Words: 1005
There are several things about my diet that are good and several areas I can use improvement on. First let’s take a look at my daily caloric intake. According the calorie calculator on pig. 98 of the text I should be consuming approximately 2025 per day. This is an amount to maintain my current weight. So if I want to lose weight I should create a deficiency of calories or eat fewer calories to weigh less. But for the purposes of tracking, I am going with the 2025 lbs per day.
Over the four days that I recorded my diet I averaged approximately 1934 calories per day so I did well in that department, except I was actually shooting for about 1800 calories. According to Idled and Gallant (2014) about 50% of my caloric intake should come from the carbohydrates (crabs) I consume and only about 30% or fewer from the fat I eat. I averaged around 223 crabs per day, and since each crabs equals 4 calories, also mentioned in the text by Idled and Gallant (2014) that equates to approximately 46% of my calories coming from carbohydrates.
This is pretty good except for that may mean too many of my other calories are coming from a different source. With an average of 57 grams of fat per day and fat equating to 9 calories per gram I come in at approximately 57 g fat per day, and approximately 27% of fat calories actually turning out to be another great number. On to protein consumption where Idled and Gallant (2014) claim 45 g is the magic number for women. That being said my average intake of 118 appears to be way too high.
So, this is an area I think I need to make some adjustments in because I do not need that many extra grams of protein. I am sure that the weightlifting I do does require a little extra protein intake but not as much as I am consuming. At first glance I would say I can eliminate the protein shakes I often drink after a workout and possibly the high protein pasta I use instead of the normal high fiber brands. That being said I still need to take a look at my sodium intake.
Idled and Gallant (2014) say that the American Heart Association says the average American needs to immediately decrease their average sodium intake to fewer than 2300 MGM per day and then work to get it below 1500 MGM. I have been working on this as part of a clean diet program I m working on, but since I feel off the wagon towards the end of the week I am certain these numbers are going to be rough. As I suspected, my average sodium intake was roughly 3071 MGM, way too high.
Another major adjustment needs to be in the works. Only one day out of four was I even close to 1500 MGM (1 501 on August 27, 2013) but the other days where pretty scary. Especially, when “too much sodium can contribute to high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure” (Idled & Gallant 2014, pig. 109). Another area of my diet that needs extraction is the number of grams of sugar I consume each day. I am trying to restrict my sugar intake to egg or less per day.
This week my average was 2853 mg per dMGM. Obviously that is way off from the goal of below 1500 per day; however it was still a decrease. This week was very busy for me so that meant limited preparation time, so a lot of packaged foods and eating out. I know that number could have been greatly reduced even if I ate the exact same menu choices only prepared fresh at home. Still a decrease is a decrease so I will consider it as a little progress. Next I wanted to focus on decreasing my fat intake to approximately 30% of my daily caloric intake and consume approximately 50% of my calories with carbohydrates.
My average fat intake was 38. 83% and my average carbohydrate intake was 43. 95%. Those are numbers that I am pretty disappointed in because I know I could have done better. I could have easily consumed less cheese and had some fruits and veggies instead of the nuts and that number would have likely fallen right into line. But, the fact that I did this and can see exactly where I can make my adjustments means a great deal for my future ating hadating as I plan to continue to strive to eat better.
Now on to my daily sugar intake, according to the text there is not really a set guideline for daily consumption but for a person such as myself I have been told by nutritionist and trainers I should keep it in between 25 and 35 grams per day. I was almost double that with an average of 57. 5g per dg. My one bright side to this week was I did much better on my daily water intake. I was shooting for approximately 11 glasses per day, I averaged 9. I didn’t quite make my goal but I did better then I did before and I actually felt the difference. For once in my life I felt what it is like not to be dehydrated and that is awesome.
In conclusion, I have learned that I have a lot of work to do on my eating habits and now see on paper why my weight is not where it should be. I really think tracking my daily food intake is something I will continue to do in my quest for healthy living because it really helps me keep focused. Now, if I can Just squeeze in a little more time so that I am not eating out of a restaurant or a freezer and replace my cheese addiction with more fruits and veggies I will be golden. Keeping a food log in my Personal and Community Health Class, taught me there is