In this course, we will learn about the concepts and controversies of human nutrition. We will also discuss the health consequences of improper nutrition, as well as the benefits of healthy eating and regular physical activity. For your Final Project, you will use the knowledge you have gained in this course to prepare an action plan for your personal dietary habits in a blog format.

Your Final Project should address the following points:

Explain the connection between nutrition and disease. Be sure to include information on chronic diseases, as well as malnutrition and other leading causes of death.

Examine the factors (e.g., social, psychological, philosophical, and physical), contemporary nutrition controversies, and cultural differences that drive our food choices.

Analyze the sources and functions of macro- and micronutrients and their impact on our health and well-being.

Explain the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of the macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein, and fat). Make sure to appraise the parts of the body involved in these processes.

Evaluate the nutritional requirements across the lifespan - from pregnancy to childhood, and from adolescence to adulthood.

Create a personal diet modification plan by analyzing your personal diet in terms of nutritional strengths and weaknesses and discussing the changes you plan to make in your own life to better meet the dietary guidelines.

The summative assignment should build upon the concepts learned in Weeks One through Five.

You must use a minimum of three different scholarly sources (your course text and at least two additional sources) for this project; however, you may cite these sources in more than one blog post for a total of six citations. The APA formatted citation used for each post must be referenced at the end of the blog post. Additionally, you should enhance each post with images, webpage links, recipe links, etc. Each post must include at least one of these elements. The six points, as outlined above, must be covered in six separate blog entries. Each blog entry must be one to two pages in length. Here are a few examples of some good blogs available (ProBlogger and Blogging Tips). Be creative and have fun with the design of your blogs!

Creating the Final Project

Select one of the following options:

Option A - Blogger

For this option, you will be using Blogger to create your blog. Review the Blogger instructions to help you with set up. Please note that you will be asked to sign up for Blogger and that your work will be published to the web if you use this option, however you are able to limit readability by changing the privacy settings. If you change your privacy settings, this means only the people you share your blog URL with can read your posts.

Submit a one page title page with the following to Waypoint for grading:
URL (example: ashford.blogspot.com)

Option B - Paper blog

Those who do not wish to sign up for Blogger may create and submit their blog entries in a Microsoft Word document. Submit a title page as outlined below along with the rest of your blog entries in one document to Waypoint for grading. Each post should start on a new page and contain an appropriate title. No reference page is needed since each reference will be listed within the blog entry. You are still able to include images, webpage URLs, etc... with this medium (using the "Insert > Picture" or "Insert>Hyperlink" functions of Microsoft Word).