Reflections

Reflect on the process and learning points from the PT

What have you learnt about your eating habits?
That they are not as healthy as I would think? There is a lot of room for improvement!

Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?
Actually, yes, although it's not super-healthy. I eat a good variety of food and usually get enough fruits and veggies. However, I eat too much salt and oily and sugary foods. You could say I eat EVERYTHING. XD

Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? How?
They are useful in giving advice, and tracking your diet helps you make better choices because then you would analyse what you've been putting into your mouth and you can then realise what you have been doing.

Although most of us claim to know what constitutes a healthy diet, I am quite sure that few of us actually follow it. Therefore, keeping track of what you eat is important if you want to make wise choices, and the tools help you to analyse them well.

However, they are only rough guides although I was impressed by the amount of detail I received from them.

(This is starting to sound like a LORMS essay >.<)

Why is your suggested one-dish meal healthy?
It has carbs, protein and veggies and is low in fat. It uses wholemeal bread, a low Glycemic Index food and has tuna canned in olive oil, supplying good fats to the body. See the post 'Healthier Recipe' for more details :)

All in all, this is one of the funnest* PTs I have ever done!

*most fun, in-lieu of the Speak Good English Campaign ;)

Healthy Diet Pyramid vs Atkins Diet

Should have posted this some time ago, but here it is :)

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/foodforhealth/article.aspx?id=2638

It's a link to advice on using the healthy diet pyramid on the HPB website. I really hope I can be aware of this, as following such a simple tool will ensure a balanced diet and a healthier you! :D

This goes against the suggestions to follow if you were on the Atkins diet (see earlier post) There, protein makes the bulk of your diet followed by then fruits and veggies with almost zero carbohydrates. This is why I somewhat doubt that the diet is good for you. (Although I don't really doubt that it would work)

According to our home econs teacher Mrs Abbas, carbohydrates are the second-best stores of energy after fat. They make our body feel sated. (i.e. less hungry). If we were to take carbs away from our diet completely, imagine how much meat we would have to eat to replace it in order to feel full! Eating that much meat cannot be good for you. (I heard that a woman on the Atkins diet ate 5 pan-fried chicken breasts per day) poor thing, I don't think they taste very good.

101cookingfortwo.com

Also, hatchery fish are known to contain high levels of mercury and the Atkins diet strongly advise people to eat good fats and meat so people eat a lot of tuna and salmon etc and the mercury builds up... People can get mercury poisoning from eating too much sashimi, like raw salmon and tuna. Also, ever heard that eating too much red meat is not good for you? Must be the cholesterol...

The Atkins Diet

wellness-junction.com

The idea behind the diet is that by eating virtually no carbohydrates, your body would then switch to burning fat stores instead. (changing metabolism) That is why this is considered mainly a weight-loss diet. I don't think anyone can survive without carbs. I love carbs XD

So that is why I think that the Atkins diet, although not as restrictive as some others, is not a diet to adopt for your whole life. On the flipside, it's much better than other crazy diets like eating 5 apples a day... And also, I'm loving all those veggies. Fibre makes you feel full, but not exactly sated, like carbs make you feel. Anyway, this is a diet I would actually try if I wanted to lose weight.

What do you think? Comment please! :)

Comments

http://www.oatcookiesandmilk.blogspot.com/

Dear Geeps,

I like your blog background :)
You need more fruit and vegetables in your diet. If you are not such a big fan of chewing on veggies, then may I suggest fruit juices? Not the bottled, but the fresh kind.

Also, more variance in your diet and less processed food. When you like something, it's quite hard to resist eating it (I once ate curry rice 2 days in a row for lunch, not a good example), so do try to try out different things.

Also, do you eat dinner?!

Shu Ying

Comments

http://www.iwanttoeatmochi.blogspot.com/

Hi Mingrou, I think only a hardcore tea fan like you can take bitter green tea without sugar. That said, I think it's good that stores let you choose how much sugar you want in your drink. All those calories for nothing.

By the way, do you know what goes into those tapioca pearls? Lots of starch and carbs if you ask me... May be better off not adding them ^^ But... That's the fun of bubble tea, so I guess once in a while is fine.

Heard that the history of bubble tea is pretty interesting. People told the guy who invented it that his idea was crazy XD

Digressing...

Your concept of healthy food is very appealing, simple cooking with fresh ingredients. Basically: don't mess too much with the food if it's good stuff. That's why processed foods are usually not good for you. They contain things that people would not usually eat alone. (Like how hotdogs sometimes contain ground-up animal parts) ew...

Also, you share my love for snacking :D I woud suggest fruit next time instead of beef jerky or pocky. Then you would get your daily serving of fruit :)

And the stall at the right most of the canteen sells pretty good fruit juices too :)

Atkins Diet

So many weight-loss diets, but this must be the most famous of all: The Atkins Diet.

http://www.atkins.com/Homepage.aspx

Carbohydrates the enemy and protein your best friend...
Think it works? Or just a load of cr*p?

I think I would rather not go on this diet. It seems a little too out of balance. The thought of a diet, not just this one but any diet, puts me off. I can make sure I eat healthy yet not restrict myself, and I am of a healthy weight, so I don't need to shed weight, so no reason to try this.

If I ever do, it would be out of curiosity ;)

Awful Truth

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/hpb/ere/ere070306.asp

I am eating way too much salt :(
and too much in general...

So, to try to reduce my sodium intake, I shall eat less salty foods (?) and eat more at home.

Also, increas the intake of fruits and vegetables for more fibre. As for cholesterol, does it impact youngsters like us? XD

Oh, and too much protein. What does that do to you? I guess that there' not much harm apart from the fact that animal protein is usually accompanied by fat. Strangely, my fat intake did not exceed the reccomended intake. Must be all that tofu.

supercutekawaii.com

And I think I would suffer from high blood pressure when I get old, but more from work stress than diet XD

Healthier Recipe

What I ate on Day 2 for lunch:

Food item	Quantity	Calories	Food Group	Remarks
Tuna sandwich 1 slice plain white bread 1 slice whole meal bread 2 slices tomato 2 leaves lettuce Tuna Margarine Mayonnaise	1 sandwich, 2 slices of bread	410	Carbohydrates, Proteins, Vegetables, Fat (butter, mayonnaise)	Margarine was used instead of fresh butter (too expensive) which is higher in saturated fat.

Healthier Recipe – Tuna Mayo Sandwich

Unhealthy stuff in the sandwich:

·         Margarine – high in saturated fat

·         Mayonnaise – high in fat

Mayonnaise (kinda gross, isn’t it?)

recipes.howstuffworks.com


Margarine

bigoven.com

Replacements/ additions:

·         Wholemeal bread instead of white – complex carbohydrates have a lower GI

·         No mayonnaise, or low fat mayonnaise

·         Use tuna chunks in olive oil, light for a healthier option – olive oil has good fats

·         Low-fat spread or butter instead of margarine, which gives less saturated fat.

·         More vegetables! Add in some thinly-sliced cucumber too J

auntyyochana.blogspot.com

carrefour.com.sg

philadelphiappl.com

blog.rvervuurt.com

And the final product:

123rf.com

Oh, I’m getting hungry already! :D

Comments

Hi, I wrote something like this on Fong Han's blog at the following URL:

http://onemilkjugaday.blogspot.com/ (heheh, one jug of milk a day?!)

She snacked, quite a lot on the second day, so i suggested fruit instead of cake. Her daily fruit seems to be a Fuji Apple so maybe she could eat different types of fruit like papaya or maybe orange. She also had coffee at 11pm in the evening! I wonder how she would be able to sleep like that :P

All in all, Fong Han needs to snack healthier, eat less proccessed foods and try not to drink coffee in the night :)

Sorry Fongie XP

Day 3 :)

No time for lunch today :P

5.30am

Food item	Quantity	Calories	Food Group	Remarks
Pecan maple pie	1 slice	225	Others. Sugar, fat	Very high in sugar and fat (butter)
Milo w/o sugar/condensed milk	1 cup	138	Others, sugar

9.55am

Food item	Quantity	Calories	Food Group	Remarks
Chocolate milk	1 packet	188	Meat/Dairy, sugar	Chocolate milk is sweeter than plain, so that’s added sugar.
Oheya! Cheese flavoured multigrain chips.	1 small packet	150	Others, carbohydrates	Oh, the salt! But at least it’s multigrain J

1.20pm

Food item	Quantity	Calories	Food Group	Remarks
Chicken pau	1 medium	270	Carbohydrates, Protein	Processed food (meat), bad…

7.30pm

Food item	Quantity	Calories	Food Group	Remarks
White rice	1 serving	242	Carbohydrates
Cauliflower and carrots	1 serving	97	Vegetables
Melon egg white soup	1 bowl	68	Vegetables, protein
Ham	1 large slice	46	Proteins, fat	High in salt
Sunny-side up	1 egg	75	Proteins, fat
Baked beans	1 tablespoon	50	Carbohydrates, proteins
Potato wedges	4 pieces	123	Carbohydrates, fat	Deep fried and oily :P
Low-fat milk	1 large cup	140	Proteins, fat	Less sugar since it’s plain  J

Estimated total calories consumed: 1812

Food group	Servings	Recommended servings	Remarks
Carbohydrates	5	5-7
Proteins	3	3
Vegetables	1.5	2	Too little
Fruits	0	2	Too little D:

I ate too little fruits and veggies today, but a lot of snacks, sugar and processed foods…

And the leftover pecan pie for breakfast? Not such a good idea XD

The protein today was fine, but I sort of felt that it was too little. Carnivorous maybe ;)

It’s a wonder how I consumed so little calories. I think it’s more than that… Oh, and skipping lunch is bad.