This food and nutrition performance task has been an enriching experience for me. Before, I originally had thought that my diet was quite a regular one and did not require any change. However, because of this project, I have discovered that actually this 'normal' diet is extremely unhealthy and in fact in much need of healthy tweaks.
In the future, I will do my best to cut down on my fat and sodium intake, and increase my calcium intake. I will avoid eating the skin of chickens, ducks or pork, and try to ensure that the dish is cooked healthily with corn oil. I will also try to put less soy sauce and duck sauce onto dishes, and eat less salty products.
I hope all these changes in my diet will help ensure that, in the future, I will be eating healthily and make significant changes to my fat and sodium intake.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Reviews
I decided to review and comment on 3 of my classmates' blogs: Christiane, Julia and Yuan Ning.
Christiane
http://foodlover96.blogspot.com/
Her blog of each day is exceptionally detailed, including timing and such. Her analysis of her diet is also very clear and accurate, shown by statistics and numbers from the health tools used. Evidently, she put a lot of effort into it. This was a very good job done!
Julia
http://aestheticpt.blogspot.com/
She makes very good links everywhere to the negative consequences of eating certain kinds of food, and so successfully linking back to the present question. The blog is extremely organised, making it simple to find certain sections, yet very in-depth, as each section is elaborated to the fullest extent. She has obviously thought very much about this project, and her analysis shows her hard work. To add on, the colourful background of jellybeans matches the theme of the project and makes the blog look very nice. Fantastic job!
Yuan Ning
http://www.blog-my-diet.blogspot.com/
Similar to Christiane and Julia, Yuan Ning also makes good use of statistics and information from websites to back up and support any stand she is making. As we can see, her blog has a lot of information regarding health and nutrition, enriching us further and helping us understand this project as well. Her reflections are also insightful. This blog was very well written!
Christiane
http://foodlover96.blogspot.com/
Her blog of each day is exceptionally detailed, including timing and such. Her analysis of her diet is also very clear and accurate, shown by statistics and numbers from the health tools used. Evidently, she put a lot of effort into it. This was a very good job done!
Julia
http://aestheticpt.blogspot.com/
She makes very good links everywhere to the negative consequences of eating certain kinds of food, and so successfully linking back to the present question. The blog is extremely organised, making it simple to find certain sections, yet very in-depth, as each section is elaborated to the fullest extent. She has obviously thought very much about this project, and her analysis shows her hard work. To add on, the colourful background of jellybeans matches the theme of the project and makes the blog look very nice. Fantastic job!
Yuan Ning
http://www.blog-my-diet.blogspot.com/
Similar to Christiane and Julia, Yuan Ning also makes good use of statistics and information from websites to back up and support any stand she is making. As we can see, her blog has a lot of information regarding health and nutrition, enriching us further and helping us understand this project as well. Her reflections are also insightful. This blog was very well written!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
One Dish Meal
Here's the food recipe analysis for the meal I wish to improve on - char kway teow!
Evidently, the biggest and most outstanding problem here is the sodium intake from the char kway teow. By itself, it has already exceeded the recommended allowance for sodium in a day.
The sodium largely comes from the salt in the char kway teow. In order to reduce the sodium intake, it would be advisable to use less duck sauce or soy sauce, and flaking less shallots (if it is a habit to apply them) onto the dish. This would certainly reduce the amount of sodium in the dish to an acceptable level.
In order to make this dish even healthier, while cooking it, we could use normal oil or corn oil to substitute lard. It would not be so unhealthily fatty and so the total fat would decrease.
Also, adding more vegetables would help introduce vitamins to the meal. In this particular dish of char kway teow, there were only bean sprouts as vegetables and nothing else. It would not hurt to add a few other vegetables to the dish so that it would be balanced in energy and vitamins. For example, bok choy as a vegetable already has vitamins C, B1, B2, A, E and K, containing even more vitamins in smaller amounts. We could add vegetables such as bok choy to the dish.
To sum up, the changes we could make to this dish to make it healthier would be:
- using less duck sauce or soy sauce, applying less shallots
- substituting lard with normal oil or corn oil
- adding vegetables (such as bok choy) to the dish
These changes would definitely make the dish much healthier for the benefit of the consumer, resulting in less fat, less sodium and more vitamins.
Here is a picture:
Evidently, the biggest and most outstanding problem here is the sodium intake from the char kway teow. By itself, it has already exceeded the recommended allowance for sodium in a day.
The sodium largely comes from the salt in the char kway teow. In order to reduce the sodium intake, it would be advisable to use less duck sauce or soy sauce, and flaking less shallots (if it is a habit to apply them) onto the dish. This would certainly reduce the amount of sodium in the dish to an acceptable level.
In order to make this dish even healthier, while cooking it, we could use normal oil or corn oil to substitute lard. It would not be so unhealthily fatty and so the total fat would decrease.
Also, adding more vegetables would help introduce vitamins to the meal. In this particular dish of char kway teow, there were only bean sprouts as vegetables and nothing else. It would not hurt to add a few other vegetables to the dish so that it would be balanced in energy and vitamins. For example, bok choy as a vegetable already has vitamins C, B1, B2, A, E and K, containing even more vitamins in smaller amounts. We could add vegetables such as bok choy to the dish.
To sum up, the changes we could make to this dish to make it healthier would be:
- using less duck sauce or soy sauce, applying less shallots
- substituting lard with normal oil or corn oil
- adding vegetables (such as bok choy) to the dish
These changes would definitely make the dish much healthier for the benefit of the consumer, resulting in less fat, less sodium and more vitamins.
Here is a picture:
Monday, June 14, 2010
Analysis using Health tool
Hey! I went online to hpb.gov.sg to check out my food intake assessment.
I don't find this assessment reliable to be representative of my diet in general, because in the course of these three days, I have been eating A LOT more than usual in comparison to a regular day, because, well, my dad insisted on trying new foods at new places. Which I truly appreciate, but it just made me feel unnecessarily bloated these three days.
Anyway, I tried to fill in the assessment as accurately as I could (which was hard to do considering the rather limited choices of food they offered as options), and here are the results:
Total Carbohydrates: 38% (recommended: 55 - 65%)
Total Protein: 28% (recommended: 10 - 15%)
Total Fat: 34% (recommended: 25 - 30%)
Apparently, my diet consists of too much energy, too much total fat, too much saturated fat, too much cholesterol and too much sodium. And too little calcium.
As I have mentioned before, I think the reason for this exceptionally high amount of substances that result in fat is due to the fact that I ate so, so much in those three days. However, on a regular basis, I eat quite considerably less.
Perhaps I should have taken the three days from a regular set of days instead of those where my father decided to stuff me full. That is a lesson to learn.
Anyway, what I have learnt from this analysis is that I should refrain from eating so much fatty stuff, like meat (Not that I should stop completely, but I should eat less). I should also drink more milk every morning so that I will have more calcium in my diet. Finally, I should cut down on my salt intake to reduce sodium in my body.
I don't find this assessment reliable to be representative of my diet in general, because in the course of these three days, I have been eating A LOT more than usual in comparison to a regular day, because, well, my dad insisted on trying new foods at new places. Which I truly appreciate, but it just made me feel unnecessarily bloated these three days.
Anyway, I tried to fill in the assessment as accurately as I could (which was hard to do considering the rather limited choices of food they offered as options), and here are the results:
Total Carbohydrates: 38% (recommended: 55 - 65%)
Total Protein: 28% (recommended: 10 - 15%)
Total Fat: 34% (recommended: 25 - 30%)
Apparently, my diet consists of too much energy, too much total fat, too much saturated fat, too much cholesterol and too much sodium. And too little calcium.
As I have mentioned before, I think the reason for this exceptionally high amount of substances that result in fat is due to the fact that I ate so, so much in those three days. However, on a regular basis, I eat quite considerably less.
Perhaps I should have taken the three days from a regular set of days instead of those where my father decided to stuff me full. That is a lesson to learn.
Anyway, what I have learnt from this analysis is that I should refrain from eating so much fatty stuff, like meat (Not that I should stop completely, but I should eat less). I should also drink more milk every morning so that I will have more calcium in my diet. Finally, I should cut down on my salt intake to reduce sodium in my body.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Day 3
Day 3 was 5/6, Saturday.
Breakfast
- 2 mini-pancakes with whipcream, rock melon, blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup.
- 3ooml of Hot Chocolate <3
Lunch (unable to take pictures because of the at-the-time temporarily missing camera)
- 1 cup of coke
- Cream of Chicken (soup)
- Char Kway Teow
- Cendol
Dinner
- 1 plate of rice
- Vegetables
- Fish
- Longbean omelette
And so concludes the end of my diet tracking for 3 days.
:)
Breakfast
- 2 mini-pancakes with whipcream, rock melon, blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup.
- 3ooml of Hot Chocolate <3
Lunch (unable to take pictures because of the at-the-time temporarily missing camera)
- 1 cup of coke
- Cream of Chicken (soup)
- Char Kway Teow
- Cendol
Dinner
- 1 plate of rice
- Vegetables
- Fish
- Longbean omelette
And so concludes the end of my diet tracking for 3 days.
:)
Day 2
Day 2 was 4th June, Friday.
Late update because of unforeseen circumstances.
Anyway...
Breakfast
- 1 bowl of strawberry yogurt with 1 banana (cut into 7 pieces) and 6 blueberries
Lunch
- 250ml of Pokka Peach Tea
- 1 Pork chop burger
Dinner
- 1 cup of Milo
- 1 Double cheeseburger
- 1 medium pack of fries
Day 3 is in a separate post, for the sake or organisation.
Wasn't that a more normal day? Compared to the day before, that is.
Late update because of unforeseen circumstances.
Anyway...
Breakfast
- 1 bowl of strawberry yogurt with 1 banana (cut into 7 pieces) and 6 blueberries
Lunch
- 250ml of Pokka Peach Tea
- 1 Pork chop burger
Dinner
- 1 cup of Milo
- 1 Double cheeseburger
- 1 medium pack of fries
Day 3 is in a separate post, for the sake or organisation.
Wasn't that a more normal day? Compared to the day before, that is.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Day 1
Day 1.
Please note that today was a special day because it was the last day before my dad's going to leave for China (tomorrow), so he was very firm on taking us out for lunch and cooking us a nice dinner. Hence today I ate a lot. A lot. Way more than usual.
Breakfast (light, saving appetite for heavy lunch)
- 250ml of Marigold Strawberry milk
- 1 piece (cut into quarters) of 老婆饼(big 'biscuit')
Lunch
Note: French cuisine for lunch, meaning lots of courses but small portions.
- 300ml of Orange juice
- 1/2 piece of Mini-baguette
- Cold Angel Hair pasta,, Oscietra caviar
- Carpaccio Wagyu beef, Tartare style, crispy potato
- Alaskan king crab, chili Monte Poro, coquille
- Roasted suckling pig, Kriek beer sauce, leeks
- Apple tart "a la dragees"
(no dessert)
The following pictures are in chronological order.
Dinner
- 200ml of Apple juice
- Stuffed Portobello Mushroom
- Tuna Penne Pasta
- 1 piece of pork chop
The following pictures are in chronological order.
Supper
Fruity-tooty!
- 5 pieces of Golden kiwi
- 3 cherries
That's all I ate for today. Super full now!
Today was a good day.
Please note that today was a special day because it was the last day before my dad's going to leave for China (tomorrow), so he was very firm on taking us out for lunch and cooking us a nice dinner. Hence today I ate a lot. A lot. Way more than usual.
Breakfast (light, saving appetite for heavy lunch)
- 250ml of Marigold Strawberry milk
- 1 piece (cut into quarters) of 老婆饼(big 'biscuit')
Lunch
Note: French cuisine for lunch, meaning lots of courses but small portions.
- 300ml of Orange juice
- 1/2 piece of Mini-baguette
- Cold Angel Hair pasta,, Oscietra caviar
- Carpaccio Wagyu beef, Tartare style, crispy potato
- Alaskan king crab, chili Monte Poro, coquille
- Roasted suckling pig, Kriek beer sauce, leeks
- Apple tart "a la dragees"
(no dessert)
The following pictures are in chronological order.
Dinner
- 200ml of Apple juice
- Stuffed Portobello Mushroom
- Tuna Penne Pasta
- 1 piece of pork chop
The following pictures are in chronological order.
Supper
Fruity-tooty!
- 5 pieces of Golden kiwi
- 3 cherries
That's all I ate for today. Super full now!
Today was a good day.
Ground Zero
I'm not a very picky person with eating. I just eat whatever is available, or offered to me, and so I'm not very particular with my diet. But now, I'm embarking on a project that will trace every step of my diet for three full days. Everything that enters my digestive system will be taken note of. Then, I will be able to see what really goes into my body.
Starting tomorrow. Bon chance, moi.
Starting tomorrow. Bon chance, moi.
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