This group project evaluates a popular diet by analyzing its macro and micronutrients, benefits/risks, suggestions for improvement, and considerations for palatability, expense, and time commitment. Students will form groups to study an assigned diet, with each student contributing a literature review on the diet from published sources. Students will develop a sample menu, analyze its nutrients using dietary software, and produce a consensus statement on the diet's quality. The final presentation will be shared online for grading based on participation and quality.

1. Evaluation of Popular Diets
Group Project for Basic Nutrition
Dr. Johnson
Troy University

2. The purpose of this project is to
• Evaluate the macro and micro nutrient content of a popular
diet
• Determine the benefits/risks (if applicable) of the diet
• Make suggestions to improve the diet (if applicable)
• Discuss the general palatability, expense, and time
commitment of the diet
• Foster collaboration and cooperation in a group activity
• Improve technology skills in displaying student group work
and conducting a computer based diet analysis.

3. What the Student Will Do
• Form groups (or will be assigned to a group) at the beginning
of the semester AND will be assigned a popular diet.
(Requests for a different diet may be granted with approval
from instructor).
• EACH student will find a journal article by searching online
databases in the library (PubMed, CINAHL, OVID, Nursing
databases, etc.) OR a website that features the diet. Number
of journal articles must exceed the number of websites (i.e. 3
journal articles and one website).
• EACH student will develop a day’s menu based on the diet and
analyze the day’s meal using MyNATS software.
• The group will form a consensus statement on the quality of
the diet, palatability, expense, time involved, restrictiveness of
the diet and specific suggestions to improve it.

5. The Rockstar Diet
Presented by
_________________
Date

6. Literature Review Table (each student prepares
his/her own table displayed on a separate slide with journal article summary
or website summary; number of journal articles must exceed number of
websites - for example a group of four members would find 3 journal
articles/1 website)
Team
Member
Database/Journal
Article Citation
Summary
Statement
Website Summary
Statement
John
Smith
PubMed
The RockStar Diet and
Hypertension
J. of Cardiology
44(2); pp 450-455
Jones, L
Jackson, P.
Ryan, M
2013
RCT of 40
adults
comparing diet
to medications
to lower blood
pressure. Diet
was as effective
as meds. No
difference
between
groups in
lowering blood
pressure
www.______
Website allows
for purchase of
RockStar diet
foods and
supplements
required to
follow the diet
Website
contains
information
that is not
based on
sound medical
advice.

7. Menu Analysis-each member will prepare a day’s menu
OR find a day’s menu representing the popular diet- (cite source) and
analyze the day’s menu using MyNATS software. Cut/paste the results.
Menu &
Analysis
Results by
John
Smith
Use Paint or
other software
application to
improve
readability of
these two
required
tables.

8. Consensus Statement of Group on the
RockStar Diet
• Adequacy?
• Balance?
• Calorically sound?
• Nutrient Density?
• Variety?
• Expense?
• Time?
• Based on scientific support?
• Other?

9. • Students must demonstrate they are working well
together as a group. Use the tools available to
communicate and post work. The instructor has access
to this information and will assign individual grades
based on participation and quality of participation.
• One group member should serve as a ‘scribe’ to set up
a Slide Share account at www.slideshare.net. The
scribe will share the account information to other
group members to view the finished product and all
agree before submitting to the instructor for a grade.
• Note due date on course calendar and pace work
accordingly.

10. Additional Information
Diet Analysis:
• Go to http://www.myfoodrecord.com and select version 2.0 on the left side of the screen.
• Select the Enter Foods option. Type in the kind of food in the text box and search; a list of
foods will appear where you can find the item most similar to the item that you
consumed. Indicate the number of servings and then the Add This Food list. Notice the
serving size usually defaults to one ounce portions. Be sure to select the drop down feature
and select the appropriate serving size. Remember that some food servings are presented by
weight and not volume. For example, an 8 ounce cereal bowl holds approximately one to two
ounces of cereal. A serving of potato chips is one to two ounces. Also, if cereal is entered,
don’t forget to add milk. The food database is quite broad. It takes a little patience to find all
the food items. If you can’t find the exact item, make an appropriate substitute OR piece
together the ‘recipe’ by entering individual foods that made up the entrée you ate.
• Select the Add More Food option until all data is entered. When you have entered all the
foods you ate or drank in a 24 hour period, cut and paste the food list table to a Word
Document.
• Now select the Analyze Food option and be sure to click on the Display All Nutrients radio
button at the bottom. The complete nutrient analysis will display information on what you
ate for over 20 different items. Note your results. If you see something that looks very
unusual (i.e. 40,000 calories or 400 calories for the day), go back and check to assure that you
entered the foods correctly.
• Highlight and copy nutrient analysis table to the Word Document as you did the food list. .
(You might need to use Paint software to crop the tables before pasting them to the
Powerpoint presentation. Both tables must be complete and readable.)