What have you learnt about your eating habits?
I learnt that I can eat healthily at time, but sometimes I would just eat what I like without thinking of the possible negative consequences. For example, on Day 2 for lunch I had soup noodles. However, the dish was not healthy, because even though the soup was made with no artificial seasoning, it contained a lot of processed food such as fishballs and meatballs, which I like but contain a lot of salt and other unhealthy ingredients. I need to eat in moderation, which means taking enough greens and not going overboard with the tasty but unhealthy stuff.
I also found out that I am quite consistent with eating fruits. Having fruits as dessert after dinner is something that my family does regularly. We have it almost every day, except for when we go out for a big family dinner. This is a good habit, as fruits contain vitamins, minerals and fibre, and are vital for our health. However, I realise that my intake of fruits and vegetables is probably not enough. I should consume more fresh fruits daily.
Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?
I do not consider my diet to be very healthy. As I make out from my 3-day record, I am not eating enough for breakfast, and not eating enough vegetables and fruits. The only time that I would eat more for breakfast is during the weekends, when my parents are around. Also, I realise I eat too much hawker centre food during the weekends. One Day 1, a Sunday, both my lunch and dinner were bought from outside, at nearby hawker centres. This is very unhealthy as these type of food that are not home-cooked probably contain a lot of unnecessary artificial seasoning and fats. For example, the char kuey tiao I had for dinner was very black and oily, suggesting the use of a lot of oil and sauces. The fishcake in it is processed food, and a healthier option would be to replace it with fresh meat that requires no processing. Its nice taste does not make up for its lack of health benefits.
What I like about my diet is my regular intake of milk. On any day, I would usually drink either two cups of milk or one cup of milk and one cup of Milo. As far as I know, many of my peers have stopped drinking milk some time ago. Milk contains calcium and is good for bones, therefore is good for our bodies. Also, milk helps in water replenishment in our bodies.
Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? How?
No, the nutritional tools are useful, but it is very tiresome to use them. They help us calculate the components of our diet, but take a long time.
The RDA is a very useful tool. It gives a guide on what and how much of the components in our food we should be eating daily. Though it does not help me to actually analyse my diet, it gives me an estimate on how much I should be eating, and allows me to guess before I analyse it on the other tools.
The Food Intake Assessment is a very useful tool. It allows me to analyse my food day by day, and has many choices of foods to choose from. This is the main too I used to analyse my food, as it covers a broad range and is precise. It also provides a graph so as to allow me to compare my intake vs the RDA visually. Finally, it gives me nutrition messages based on my results, so that I know what to cut down on or what I need to eat more of.
The Healthy Diet Pyramid is quite useful, and the easiest by far. It allows me to know if I am eating enough. However, what it cannot do it analyse the components of food, so I do not know whether the food I am eating is giving me enough nutrients.
Finally, the Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods is a useful tool that helps to calculate the energy composition of dishes and meals. I used it for an analysis of one meal, Char Kuey Teow, that I ate on day 1. It is precise in giving details on different components, but to do so for every dish I ate would take far too long. Thus, I only used it for one dish.
Why is your suggested 1-dish meal healthy?
My one-dish meal is healthy because it does not require any artificial flavourings or oil when cooking. Also, I did not use much salt, as there was no need to. The dish contains ingredients from many food groups too, like cabbage from the Fruits and Vegetables group, noodles from the Rice and Alternatives group, wantons from Meat and Alternatives group, and so on.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
A Healthier Choice
The dish I'm modifying is soup noodles. This was eaten during lunch on day 2. My original dish had a lot of processed food and no vegetables at all.
Ingredients used:
- 1 plate of noodles
- 1 bowl of ikan bilis soup
- Some fresh/frozen meat, sliced
- 1/4 cabbage
- 4 wantons
- 2 crabsticks
- Spring onions to taste (I used 3)
- 1/2 boiled onion
- A pich of pepper
- 1 pinch of salt
This serves 1 portion.
I chose to use more spring onions, both cooked in the soup and as garnishes, because I like the taste of them. I also added pepper for more taste.
This dish is healthier than the original, because it contains vegetables, unlike the original. It is also more balanced as does not only contain processed food like the first dish, but also fresh meat. This dish also doesn't need any oil at all, since it is cooked in soup. The taste of the soup requires no artificial seasoning, as the ikan bilis will gives it taste to the soup through boiling. The amount of salt used was reduced from 2 pinches to 1 pinch.
This time when cooking, I used less processed food, with only 2 crabsticks. The wantons are homemade with fresh minced meat.
Overall, while I feel that this meal could definitely do with some improvements, like adding more vegetables or perhaps some fish, the bowl of soup noodles were definitely tasty and made a good meal.
Ingredients used:
- 1 plate of noodles
- 1 bowl of ikan bilis soup
- Some fresh/frozen meat, sliced
- 1/4 cabbage
- 4 wantons
- 2 crabsticks
- Spring onions to taste (I used 3)
- 1/2 boiled onion
- A pich of pepper
- 1 pinch of salt
This serves 1 portion.
I chose to use more spring onions, both cooked in the soup and as garnishes, because I like the taste of them. I also added pepper for more taste.
This dish is healthier than the original, because it contains vegetables, unlike the original. It is also more balanced as does not only contain processed food like the first dish, but also fresh meat. This dish also doesn't need any oil at all, since it is cooked in soup. The taste of the soup requires no artificial seasoning, as the ikan bilis will gives it taste to the soup through boiling. The amount of salt used was reduced from 2 pinches to 1 pinch.
This time when cooking, I used less processed food, with only 2 crabsticks. The wantons are homemade with fresh minced meat.
Overall, while I feel that this meal could definitely do with some improvements, like adding more vegetables or perhaps some fish, the bowl of soup noodles were definitely tasty and made a good meal.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Diet analysis
Using Food Intake Assessment and RDA:
(please click on the picture)
DAY 1
As can be seen from the tables, everything that I eat in total exceeds the RDA, especially my sodium intake. This is probably because I ate hawker centre food for both lunch and dinner. I should cut down on unhealthy stuff and eat more home-cooked food. Also, white bread contains quite a lot of fat. Eating wholemeal bread would be a healthier choice as it also has more vitamins and minerals.
DAY 2
(please click on it)
Today, again, my intake of all the components listed exceeded the RDA, especially sodium. Excess sodium increases the blood volume, which then raises the pressure in our blood vessels. Hypertension or high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke and heart attacks. THe reason I exceeded the sodium RDA by so much is probably because of all the processed foods in my soup kuey tiao. I should have cut down on the meatballs and fishballs, and perhaps added fresh meat and more veggies.
DAY 3
(please click on it)
For day 3, I finally do not exceed the daily allowance for every single component. However, my sodium level is still extremely high. I do not trust the sodium analysis they provide, as I know my mother tries to use as little salt as possible when cooking. I am eating too much saturated fat, though my total fat is below the allowance. An excess of saturated fat can raise your blood cholesterol, subsequently increasing your risk of heart disease. It is probably from the curry I ate. Cutting down on and substituting coconut milk in curry can help reduce the saturated fat levels. I can use plain skimmed milk instead of coconut milk.
Healthy diet pyramid:
According to the healthy diet pyramid, I am taking about the right amount of servings of Rice and Alternatives, but very little whole-grain products, which mainly comes from the brown rice mixed in my white rice. In the end, based on other tools, I found out that my carbohydrate intake exceeds the daily recommendation, but I am not eating enough whole-grains. I could add more brown rice to my white rice, or eat more wholemeal bread.
For Fruits and Vegs, I am eating about a serving of vegetables only, and about the same for fruits, despite eating fruits every night. This is bad as I will not get enough fibres or other important vitamins. I could increase my intake of vegetables by eating more at lunch, instead of during dinner only. As for fruits, I could perhaps make pure fruit juice during the day, to add to my daily intake of cut fruits at night.
For Meat and Alternatives, I am eating enough or more than required, since I drink 2 cups of milk daily and eat quite a lot of meat and fish. Meat usually comes from dishes during lunch and dinner, and from chicken or pork ribs soup.
For the last group, Fats, Oils, Sugar and Salt, I am definitely consuming more than recommended. My frequency of eating non-home-cooked food during these 3 days gave me more sodium and oil than usual home-cooked food. I should cut down on these foods as they are very unhealthy when taken in large amounts, and the required amount is only very little. Also, normally I eat a lot of deep-fried foods, like fiskcakes and chicken. Other ways of cooking these foods could be to boil the fishcakes in soup, and braise the chicken. My sodium intake is definitely more than the RDA, and I should cut down by eating less processed foods and cooking my dishes with less salt.
Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods:
Using the Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods tool on HPB's website, i analysed the composition of a meal I had on Day 1 - Char Kuey Teow.
The analysis follows:
Energy: 744 kcal
Protein: 23 g
Total fat: 38 g
Saturated fat: 29.2 g
Dietary fibre: 7.3 g
Carbohydrate: 76 g
Cholesterol: 234 mg
Sodium: 1459 mg
Starch: NA
Sugar: NA
Monounsaturated fat: 4.6 g
Polyunsaturated fat: 3.1 g
Calcium: 196 mg
Iron: 6.53 mg
Potassium: NA
Phosphorus: NA
Zinc: NA
Selenium: NA
Vitamin A: 0
Beta-carotene: 0
Retinol: 0
Thiamin: NA
Riboflavin: NA
Vitamin C: NA
Water: 238 g
Trans-fatty acids: 0
As can be seen from the analysis, Char Kuey Teow is high in fats, sodium and cholesterol. On the other hand, it offers little good nutrients like dietary fibre and no vitamins at all. This is a poor meal for dinner, and should not be eaten often. A better substitute would be soup kuay teow, where all the ingredients found in char kuey teow can be included, like fishcake, prawns, and meat.
(please click on the picture)
DAY 1
As can be seen from the tables, everything that I eat in total exceeds the RDA, especially my sodium intake. This is probably because I ate hawker centre food for both lunch and dinner. I should cut down on unhealthy stuff and eat more home-cooked food. Also, white bread contains quite a lot of fat. Eating wholemeal bread would be a healthier choice as it also has more vitamins and minerals.
DAY 2
(please click on it)
Today, again, my intake of all the components listed exceeded the RDA, especially sodium. Excess sodium increases the blood volume, which then raises the pressure in our blood vessels. Hypertension or high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke and heart attacks. THe reason I exceeded the sodium RDA by so much is probably because of all the processed foods in my soup kuey tiao. I should have cut down on the meatballs and fishballs, and perhaps added fresh meat and more veggies.
DAY 3
(please click on it)
For day 3, I finally do not exceed the daily allowance for every single component. However, my sodium level is still extremely high. I do not trust the sodium analysis they provide, as I know my mother tries to use as little salt as possible when cooking. I am eating too much saturated fat, though my total fat is below the allowance. An excess of saturated fat can raise your blood cholesterol, subsequently increasing your risk of heart disease. It is probably from the curry I ate. Cutting down on and substituting coconut milk in curry can help reduce the saturated fat levels. I can use plain skimmed milk instead of coconut milk.
Healthy diet pyramid:
According to the healthy diet pyramid, I am taking about the right amount of servings of Rice and Alternatives, but very little whole-grain products, which mainly comes from the brown rice mixed in my white rice. In the end, based on other tools, I found out that my carbohydrate intake exceeds the daily recommendation, but I am not eating enough whole-grains. I could add more brown rice to my white rice, or eat more wholemeal bread.
For Fruits and Vegs, I am eating about a serving of vegetables only, and about the same for fruits, despite eating fruits every night. This is bad as I will not get enough fibres or other important vitamins. I could increase my intake of vegetables by eating more at lunch, instead of during dinner only. As for fruits, I could perhaps make pure fruit juice during the day, to add to my daily intake of cut fruits at night.
For Meat and Alternatives, I am eating enough or more than required, since I drink 2 cups of milk daily and eat quite a lot of meat and fish. Meat usually comes from dishes during lunch and dinner, and from chicken or pork ribs soup.
For the last group, Fats, Oils, Sugar and Salt, I am definitely consuming more than recommended. My frequency of eating non-home-cooked food during these 3 days gave me more sodium and oil than usual home-cooked food. I should cut down on these foods as they are very unhealthy when taken in large amounts, and the required amount is only very little. Also, normally I eat a lot of deep-fried foods, like fiskcakes and chicken. Other ways of cooking these foods could be to boil the fishcakes in soup, and braise the chicken. My sodium intake is definitely more than the RDA, and I should cut down by eating less processed foods and cooking my dishes with less salt.
Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods:
Using the Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods tool on HPB's website, i analysed the composition of a meal I had on Day 1 - Char Kuey Teow.
The analysis follows:
Energy: 744 kcal
Protein: 23 g
Total fat: 38 g
Saturated fat: 29.2 g
Dietary fibre: 7.3 g
Carbohydrate: 76 g
Cholesterol: 234 mg
Sodium: 1459 mg
Starch: NA
Sugar: NA
Monounsaturated fat: 4.6 g
Polyunsaturated fat: 3.1 g
Calcium: 196 mg
Iron: 6.53 mg
Potassium: NA
Phosphorus: NA
Zinc: NA
Selenium: NA
Vitamin A: 0
Beta-carotene: 0
Retinol: 0
Thiamin: NA
Riboflavin: NA
Vitamin C: NA
Water: 238 g
Trans-fatty acids: 0
As can be seen from the analysis, Char Kuey Teow is high in fats, sodium and cholesterol. On the other hand, it offers little good nutrients like dietary fibre and no vitamins at all. This is a poor meal for dinner, and should not be eaten often. A better substitute would be soup kuay teow, where all the ingredients found in char kuey teow can be included, like fishcake, prawns, and meat.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Day 3
Last day of Blog Your Diet: 1 June 2010
Breakfast, 10am:
Prata wrap with chicken:
Rice with dishes
Breakfast, 10am:
- Bread with butter - 1 slice
- Milk - 1 cup
Prata wrap with chicken:
- Prata wrap - 1 piece
- KFC chicken - 1 piece
- Tomato - 1 small one
- Lettuce - 1 leaf
- Fried egg - 1/8
- Water - 1 cup
Rice with dishes
- Rice - 1 plate
- Fried salmon - 1 small piece
- Broccoli and leafy vegetable - 4 spoonfuls
- Curry sotong - 3 small pieces of sotong
- Curry prawn - 1 small prawn
- Winter melon soup - 1 bowl
- Water - 1 cup
- Belimbing (small sour fruit) - 1 fruit
- Apples - 1/2 apple
- Milk - 1 cup
- Water - 1/2 glass
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