Food and activity diaries: Introduction to analysis

Over the last four weeks you have been invited to complete a diary of your food intake and activity levels. In the next few steps we’ll look at how to analyse this data and understand what your results might mean for your heart health.

If you’re short of time you might like to focus on analysing just your food diary, or your activity diary.

We’ll provide you with two worksheets that you can use to collate the data from your diaries, plus full guidance on how to use the worksheets and what to do with your data. Once you’ve collected all of your information, you’ll have the chance to enter it into an anonymous poll, which will allow you to see how you match up to the average of learners across the course. You’ll then have the chance to discuss these findings with other learners. Remember that you don’t have to share any personal details or let other people see your data.

What will this data tell me?

This analysis will give you an insight into the average diet and activity levels of learners on this course. It’s important that you remember that this shouldn’t be used diagnostically – making changes to your lifestyle based on the data in this exercise could have a negative impact on your health. If you’re concerned about your diet or your activity levels you should speak with a healthcare professional who will be able to give you advice based on your specific situation.

Intrigued? Apprehensive? Share your thoughts on what you think you might find out in the comments.