Download WEDNESDAY March 4th 2008

Girl 8, 17 years
NUTRITION ASSIGNEMENT
This is what I ate:
WEDNESDAY March 4th 2008
08.00- 1 ruisleipä
coffee with non-fat milk, orange juice
12.20- ½ plate macaroni casserole, ½ plate plain salad
water
16.00- small latte
20.00- ½ plate green curry chicken & basmati rice
non-fat milk
21.00- orange
water
Food pyramid:
The food pyramid created according to the recommendations of the “Uusi
Suomalainen Ravinto-Opas” tells us what and how much we should eat on a
daily basis to satisfy our needs. For sure, we need to be somewhat critical
beacause everyone doesn’t have exactly the same needs and so many aspects
are to consider but this gives us an idea of what would be ideal. The
recommendations are very specific and are based on a 2000kcal intake.
6 - 9 slices bread: Throught the day I ate only one slice of bread. I had never
really thought that bread would be so important but now I realise that maybe
I will need to include more of it in my everyday diet.
2 servings porridge, pasta or rice: When I add the lunch and dinner I come
to a total of two servings of pasta and rice, which is the ideal amount.
However, that leads to a lack in the next point.
2 - 4 potatoes: I did not eat any potatoes that day, they were replaced by
pasta and rice.
6 servings vegetables, berries or fruit: I had about 3-4 servings of fruit
and vegetables that day which is very low. The six servings that are
recommended aren’t even a big number, it is just there not to make the
“vegetable-haters” get discouraged. I do usually eat much more fruit and
vegetables throught the day because I find it important to, at least, achieve to
eat the recommended 6 servings.
2 - 3 servings meat, fish, eggs, tofu or legumes: I ate about 2-3 servings of
meat that day, which is the recommened amount. I am not a big fan of meat
but I still try to incorporate protein in the form of fish or chicken. The school
food greatly influences what we eat and, on this particular day, the meat was
already in the meal, leaving no choice but to eat it.
3 glasses milk products: Milk products are a big challenge for many of us
Finns and that shows in my intake as well. That day, I still managed to take
one glass of milk. Better than nothing…
2 - 3 slices cheese: I had one slice of cheese on my bread in the morning.
Cheese is a great source of calcium and brings you a little closer to actually
taking in milk products.
1 tbs plant oil, 3 servings fat: I think it is difficult to estimate exactly how
many servings of fat you ate in a day, but assume I did well on that part.
According to the food pyramid, I was lacking a lot of carbohydrates and
should include more of those in what I eat. A simple way of doing that
would be to eat more bread, rye bread that is, throught the day. I do still find
that 6-9 slices of bread is quite a lot but that is only my opinion, not the one
of the professionals!
Plate model:
We are all familiar with the plate model but how many of us really follow it?
I honestly try to do so, at least in school. For this purpose, I will evaluate if
what I ate in school on Wednesday March 4th was a balanced meal.
According to this famous plate model our meal should consist of :
¼ potato, pasta or rice: The casserole contained macaroni and as it is well
mixed by our beloved cooks I take the liberty to say that I ate a ¼ of a plate
of pasta. So, good job on this one!
¼ “real food”: fish, meat, chicken, tofu: If we, once again, take a wild
guess and assume that the casserole was proportionnaly mixed, I could say I
ate a ¼ of a plate of “real food”; groundbeef in this case.
½ vegetables: I managed to do very well on this one also, I ate ½ plate of
salad without dressing.
1-2 pieces of bread, thin layer of fat: This is where the stability in the meal
breaks, I did not have any bread. I should always take a piece of drybread
(näkkileipä) to accompagny my meal.
berries or fruit as dessert: Unfortunately, there are no such things offered
in school as desserts or fruits of any kind. If they were offered on a daily
basis, I am sure that they would be very popular.
no-fat or low-fat milk or water: I drank a glass of water, BINGO!
All in all, when comparing my meal to the plate model, I ate a balanced meal
that contained almost all the ingredients to succesful eating.
EnergyNet:
An important part of watching what we eat is to know how much we need to
eat. That number of calories or kilojoules is calculated by taking into
account the amount of exercise you practice, the number of hours of sleep
you get, your age, gender, weight and so on. That means that the results are
personal and can differ a lot. My energy expenditure was 2521kcal
(10554kJ).
My total of calories eaten that day was 949 which brings me to a deficiancy
of 1572kcal, which is a lot.
There are also recommendations that have been set for the percentage that
different nutrients should occupy in our overral diet. They aren’t too strict
and are there to help us understand a little what should be the main parts of
our diet and so on.
Fats 25-35%: The amount of fat I had taken in (31%) was right in the
middle of the scale of daily recommended percentage.
-of which saturated fats ‹10%: The saturated fats were a little high
(12%) but that is quite common in our society and it is difficult to say if
these numbers are really accurate.
Carbohydrates 50-60%: I managed to be right on track on the
carbohydrates with a total of 50%.
Proteins 10-20%: The amount of protein I ate (17%) was also an excellent
percentage according to the daily recommendations.
Alcohol - I nailed this one too!
Salt 5g: The amount of salt I had eaten throught the day (3.2g) was
surprisingly low as we, Finns, are known to eat too much salt. I don’t watch
my salt intake on purpose but I don’t favour very salty foods either.
Fiber 25-36g: I hadn’t eaten enough dietary fibers that day (13.9g) and that
may be directly linked to the lack of bread I had. Fiber is very important for
your digestive system and we should eat the recommended amount because
it affects us in many ways.
Food
Amount
Butter-vegetable oil 40, 15 g
1
Chicken fricassee, 150 g
0.5
Coffee with milk, 1 cup, 110 g
3
Edam cheese, 1 slice, 10 g
1
Macaroni casserole (with mince), 1
portion, 300 g
1
Milk (1 %), glasssful, 170 g
1
Orange, 1 piece, 160 g
1
Orange juice, glassful, 170 g
0.5
Rice, wholegrain, 1 portion, 100 g
1
Ryebread, 1 slice, 35 g
1
Salad (no dressing), 150 g
1
Water, glassful, 170 g
5
Energy:
949 kcal
3974 kJ
Carbohydrates:
Proteins:
Fat:
116 g
40 g
31 g
(*)
( 12 g)
Salt:
3.2 g
Fiber:
Energy from
carbohydrates
Energy from
fat
(**)
13.9 g
50 %
31 %
(12 %)
Energy from
proteins
17 %
Energy from
alcohol
0 %
* out of which is saturated
** from saturated fat
Conclusion:
Overrall, I think that what I had eaten was quite correspondant with the daily
recommendations and that I got almost everything I needed. However, if we
look at the amount of calories eaten and those burned, there is a too big
difference. As a simple advice to myself, I would say to eat more fruits and
vegetables as well as bread. My milk consumption could also be better and
that would easily be arranged by drinking a few glasses of non-fat milk
everyday.