Analysis of 3 other blogs

Gillian Lim: http://allfudgedup.blogspot.com/ 

I feel that Gillian has consistent eating timings, as she has made sure that she consumes at least the three basic meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, I feel that her lunch meals are sometimes not sufficient to give her the right amount of energy for the day. For example, her Day2 lunch consisted of only 2 curry puffs, which I feel does not give her a balanced meal. Also, as it is deep-fried, it is very oily and does not contain any fibres but only carbohydrates and protein from the egg in the curry puff. 

However, I feel that she consumes enough vitamins and fibre through eating fruits every supper. This is commendable as fruits contain large amounts of fibre and various vitamins that would enable a healthy diet and lifestyle. 

I feel that the one-dish meal she suggested is also not very healthy, considering how the cholesterol and sodium level is still very high. I also think that she could also request for the removing of skin for the steamed chicken, and maybe less curry sauce to go with the rice so that it is healthier. 

I also feel that she could have been more in depth with her analysis. For example, explaining how she could improve on her diet more and providing answers and examples as to how she can effectively change her diet to a healthier one. 

In all, she has good eating habits as well as making sure that she consumes fruits everyday, which is very commendable. 


Lee Hui Min: http://www.makefoodandeat.blogspot.com/
I feel that Hui Min has rather consistent meal times, ensuring that she consumes at least the three basic meals per day. However, while I feel that she ensures that she has the three basic meals, I also feel that her meals are not sufficient in providing her with the sufficient amount of energy she needs for the day. For example, her breakfast for Day2 consists only of an ice-blended soy milk. This, I feel, is not sufficient in providing a good energy boost to start her day. Instead, I feel that she should have a proper meal that would give her the right start to every day. I would advise her to have a healthy, filling breakfast that would give her the right amount of energy like maybe cereals and milo. I would also like to commend on her consistent intake of fruits and vegetables. This provides a good source of energy and dietary fibre and vitamins to help her lead a healthy lifestyle. 


I feel that her modification to a one-dish meal is really useful and healthy. As written by her, it is a better source of minerals and vitamins as compared to white rice, making it an ideal healthy alternative for the porridge. 

Yap Li Yin : http://chocolatefudger.blogspot.com/
I feel that it is commendable that Li Yin consumes her basic three meals everyday. It is also good that she consumes sufficient amount of fruits and vegetables regularly, giving her the right amount of energy, vitamins and minerals each day. 
However, I feel that consuming only a drink (Milo- Day3) is not healthy as this does not give a good start to the day and not providing enough energy that is needed to last through the day. Instead of this, she should ensure that she consumes more than just drinks for breakfast and have a meal that is filling and energy-providing. 
It is commendable that she made use of different HPB tools to analyse her diet, giving a detailed explanation of her diet and how she could improve on it. 

Reflection on PT

Through tracing my diet for 3 days and after that analyzing it, I felt that I have learnt a lot more about my intake of food. I realized that the food that I consume are somewhat rather unhealthy, especially my breakfast. I did not realise that I was eating breakfasts with high sugar and oil content (egg tarts and curry puffs). Also, as I have been consuming Milo as my daily form of drink as breakfast, I did not realize that I can actually have a healthier breakfast by changing my drink from Milo to tea, making it healthier for me.


I do not really consider my diet to be healthy as I tend to consume food that are high in oil content, resulting in me consuming too much fats and sodium than what is recommended for a 14-year old girl. This can be modified by decreasing the amount of deep-fried foods that I take, as well as making certain requests such as having less gravy and sauces as well as getting the skin removed for my chicken rice, etc. I also realized that I can cut down on unhealthy snacks with high sugar, salt and oil content like potato chips. Instead, I can consume healthier snacks like a muesli bar or wholegrain cereal as they contain more vitamins and less minerals and fats and definitely less salt, hence decreasing my high level of sodium intake. 


The suggested nutritional tools are useful in helping me realize just how healthy/unhealthy my diet is. It allows me to alter my diet according to whatever that I've consumed too much of and what I need to consume more of. For example, the Food Intake Assessment made me realize how much sodium I consume everyday, and how unhealthy my diet actually is. This enables me to modify my diet to be healthier and less salty before the high sodium intake takes a toil on my health. 


I feel that my suggested one-dish meal is healthy as it contains less cholesterol due to the absence of egg yolks. Also, my one-dish meal uses natural flavoring such as herbs and spices instead of MSG and salt, which is high in sodium. My one-dish meal also contains leafy vegetables that can increase my dietary fibre intake as well as my calcium intake.  


This performance task has made me realize the importance of a balanced diet and that we should all watch what we consume lest we end up having serious health problems caused by an unhealthy diet. 

Healthy One-Dish Meal

I am going to modify a dish I have taken over the pass three days, Mee Siam!

I can add more leafy vegetables into my Mee Siam, and add more bean sprouts into the dish. This can increase my dietary fibre intake (which I need to take more based on the Food Intake Assessment) and at the same time increase my calcium intake. 

Also, by using less oil and salt, I can also cut down on my sodium intake and total fat intake. 

I can also add in more natural flavouring such as herbs and spices like lemon grass, garlic, onions, etc. This can reduce my sodium intake and have my Mee Siam flavourful yet healthy at the same time! 

Also, to keep my cholesterol level at a healthy level, I can remove the egg yolk from the egg as these contain cholesterol. Instead, I can just consume the egg white (:

Analysis of three-day diet- Food Intake Asessment

Hello again (:

I have used one of the nutritional tools on the Health Promotion Board website- the Food Intake Assessment.

Period of Analysis: 26/05/2011 - 28/05/2011 

	Energy (kcal)	Carbohydrate (g)	Protein (g)	Total Fat (g)	Saturated Fat (g)	Cholesterol (mg)	Calcium (mg)	Dietary Fibre (g)	Sodium (mg)
Average intake per day	2,118	283.7	69.6	78.6	32.2	196.1	689.2	19.5	4,186.6
Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)	2,042	306.3	68.4	68.1	22.7	204.2	1,000.0	20.4	1,362.0
% of recommendation met	104	93	102	115	142	96	69	96	307

Table showing the % of total calories of diet versus recommendation

	% of total energy intake
	Your diet	Recommendation
Total Carbohydrates	54%	55 - 65%
Total Protein	13%	10 - 15%
Total Fat	33%	25 - 30%

Comparing with the recommended amount of energy intake by RDA, I've realized that my diet exceeds the amount of energy intake, proteins, fats and sodium. It particularly exceeds in my intake of sodium, since my average intake is 4,186.6 when the recommended daily intake should be 1,362.0 mg D: 
However, the tool also shows that I am lacking of enough carbohydrates, cholesterol, dietary fibre and most particularly calcium. I have noticed that I have a low average daily intake of calcium of 689.2 mg as compared to the recommended intake of 1,000 mg.  From the assessment results, I have also found out that without enough calcium, I may be at risk of developing osteoporosis and have weak and brittle bones. 
Measures that can be taken to have a healthier lifestyle

Total Fat Intake

- I can reduce my total fat in my diet by requesting for less oil/fats when eating outside food. Also, by requesting for the removal of visible fat and skin on meat, I can also cut down on my total fat intake. Instead of purchasing the normal milk, I found out that I can choose reduced fat dairy products instead of the full cream varieties. I have also realized that I consume Milo everyday as part of my breakfast. Perhaps I can change my drink to tea and add less sugar to it so as to cut down on my use of condensed milk and creamers and choose the healthier option of tea. 

Sodium Intake

- I can cut down on my sodium intake by gradually asking my mother to reduce the use of salt and sauces and maybe recommend for her to use natural seasonings such as herbs and spices. When eating outside of home, I can also reduce my sodium intake through requesting for less sauces or gravy in the food I eat. 

Calcium Intake

- I can increase the amount of calcium in my diet from a variety of sources. Some of them include consuming breads and biscuits, as well as leafy vegetables (which can increase my dietary fibre intake too!). I can also start the habit of drinking more milk that is high in calcium, such as soya bean milk.

That is all for this post!

My three-day diet!

Hello!


I will blogging about my diet for the three consecutive days (26 to 28 May 2011)
From 26 May 2011 to 28 May 2011:
   

Time	Food eaten	Quantity
26 May 2011
6.30 am	Egg Tart	1
	Milo	A mug full
9 am	Mee Siam	A bowl full
	Milo	1 packet of about 80ml
1.15 pm	Fried Rice	1 bowl
7.35pm	Fried Hor Fun	1 plate
8.10pm	Mango	1 small bowl

27 May 2011
6.30 am	Chocolate donut	1 donut
11.15 am	Wanton Mee (dry) 3 fried wantons, char siew and green vegetables	1 medium sized soup bowl
	Passion Fruit Bubble Tea w/o Pearl	1 cup
2.35pm	A pack of chili- flavored potato chips	1/2 a packet
6.40pm	Rice	1 plate
	KangKong	1 serving
	Fried toufu	About 5 toufus
	Steamed fish	1 serving
	Fried egg	1/4 of an egg
8.40pm	Mango	1 small bowl
9.35pm	Coca-Cola	1 cup

28 May 2011
9.30 am	Potato curry puff	1 curry puff
	Milo	1 cup
1.15pm	Roasted chicken rice without skin	1 plate
	Coke	1 cup
3.45 pm	Honey stars cereal	1 rice bowl
8.50pm	Sushi - salmon - tuna with cucumber - crab meat mayonnaise  - scallop	1 piece each

This includes everything I ate on the three days, from snacking to my three main meals of the day- breakfast, lunch and dinner.