{365} Days A Path towards Elite Powerlifting

Nutrition Log

I have had a lot of people ask me about my nutrition log program. I use a McGraw-Hill product that I believe comes with one of the nutrition text books they mass market to college students. I started using the program as in my FSHN 120 class, Contemporary Nutrition. http://nutritioncalc3.mcgraw-hill.com/ncplus3/ Most people hated this project of recording their foods for 3 days, but I really enjoyed it and kept it going. It is funny how different my diet is compared to when I first started for class. Here are some cool things about the program that I really like.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM

1. I can add any food I want based off its nutrition facts in the back.



2. I can add my own recipes by finding ingredients and adding them, it'll add up all the macros for me.



3. I can add activities that I do, to see how many calories I'm burning for each activity [I do not do this, but it really is impressive.]
4. I can have all my daily intake data broken down into so many formats, that it would be easy for me to extract data. I can export into different formats as well.
5. It gives me recommendations for all my macro and micro nutrients. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
   • The Recommendations Report lists the recommended daily nutrient intake for a person based on the information entered. Often referred to as the DRI (Dietary Reference Intake).
6. It shows me a bar graph of every day or the average every day's macro/micro nutrient break down. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
   • The Bar Graph Report displays graphically the amount of the nutrient consumed and compares that to the dietary intake recommendations.
7. It shows me which foods give me the most calories, or any nutrients. For example, I want to know which foods give me the most potassium. I'll go into that link and hit the potassium drop down and it'll show me every food I've eaten since recording ranking from the ones that gave me the most potassium to the ones that gave me the least potassium. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
   • The Single Nutrient Report shows a sorted list of foods based on how they contribute to the total for one nutrient.
8. The spreadsheet spits out all the information I have in a spreadsheet format. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
   • The Spreadsheet shows all the values for all nutrients. Nutrients are displayed horizontally, with totals at the bottom of the list.
9. The Calorie and Fat link tells me where my calories are coming from. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
   • The Calories and Fats report is useful for quickly seeing the calorie and fat breakdowns of your intake. The Source of Calories window shows graphically the percentage of calories from protein, carbohydrates, fat, and alcohol. The Source of Fat window shows the breakdown of fat (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and other fats).
10. Calorie assessment gives me an analysis of how many calories I'm taking. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
    • A close-up picture of the Calories consumed.
11. Activity summary correlates to the Activity intake tab. I have not done anything with this. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
    • List of the Activities performed, their METs, duration and Calories burned.
12. Nutrition facts is really cool, it turns my day or the average of all my days into a Nutrition Facts Label. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
    • Formats the analysis as a Nutrition Facts label.
13. MyPyramid correlates to governmental standards, and gives me information regarding those. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
    • The Food Guide MyPyramid report displays graphically how close the foodlist compares to the lastest USDA Dietary Guidelines (see MyPyramid.gov for more info).
14. 2 Day Comparison lets you compare two days side by side. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
    • Compare intakes for two different days. Or compare two different meals on the same day.
15. All daily reports gives you EVERYTHING on one thing. [All can be exported as HTML, PDF, or XLS]
    • A variety of reports and information combined into one document.
    • Here is my ALL DAILY REPORT: http://yanyanxu.com/misc/alldailyreportMarch2.html

THINGS THAT NEED TO BE FIXED/IMPROVED

There are lots of little things they can improve on that would make this program better. I did email them with suggestions but they don't seem to really care. I would love to spread the love of their program if they fixed up a few things.

1. If I want to check any INDIVIDUAL day's information I have to un-check every box for the days I do not want to see averaged in. There should be an option to UN-CHECK EVERYTHING. This would allow me to easily look at a single day instead of the program automatically averaging everything out.

1. The export for HTML/PDF/XLS does NOT work because I seem to have too many days. I really like this program and would love to have the excel spreadsheet breakdown so I can run regression and other analysis.
2. Adding ingredients to "Make your Recipe" has an error when I use 1/8th of a teaspoon or something like that.
3. Will post other stuff that I think can be improved when I come upon it.