REFLECTIONS
What have you learnt about your eating habits?
I have learnt that my sodium intakes are incredibly high! Even though many of my friends have the similar problem, it is still a problem that I can curb, so I will try and remember to eat healthier and not processed food. I find it quite unhealthy that none of my carbohydrates, fat, protein intakes etc., fit the RDDAs for my weight, height and age! It is hence, no wonder that I often feel lethargic and tired in school because unhealthy intakes will inevitably lead to me having less energy D: I have also found out that I rarely eat full meals, such as meals consisting of rice and dishes, except for dinner. This is probably due to the fact that I only eat when I am hungry and do not bother eating a full meal during lunchtime if I do not feel hungry then. This might be a cause of my low nutrient and energy compositions of my diet so I will try to increase my daily food intake, but also maintain a healthy diet!

Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?
I don't think it is very healthy! As stated in the previous question, most of my diet contains a lot of sodium. Many times, I could have eaten a healthier alternative such as something which is not processed, but I end up eating something else that is more visually appealing and tastes better ): One example was when I faced the decision between A CHICKEN NUGGET and A HONEYDEW SLICE! (This was before the 3-day diet) I had a hard hard time choosing but I ended up choosing the disgustingly unhealthy nugget over the honeydew just because it's fried! O: I think small things like this contribute to my diet not being ideally healthy :D

Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? How?
Yes, surprisingly! I thought that the HPB website would keep crashing, but it thankfully didn't when I was using my computer and was very easy to use, so this was a plus point to the usefulness of the nutritional tools! Furthermore, they seemed very reliable, especially because it's on the Health Promotion Board website. Hence, there weren't discrepancies such as what I saw on one other food site which stated that a chicken nugget has less calories and fat than an apple. T.T However, some common dishes on the Energy & Nutrient Composition of Foods tool could not be found, such as white bread. The tool offers local dishes but do not have some basic dishes like a bowl of normal white rice.

Why is your suggested one-dish meal healthy?
I already answered this in my post about the modified dish, but here are the reasons again! My chicken macaroni soup contains less salt and fat content, as soup is used in replacement of sauce, only 1/2 a chicken cube is used, and the chicken is also skinned of fat! As written earlier, there are also many vegetables included in the soup, and this increases the dietary fibre and protein content of the dish. Overall, the added and modified ingredients make the dish a healthy meal (:

FEEDBACK ON OTHER FOODIE BLOGS! :D
1. I LIKE QINGYUN'S FOODIE BLOG! (Click on "Qingyun's foodie blog" for the link!) I love the animations at the top and THE DOLL GAME AT THE LEFT SIDE IS SO CUTE TOO! I didn't really know how to play the game at first though ): and I thought I was the one who made the dog go Hi! But anyway, your blog is so organised; you even had a post compiling the links of the different tasks we were supposed to do so that the reader (i.e. me :D) can navigate more easily! I also like how you use many tools to elaborate on certain points you want to bring out, like the difference between your unhealthy dish and the modified dish. Good job qingqing :D

2. OOH OOH OOH LOOK, IT'S JUNE'S BLOG! (Click on "June's blog" for the link!) Ahhh I get cravings from your blog because of all the yummy food pictures mmm. Uh I got very distracted from the actual content with all the nonsense links but I still find your content very substantial! You even provided a before and after picture of your modified dish, and didn't even use a dish that we made in class! O: I also applaud you -clapclapclap- that you managed to trace a diet of A BUFFET. That is very very very hard because I normally eat a lot during buffets but oh well! Your blog provides total comic relief but it is informative too so hoho, well done ngian!

3. NEXT UP IS YANG YIXUAN'S FOODIE BLOG! (click on "Yang Yixuan's foodie blog" for the link!) Why is your blog so organized? I really love the way you classify your different posts because they are super easy to understand! One example is you having different posts for "Comments on Day Three Diet" and "Analysis of Day Three Diet" although they are essentially about the same thing. xD I agree with your reflections! I always thought that I was a very healthy young woman but I realised that my diets didn't even meet the recommended intakes in the end -.- We shall aspire together to become healthy daughters of a better age! ♥

After the tracing of the 3-day diet, it's time for the DIET ANALYSIS! For the analysis, I used 3 tools - Food Intake Assessment, RDDA, and Energy & Nutrient Compositions of Foods!

I have already calculated the respective Energy and Nutrient Compositions of Food in the previous 3 posts tracing my diet, and here are the average amounts of the total calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and sodium I have consumed in the 3 days.

Average calories: 1429.15kcal
Average protein: 47.8g
Average fat: 60.2g
Average carbohydrates: 190.4g
Average sodium: 2187mg

According to the Food Intake Assessment on the HPB Website, my daily energy requirement is estimated to be 2060 calories. As can be seen from my average calories each day (1429.15kcal), my amount of calories are less than the requirement by 630.85kcal! This might cause me to feel more lethargic in school and fall asleep in lessons more easily as I do not have enough energy to concentrate. It will also make me feel hungry all the time. In the long run though, it will help me to lose weight!

These are the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) for my age, height and weight, also found from the HPB website:
69.7g of protein
68.7g of fat
309g of carbohydrates
1373.8mg of sodium

As you can see, my protein, fat and carbohydrates intakes are all lower than the RDA. A low fat intake is good. However, too low a fat intake will mean getting cold easily, as fats help us maintain body temperature. A low protein intake might cause hair loss and significantly impaired functions such as growth and tissue repair. Furthermore, too little carbohydrates might lead to decreased energy. Without the presence of carbohydrates, fat is broken down into components that include a byproduct called ketones. When ketones begin to accumulate, the result is headaches, dizziness, decreased energy and fatigue.

Despite the low protein, fat and carbohydrate intakes, my sodium intake was greater than the recommended amounts by 813.2mg, and this is what the Food Intake Assessment stated about my high sodium intake.

Sodium acts like a sponge, holding water in our body. 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 main source of sodium in our diet comes from salt (sodium chloride) and sauces added during cooking or at the table. To cut down on sodium intake, gradually reduce the use of salt and sauces when preparing or cooking food so that your taste buds have the chance to adjust. Try flavouring foods with natural seasonings like lemon juice or herbs and spices. Choose fresh food over processed foods over processed foods and enjoy the natural taste of foods. When eating out, ask for less sauces or gravy in dishes.

THUS, I HAVE COME TO THE END OF MY ANALYSIS. I have realised that I am actually not as piggy wiggy as I think but oh dear, my sodium intake has to be improved D< TIME FOR MY REFLECTIONS AND FEEDBACK ON THREE OTHER BLOGS!
;cherlene

SOURCES:
- Effects of Too Little Carbohydrates
- Health Promotion Board
- Livestrong.com: The Daily Plate (a diet tracker)
- Effects of Low Protein

HI EVERYBODY. THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY.

Here is....

HOWDY! Amo il cibo (the title of the post!) means I LOVE FOOD in Italian. Cool right :D Anyway, here is....

Breakfast - 6.15am:
- 1 Slice of Wheatbran bread: 70kcal, 2.5g protein, 1g fat, 13.5g carbs, 138mg sodium
- 3 Tbsps of Egg Salad: 162kcal, 7.8g protein, 12.8g fat, 3.7g carbs, 331mg sodium

Break - 10.30am:
- 1 Char Siew Bun (not the bao!!): 220kcal, 6g protein, 13g fat, 38g carbs, 360mg sodium
- 1 250ml Jasmine Green Tea packet drink: 60kcal, 0g protein, 0g fat, 15g carbs, 15.8mg sodium

Lunch - 1.30pm:
- 2 cheese pizza slices (MMMMMM!): 448kcal, 18g protein, 18g fat, 54g carbs, 972mg sodium

Dinner - 6.30pm:
- 1 plate of rice (3/4 cup of rice): 170kcal, 4g protein, 0g fat, 38g carbs, 0g sodium
- 1 fried fishcake: 27kcal, 4g protein, 1g fat, 1g carbs, 273mg sodium
- 1 piece of Ngo Hiang: 228kcal, 7g protein, 15g fat, 16g carbs, 291mg sodium
- 1 piece of fried white fish: 92.7kcals, 4.6g protein, 4.1g fat, 10.4g carbs, 150.7mg sodium
- 1/2 an apple: 32.5kcal, 0g protein, 0g fat, 8.5g carbs, 0.5mg sodium
- 1/2 a grapefruit: 34.5kcal, 0.5g protein, 0g fat, 8.5g carbs, 0mg sodium

Total: (calculated from the Energy & Nutrient Compositions of Foods tool)
1544.7 calories
54.4g of protein
64.9g of fat
206.6g of carbohydrates
2532mg of sodium

;cherlene!

HI MRS WONG AND FRIENDS!

So basically, I ate macaroni in the school canteen last week! It had quite a lot of taste, but I think most of the taste came from the high amounts of salt and MSG in the sauce used. There are no vegetables in the macaroni too. This shows that OH NOOO, the macaroni is... NOT VERY GOOD FOR YOUR BODY!

SO... here is a modified dish which is much healthier! In my 'version' of a healthier macaroni, these are the things I modified:
- The chicken was skinned so no fat is left!
- I also added many vegetables, such as celery, onion, carrot, potato, mushrooms, and coriander, which the original dish did not have.
- Instead of sauce which contains A LOT of salt and flavouring, I substituted the sauce with soup. The soup contains mainly water and only one tablespoon of oil.
- To still have flavouring, I also used 1/2 of a chicken cube! The macaroni will still be tasty, but there is much less MSG and salt compared to when a full chicken cube or sauce is used.

Doesn't it look yummy? :D You can even eat the macaroni with FRUITS, because the fruits will bring even more flavour to the dish, but in a healthy way, not through more salt and MSG!! O:

In conclusion, my HEALTHY chicken macaroni soup contains less salt and fat content, as soup is used in replacement of sauce, only 1/2 a chicken cube is used, and the chicken is also skinned of fat! As written earlier, there are also many vegetables included in the soup, and this increases the dietary fibre and protein content of the dish (:

CHICKEN MACARONI SOUP IS EASY, HEALTHY AND YUMMY = wonderful dish ♥
;cherlene

HELLO EVERYBODY! HERE IS...Breakfast - 6am:
- 1 Blueberry Cream Swiss Roll: 120kcal, 9g protein, 4g fat, 18g carbs, 120mg sodium
Recess - 10.50am:
- 1 Chocolate Muffin: 217kcal, 3g protein, 11g fat, 25g carbs, 299mg sodium
Lunch - 1.20pm:
- 1 Honeydew Slice: 64kcal, 1g protein, 0.2g fat, 16.1g carbs, 32mg sodium
- 1 Fried Egg: 100kcal, 6g protein, 4.5g fat, 1g carbs, 65mg sodium
Dinner - 7pm:
- 1 plate of fried rice: 508kcal, 16g protein, 20g fat, 66g carbs, 1622mg sodium
- 10 tablespoons of green tea & red bean ice-cream: 165.2kcal, 2.4g protein, 9.4g fat, 16.5g carbs, 47.2mg sodium

Total: (calculated from the Energy & Nutrient Compositions of Foods tool)
1394.2 calories
43.4g of protein
62.1g of fat
180.6g of carbohydrates
2545.2mg of sodium

I feel like a pig. Oink oink!












; cherlene