My week in review

Sorry I am delayed on my post on how my week went. I  made it!

All kidding aside, it’s important to remember that I was only following this regimen for a week, which is virtually no time at all in the grand scheme of things. This week gave me the opportunity to make a 3-day food record, to get an idea of any major shortcomings of my usual intake. For those that don’t know, a 3-day food record is basically what it claims to be. I simply record everything I ate for 3 non-consecutive days, including what types of food, in what amount and how I prepared it.  I also am going to post a 24 hour recall (virtually a 1-day food record) just so people can see what I was actually eating.

As a fairly healthy eater and a nutrition student, I have the advantage of having some extra knowledge to help me make healthy choices. This allowed me to choose some of the healthier options available over a lot of the unhealthier ones. Without any knowledge in nutrition, and if I had just chosen what was easiest or available in the largest supply, I suspect my diet would be a lot worse.

I plugged my 3-day food record in eaTracker. (Check it out: http://www.eatracker.ca/) This site is an amazing tool, put on by Dietitians of Canada. In their own words:

“The purpose of eaTracker is to help consumers better understand their eating and activity choices.  This interactive web tool lets consumers track their eating and activity choices, analyze their recipes, plan meals and set goals for healthy eating and physical activity” 

I used it to get a breakdown of what food groups I was consuming, and to see any major short-comings in my diet. According to my food record, on an average day last week I was eating:

• 1958 calories
• 115 grams of fat
• 2 servings of fruits/vegetables (out of a recommended 7 to 8)
• 7 servings of grain products (out of a recommended 6 to 7)
• 3 servings of milk and alternatives (out of a recommended 2)
• 0.5 servings of meat and alternatives (out of a recommended 2)

I was majorly lacking and fruits and vegetables. Because of the lack of availability in the store, I only got 25% of my recommended fruits and vegetables, usually supplied by a single apple and some frozen veggies. Another major shortcoming in my diet was meat and alternatives. Luckily because of the eggs available, I was able to eat some from that food group, but other than that, there were NO other sources.  In terms of micronutrients, I did very well for calcium intake, and the whole grain bread helped me fulfill my fibre needs. However, I was majorly lacking in iron, and my sodium intake was well above the recommended level.

To sum it all up, the lack of availability of fruits, vegetables and meat would likely get me into some trouble if I were to follow this diet in the long term.

Want to know what an average day looked like?

• Breakfast – instant oatmeal with peanut butter, brown sugar and milk, and a glass of 2% millk
• Snack – raw apple
• Lunch – 2 slices of whole grain toast, 1 scrambled eggs, some margarine and a chocolate pudding
• Afternoon snack – Nature Valley granola bar, 2 pieces of licorish
• Dinner – Grilled Cheese (made with the same whole grain bread and margarine), bowl of tortilla chips, salsa and some steamed frozen broccoli
• Snack – package of M&M peanuts

Now as unexciting as reading everything that I ate in one day is…the purpose of this was to emphasize my overall lack of fruits and vegetables as well as NO meat/alternatives (other than eggs). As well, because of the easy availability of so much candy and chips, I definately ate more of those kinds of foods than I normally would.

Eating well at a convenience store is harder than it looks!

- Karoline