Frequently Asked Questions

Will the DiningStyles™ Calculator always provide accurate results?

In a world where every person is a unique individual, narrowing down someone's eating habits to one of six distinct types is often a challenge. The model was created with 200 questions about eating and exercise habits. Using a statistical technique called cluster analysis, all the answers given by all the respondents were organized into six groups that answered the questions in similar ways. This is where the six DiningStyles groups came from. Each DiningStyle type is a group of statistical tendencies and not a set of absolutes that are perfectly accurate about every person in that group. Statistical analysis revealed that instead of asking the 200 questions in our nutritional DiningStyles research, we could ask just 10 questions and use the national averages for each DiningStyle to get a fairly good idea how respondents would answer the other 190 questions. Overall, the DiningStyles calculator is accurate about 77% of the time. While not perfect, academic and medical researchers have told us that this approach is a real breakthrough in helping them understand American eating behavior.

How were the Nutritional DiningStyles™ developed?

For the last three years, we have conducted a survey of over 5,000 American adults to help us understand how we can better serve our customers. We asked them more than 200 questions about their eating and exercise habits, including detailed questions about snack frequency, exercise frequency, dieting and many other related areas. We used a statistical technique called cluster analysis to compare all the answers given by all the respondents to all of the questions, and organized them into six groups that seemed to answer the questions in similar ways throughout the survey. This is where the six DiningStyle groups came from. Each DiningStyle type is a group of statistical tendencies and not a set of absolutes that are perfectly accurate about every person in that group. However, when medical researchers have looked at the DiningStyles data we've gathered, they believe that over an extended period of time each person in a particular DiningStyle group is very likely to take on more and more characteristics of the entire group.

How was the DiningStyles™ Calculator developed?

Since academic and medical researchers consider our research a breakthrough in helping them understand American eating behavior, we tried to think of ways this research could be developed into a useful educational tool. Statistical analysis revealed that instead of asking the 200 questions in our nutritional DiningStyles research, we could ask just 10 questions and use the national averages for each DiningStyle to get a fairly good idea how respondents would answer the other 190 questions. By narrowing the number of questions down to 10, we greatly facilitated the data gathering process and could provide a tool people could use to quickly and easily determine their DiningStyle, learn whether their behavior presents a health risk and, if so, receive suggestions on actions they can take to minimize these risks. The DiningStyles Calculator is by no means perfect. We are constantly looking for ways it can improved in both accuracy as well as the value it delivers to its users. If you have any suggestions, we encourage you to send them to us at diningstyles@aramark.com .

Where can I find more resources to help me make better eating and health decisions?

American Dietetic Association (ADA)
ADA's Knowledge Center provides timely and objective food and nutrition information for consumers, health professionals and ADA members.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are published jointly every 5 years by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). They provide authoritative advice for people two years and older about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases.

FRONTLINE: Diet Wars
Is low fat better than low carb? Is Atkins the answer? And which diet offers long-term health and permanent weight loss? PBS FRONTLINE examines the great diet debate in the program Diet Wars

• Frequently Asked Questions About Diet And Health
• Comparing The Diets
• Chronology: America's Changing Relationship With Food

Fuel4me.com
Fuel4me.com is a site developed by ARAMARK to encourage grade school students to eat healthy so they can perform to their peak abilities doing their favorite activities.

Nutrition.gov
Nutrition.gov provides easy access to the best food and nutrition information from across the federal government. It serves as a gateway to reliable information on nutrition, healthy eating, physical activity, and food safety for consumers, educators and health professionals.

Why does ARAMARK provide this resource?

At ARAMARK we are always looking for ways to improve the services we provide. The Nutritional DiningStyles™ Calculator enables us to learn more about our customers and their eating preferences, but it also provides a tool people can use to learn about themselves – their eating behavior, how it compares with other Americans and how they can modify their behavior to reduce health risks. We are dedicated to helping customers concerned with their health make healthy dining decisions. The DiningStyles Calculator is just one example. We also developed the Just4U program to help customers quickly and easily identify nutrition information as well as health awareness programs.

How is the information collected by the DiningStyle™ Calculator used?

All of your responses to the DiningStyles™ Calculator questions are kept completely confidential and anonymous. They are used only to provide you with information about your Nutritional DiningStyles™. No identifiable information about you will be captured, maintained or used for any other purpose. For more information, refer to our Privacy Policy.

Please contact us if you have other questions.