Reflections

Other then ensuring that I get sufficient amount of fluid intake in my diet and a minimum of 3 meals at regular intervals, I am generally not attentive enough in my food choices. I usually go for foods that appeal to my taste and mood rather than for its nutritional content. I do not consider my diet a particular healthy one as I fail to have enough fruits/vegetables servings per day. My food analysis has also revealed that my total fat and sodium content way exceeds the RDA. This Performance Task has thus enlightened me on many areas I can improve on.

The process of recording my 3-day diet was initially tedious as sometimes, one forgets to record little drinks and snacks one may have eaten. The fact that I eat at least 3 meals a day makes analysis of each individual food and dish against at least 4 nutritional tools particularly arduous especially the Food Intake Assessment and Energy and Nutrient Compositions of Food sections. It was during this part of the Performance Task that I wished I only took one meal a day!

Nevertheless, the nutritional tools: RDDA, Healthy Diet Pyramid, Food Intake Assessment, Energy and Nutrient Composition of Food which I used for my food analysis were very useful. I know then exactly how much my daily energy requirement is and whether the amount of food ingested is excessive. The Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods and Recipe Analysis has shown me how much difference the method of cooking a dish can make in the eventual breakdown of total and saturated fats in a dish. For example, Fried Kway Teow has 189mg cholesterol content compared to 23 mg in spaghetti. Comparing the same two dishes the amount of sodium in Fried Kway Teow is easily ten times more than that of Spaghetti.

From the Food Inatke Assessment and Healthy Diet Pyramid, I realised that my intake of saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium intake was far greater than the RDA. I have learnt that i should cut down on fried foods and reduce usage of salt and sauces in food preparation. I have also learnt to flavour foods with natural seasonings like herbs and spices instead; choosing more fresh food and fruits over processed or preserved foods to cut down on salt content.

The Food Pyramid also highlighted the shortfall in servings of fruits/vegetables in my diet(minimum requirement of 2 servings each per day) I have now learnt to include a fruit/vegetable with every meal I take instead of just dinner as my dietary fibre does not meet the RDA.

My total calcium inatke meets only 74% of the RDA. Obviously my nightly intake of 1 glass of milk does not provide enough calcium which can compromise the growth of my bones and my height as well! The nutritional tools used in this PT has helped me to modify my diet to increase my calcium intake from a larger variety of sources such as tofu,cheese and green leafy vegetables.

Finally, to offset any additional total and saturated fat from my diet, I will continue to exercise regularly.