Peer evaluation

1. Gen's blog
http://fifeefood.blogspot.com/

I like how she organized her blog. It goes very smoothly in this manner: Recording of meals, analysis, modification then reflections. Content-wise, I would say her analysis is very detailed and honest. I think she described how her one-dish meal is healthy well too, by including details like where the certain nutrient is from (eg. carbo from the crust made from flour).

2. Miao Ling's blog
http://www.miaolingcookedyou.blogspot.com/

I enjoyed reading her blog very much because it's so interactive. The way she presented it is not the least bit dry. She also included many well-taken photos, which beautifies her blog up too. She also put in a lot of effort to search for additional tools that's not from hpb web, like the caloriecounter web, which she thinks would offer a better alternative to her food intake analysis.

3. Sarah's blog
http://www.poofybunniees.blogspot.com/

The simplicity of her blog enabled me to digest the information easily. However I think she can use more tools to analyse her diet because HPB tools ain't exactly the best and most accurate. Her edited pizza is very creative. (Y)

Reflections and Learning Points

What have you learnt about your eating habits?
I have not learnt much about my eating habits from this pt. But my eating habits are a bit extreme. Actually, these 3 consecutive days did not reflect my more usual eating habits. My eating habits are very inconsistent. One day I can be eating very little and the next I'll eat a lot.
However I did find out that I eat a lot of meat but very little vegetabes. And I hardly eat tidbits. (Mainly because my parents never buy them)

Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?
No, I don't think it's healthy. I have a preference to eat more meat in my meals. I never fulfilled the 2 servings of Veggie and 2 servings of fruits. Which means I cannot fulfil my dietary fibre needs well. When I do, it will mean the other nutritional figures are higher than my RDA, which is unhealthy. The amount of sodium I took in from all 3 days are higher than required, which is very unhealthy, increasing hazards of stroke and heart problems. My calcium level is always must lower than my RDA, but it is very much needed for healthy bones. It is very important in the prevention of Osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become weak and brittle and can result in fractures easily. (http://www.hpb.gov.sg/health_articles/howmuchcalcium/) Sometimes, the fats, carbo and cholestrol intake also exceed my RDA. In summary, most of my daily food intake fail to fulfil my RDA.

Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? How?
They are quite useful because they help you calculate the figures easily and it is not very difficult to use. They give you custom values and dishes, so I do not have to do lots of research on the portion sizes and key in myself. That will be very tedious. However they may not be very accurate, exactly due to the defaulted values and dishes because many a times I don't understand what they are talking about and my dish cannot be found on the web. In these cases, I have to choose the closest dish/ingredient and tikam through. Hence my results may not be accurate.

HPB also provided detailed explanations about the types of nutrition, which is easily understandable and very useful.

Why is your suggested one-dish meal healthy?

I will answer the last reflection question in this segment.

The one-dish meal I would modify will be my sandwich from Day 3. As can be seen from the HPB analysis of my food intake, I need more energy from the food, more dietry fibre, carbo, and a lot more calcium. So, I shall start with my sandwich since it's the easiest.

My old recipe was:

• 2 slices of white bread
• 1 piece of ham
• 1 tomato (sliced)
  

This is the nutritional level (using HPB's recipe tool):

My new recipe will be:

• 2 slices of wholemeal bread (more energy, proteins and dietary fibre! :D)
• half slice of ham (less sodium and fats)
• 1 piece of cheese (High calcium, low fat)
• Lots of Lettuce (for dietary fibre)
• 1 tomato (sliced) (dietary fibre)
  
  
  

Picture taken from http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/nutrition/nutrition-healthy-sandwiches-jibrin-0906/

And this is the rough nutritional level:

(http://www.hpb.gov.sg/healthtools/default.aspx?pgno=1)

A more detailed nutrition composition for my chesdale cheese choice (Trim Hi Calcium Cheese):

(http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/chedale-trim-hi-calcium-cheese-925621)


I don't quite understand the calcium part but I think i did increase the calcium intake for this meal as compared to my original sandwich.

Highlowmoreless - The health effects

Retrieved from HPB web.

SODIUM
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.

FATS
A diet high in fat is associated with overweight, high blood cholesterol, heart disease and other related health problems. To reduce total fat in your diet, use less oil or fats when cooking and use fat spreads sparingly. Use lean cuts of meat and poultry, and remove visible fat and skin. When eating out, ask for less fat or oil in your food. As extras add up, make your food choices wisely.

SATURATED FATS
An excess of saturated fat can raise your blood cholesterol, subsequently increasing your risk of heart disease. The main sources of fat in our diet are also the sources of saturated fat! These include coconut-milk based foods, blended oil (usually used in commercial cooking), flavoured rice (e.g. chicken rice, nasi lemak, nasi briyani) and creamer/whitener/condensed and evaporated milk in beverages. Cutting down or limiting such sources of fat will also help to reduce saturated fat intake.

DIETARY FIBRES
An adequate intake of dietary fibre can help to promote proper bowel functions, reduce blood cholesterol and control blood glucose levels. Dietary fibre can also help to make you feel full longer.

Dietary fibre can only be obtained from plant-based foods.

Remember to have your 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of vegetables everyday. Choose fresh fruit or vegetables rather than the juice, and eat the skin (if edible) of cleaned fruit or vegetables. Replace meat-based dishes with beans, peas or lentils in you diet on alternate days. Try to consume 1 serving of wholegrain products from the rice and alternatives group daily, for example unpolished rice and wholemeal bread.

CALCIUM
Calcium is an essential nutrient for bone health. It is very important in the prevention of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones become weak and brittle. This makes them more susceptible to fractures. The bulk of bone mass is achieved in the first 2 decades of your life. It is therefore important to start building up bone mass when young to prevent osteoporosis later in life.

I can obtain calcium from these foods: Calcium enriched breads, cereals, noodles (rice and alternatives), green leafy vegetables (vegetables!), calcium fortified juices (fruits), and the long list from meat and alternatives, milk, cheese, yoghurt, ikan bilis, sardines with bones, dhal, tofu, high calcium soya bean milk.

Day 3 - 12th August, Thursday

My diet today:

10.00am ham sandwich. (2 slices of bread, 1 tomato/sliced, 1 slice of black pepper ham)
12.50pm Rice with egg and two seaweed chicken (1bowl of rice, 1 egg, 2 Schicken)
6.00pm 2 prawn takoyaki, 2 chicken ham takoyaki
7.15pm Rice with vegetable soup, 1 apple (1 bowl of rice, half bowl of soup)







I shall analyse this meal with the food pyramid!


So for rice and alternatives, I practically have them in every meal I had today, like rice, bread and the flour used in tako yakis. And it's also around 5-7 servings.

There's quite a lot of meat content in my meals, like seaweed chicken, the ham in tako yaki and my sandwich.
As the fruits and veggies, I ate some portion, like an apple and tomato, but it definitely does not fulfil the 2 servings each. (I didn't eat the veggies from the soup)

According to the HPB analysis, my sodium intake is higher than my RDA but, not by too much as compared to the previous days. Still, I think it is important to take note and reduce as best as possible.

However in general, I think this meal is considered fairly balanced.

Day 2 - 11th August, Wednesday

What i ate today:

6.53am 1 muffin! (It's green in colour), 1 curry puff
9.40am 1 big piece watermelon
1.25pm Rice with minced pork and dark sauce egg (1 bowl of rice, 1 portion of Spork, 1 egg)
4.50pm Beehoon, 1 drumlet, 3 crab meat nuggets (1 plate of beehoon)






My breakfast today was leftover from the day before, and apart from the meals i ate during recess and lunch in school, the "dinner" was actually dian xin from House Comme. House Comme lasted from 2pm-7pm so by the time I got home it's around 9pm and I was dead tired. So, I bathed and slept straight, no more real dinner ):

Back to the point. The good news is, the amount of calories I took in today was just nice! The amount of carbo and dietary fibre was pretty appropriate too. I think that's something good because carbo and calories are my sources of energy and considering the amount of exercise I did during House Comme today, there should be quite an amount burnt down. I need dietary fibre because I do not want constipation.

However on the bad side, my intake of proteins, fats (total and saturated) exceed what my body needs, by quite a considerable amount. But, my calcium level is way below the RDA, whereas the amount of sodium I took in is too much for my own good.

The food intake assessment results shows the obvious culprits to my high intake of protein and sodium --- Meal 4, the Beehoon, Drumlet and 3 Crabmeat Nuggets! And there's no doubt that the champion is the Crabmeat Nuggets, with a staggering amount 31.5g of protein, 10.5g each. (Crabmeat nugget is a seafood, which natually means it contains more proteins.) Not only that, the 3 crabmeat nuggets contain 2457.5mg of sodium. That alone is double the RDDA. (1283.2mg).

Beehoon contains 15.9g of protein, and 1538.5mg of sodium, both whoopingly high. But with all these big figures, my calcium content is still very low.

Day 1 - 10th Aug, Tuesday

Here's my diet for today:

10.00am Porridge with Pork Floss (1 bowl of porridge, 1/2 portion of pork floss)

1.46pm 6 pcs Mac Nuggets meal (with medium fries)

7.15pm Wanton soup (8 wantons)

------------------------------------------

The nutritional value of my meals are as follow:

My Lunch! :

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/nutrition_choices.html

(a more precise one from Mcdonalds' web)

According to the HPB tool, I am greatly under-nutritioned today, even though I thought it was unhealthy.

I was not getting enough calcium, which increases risk of developing osteoporosis, a condition where bones become weak and brittle. If left untreated, osteoporosis can worsen until a fracture (crack or break in the bone) occurs. That's ouch.

HPB suggested that I increase calcium intake from a variety of sources like consuming calcium-enriched breads and biscuits, green leafy vegetables, calcium-fortified juices, high-calcium soya bean milk, ikan bilis, sardines (with bones), tofu, as well as milk and other dairy products. Vitamin D helps our body absorb calcium. Your body can make this vitamin after sunlight hits your skin. You can easily obtain enough by getting at least 30-60 minutes of sunlight a day.

In summary, I should drink milk or high-calcium soya bean milk, and eat more green leafy vegetables, in order to increase my intake of calcium. I should also exercise more :D

I hate the nutritional tool it's so complicated, and I always have to re key-in.