Peer Evaluations

Grace: Her diet analysis is detailed and the reflection very perceptive, with truthful and honest view about her diet. I also think that her one-dish meal is quite creative!

Cheng Yin: She is very diligent and uses more than one tool to analyse her diet. Her reflections are well written with good insight and realistic targets for a healthier diet.

Michelle: My favourite part about Michelle's blog is how she relates her common daily diet to the food analysis and not only the three days alone. She also discusses in rather fine detail about how her intake of food has affected the results of the analysis.

Reflection on the Process and Learning Points

1. What have you learnt about your eating habits?

I eat regularly with three meals a day, and I do not eat junk food very often. However, I did not meet certain nutrient requirements like calcium and overshot quite a bit for sodium. This indicates that I like saltier foods and should aim to cut down on the amount of salt that I eat. Also, analysing my diet has helped me to better understand what I should eat more or less of.

2. Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?

My diet is relatively healthy, though my intake of sodium and fats exceeds the recommended amount. Sodium is absorbed by our body mainly through the salt in our food, especially in gravy and the likes. Fat slips into our body in the form of oil, and meat that is fatty/contains the skin, as well as other types of food. I think that I should work towards making my diet healthier by being more conscious about what I eat, and actively make healthier choices.

3. Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? Why?

I think that the suggested nutritional tools are very useful! For this project I used the 'Food Intake Assessment'. Not only does it provides a big range of food for you as options, you can also choose specific portions of the food. The analysis given is very detailed and precise, even giving you some advice if you are taking insufficient/more than recommended amounts of certain nutrients. I feel that this assessment is very helpful in tracking a diet and serves as a good reminder for a person to eat healthy and stay healthy.

4. Why is your suggested one-dish meal healthy?

See the previous post for more information about this.

A Healthy One-dish Meal

My healthy one-dish meal is baked cod fish with rice.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 1/4 pound cod fillets
1 piece (4-inch size) fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
6 scallions, shredded
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Hot cooked rice (amount depending on diet requirements)

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F/204 degrees C.

2. Prepare the ingredients as said above.

3. Arrange each cod fillet in the center of its own large square of foil. 

4. Scatter over the ginger, scallions and garlic. Drizzle each piece of fish with a little soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. 

5. Pull the corners of the foil together and fold over the edges to make a tent around each fillet. 

6. Place the fish bundles on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. 

This meal is healthy because:

1. Fish is lean meat and does not have much fat content.

2. The cooking method (baking) does not require any adding of extra oil.

4. Little salt is used (other than a bit of soya sauce for flavouring).

3. The entire dish is low in fat and carbohydrates (discounting the rice).

Nutrition:

144 calories, 2 grams fat, 4 grams carbohydrates, 26 grams protein per serving.

Calculated:	per serving
Calories (kcal)	144
% Calories From Fat	13.9%
% Calories From Carbs	11%
% Calories From Protein	75.2%
Total Fat (g)	2	Vitamin B6 (mg)	0.4
Saturated Fat (g)	trace	Vitamin B12 (mcg)	1.3
Monounsat Fat (g)	1	Thiamin B1 (mg)	0.1
Polyunsaturated Fat (g)	1	Riboflavin B2 (mg)	0.1
Cholesterol (mg)	61	Folacin (mcg)	26
Sodium (mg)	596	Niacin (mg)	3
Potassium (mg)	694	Caffeine (mg)	0
Total Carb (g)	4	Alcohol (kcal)	0
Dietary Fiber (g)	1	% Refuse	0
Protein (g)	26
Calcium (mg)	44	Food Exchanges
Iron (mg)	1	Grain (Starch)	0
Zinc (mg)	1	Lean Meat	3 1/2
Vitamin C (mg)	7	Vegetable	1/2
Vitamin A (i.u.)	169	Fruit	0
Vitamin A (r.e.)	28.5	NonFat Milk	0
		Fat	0
		Other Carbs	0

The dish itself does not contain much dietary fibre. However, a side dish of salad can be very easily prepared to take care of this insufficiency.

Diet Analysis of the Three Days

Day 3: 3 September 2011

Time	Food eaten	Quantity
8.30 am	Breakfast cereal:	1 bowl
	- Coco Crunch	1 packet
	- Milk	1 bowl
1.45 pm	Duck rice:	1 plate
	- Duck meat	10 pieces
	- Rice	1 plate
7.45 pm	Crab sushi	4 pieces
	Chawanmushi	1
	Salmon	6 pieces
	Rice	½ bowl
	Tofu	1 (large) cube
8.20 pm	Fruits:
	- Grapes	15 grapes

Day 2: 2 September 2011

Time	Food eaten	Quantity
8.45 am	Chee cheong fun	1 plate
	Pork ribs	1 small dish
	Tea	½ cup
1.30 pm	Fish head noodles:	1 bowl
	- Noodles	1 bowl
	- Fish	5 pieces
	- Vegetables	5 leaves
	- Tomato	2 slices
7.10 pm	Seafood ee mee	1 plate
8.00 pm	Fruits:
	- Papaya	3 slices

Day 1: 1 September 2011

Time	Food eaten	Quantity
7.00 am	Bread	1 slice
	Luncheon meat	2 slices
	Milk	1 cup
12.45 pm	McSpicy Burger:	1
	- Bread	2 slices
	- Chicken	1 (rather large) piece
	- Lettuce	5 leaves
	- Tomato	2 slices
	Orange juice	1 cup
7.20 pm	Rice	1 plate
	Pork rib soup	1 bowl
	Fish	3 tablespoons
	Chicken wing	2 pieces
	Spinach	2 heaped tablespoons
8.00 pm	Fruits:
	- Peaches	4 slices
	- Pears	2 slices