dinner option with the drop-down menu, to add the food to the appropriate meal. Select the unit of measurement for the food from the drop-down menu. Enter the amount of the food you ate in decimal format in the box in front of the unit measurement. For example, if you ate 1 1/2 cups of cereal, you would choose "Cups" as the unit of measure and type "1.5" in the box located in front of "Cups." Select "Update" and then click "Enter" to save your entry.
Step 8
Click the "Activities" tab from the top menu to log physical activity you performed. Choose the appropriate day on the left side of the screen in which to log the activity, in the same fashion you chose the proper day to log your food intake.
Step 9
Type the activity you performed in the search box and click "Find." This search function works nearly identically to the search function used to log food intake. Click the red addition symbol to the right of the appropriate activity to add it to your log. Choose "Minutes" or "Hours" from the drop-down bar, and then type the duration you exercised in the box in decimal form. For example, if you exercised for one hour and 15 minutes, you would choose "Hours" from the drop-down bar and input 1.25 for the time. Select "Update" and click "Enter" to save your activity entry.
Step 10
Click the "Reports" tab at the top of the window. You will have the option of reviewing a bar graph, data about a single nutrient, a spreadsheet, a pyramid graph, ratios and percentages, nutrition facts, your activity report or all of the reports. Click on the option you would like to view on the left side of the screen.
Things You'll Need
- Diet Analysis Plus access packet
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