Results! (Facts and Figures)

This is quoted from the website, http://www.hpb.gov.sg/hpb/ere/ere070306.asp "Based on the information you have provided, your daily energy requirement is estimated to be 1,848 kcal. This energy requirement is the level of calorie intake from food that will balance the calories your body burns, thus maintaining your weight. For weight loss, you should consume fewer calories and be more active. If you need to gain weight, consume more calories than your body requires." Energy (kcal) Carbohydrate (g) Protein (g) Total Fat (g) Saturated Fat (g) Cholesterol (mg) Calcium (mg) Dietary Fibre (g) Sodium (mg) Average intake per day 1,410 217.9 48.8 37.9 19.1 72.8 1,040.7 12.2 1,656.4 Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) 1,848 277.2 54.2 61.6 20.5 184.8 1,000.0 18.5 1,232.7 % of recommendation met 76 79 90 62 93 39 104 66 134 View graph of actual nutritional intake compared against RDA Energy 76% Carbohydrate 79% Protein 90% Total Fat 62% Saturated Fat 93% Cholesterol 39% Calcium 104% Dietary Fibre 66% Sodium 134% 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 % RDA Met Table showing the % of total calories of diet versus recommendation % of total energy intake Your diet Recommendation Total Carbohydrates 62% 55 - 65% Total Protein 14% 10 - 15% Total Fat 24% 25 - 30% That's a lot of info, so the rest will go into the next post! :D

~Day 3~

This is what I ate for Day 3 (the final day!)

10am

Chocolate-flavoured milk (1 cup)

1pm

Beehoon with fish slices, soup (1 BIG bowl! :D)

Apple juice (1 cup)

5.30pm

Milo, made using powder (1 cup)

8pm

Fried rice (1 BIG bowl)

Coconut juice, fresh, with coconut flesh (1 cup) :D

11pm

Custard apple (1/4)

It looks like I ate lesser than most days, but the proportion kind of balances it out. So let's see what the HPB website says about my diet! :D

~Day 2~

This is what I ate on Day 2! :D

10am

Chocolate-flavoured milk (1 cup)

1pm

Chicken macaroni soup (1 BIG bowl! :D)

6pm

Potato chips, PRINGLES! (1/4 canister)

Milo, made using powder (1 cup)

8.30pm

Fried chicken, thigh (1 piece)

Fried chicken, drumstick (1 piece)

Rice, polished and unpolished mixed (1 bowl)

Vegetable, the green leafy kind (1 serving)

11pm

Soyabean curd (1/2 plastic container)

Yoghurt, natural (1 cup)

Pear, raw, peeled (1/4)

Hmm...today's diet was rather unhealthy. EEP! Ah well, moving on to DAY 3! :D

~Day 1~

This is what I ate for Day 1

7am

Chocolate-flavoured milk (1 cup)

11.30am

White rice, packed (1 serving)

Fish in sweet and sour sauce (5 pieces)

Cabbage (1 serving)

Tofu (4 little squares)

5pm

Milo, made using powder (1 cup)

Vegetable soup, homemade (1 bowl)

Mooncake, made with nuts (1/4 piece)

8.30pm

Rice, polished and unpolished mixed (1 bowl)

Fish (10 small slices)

Vegetable, the green leafy type (1 serving)

Melon soup, homemade (2 bowls)

11pm

Longans, raw (6)

Meh, I eat quite a lot! O.O So let's see how the rest of the days fare... On to Day 2! :)

Food and its components

Food consists many components. To list some, they include:
-Fats
-Dietary fibre

-Minerals

-Water

We need a healthy balance of all these different components, thus we would want to plan nutritious meals for ourselves.

These are some background info on these components :)

FATS

Fats form a category of lipids, which is essential for our bodies because fats serve both metabolic and structural functions. Fats insulate our organs and keep our bodies warm, and fats provide the body with the most amount of energy when burnt off.

We consume fats from the food we eat. For example, some forms of edible animal fats include fish oil, butter, and in the meat and skin in the animals that we eat. Also, fats can be found in the form of oil. For example, sunflower oil, vegetable oil and olive oil.

DIETARY FIBRE

We obtain dietary fibre by consuming vegetables. Dietary fibre is the part of food from the vegetables that we eat that is not digested at the end of the digestive process. As such, it helps in our digestion and bowel movements :P So...it would help our digestive system to eat more vegetable (:

MINERALS

Our bodies require some dietary minerals for it to be able to function properly everyday. Some examples include magnesium, potassium and zinc.

WATER

Water is an important and essential part of our diet! :O We need to drink sufficient amount of water to ensure that we are properly hydrated and for our bodies to function properly! (:

There are still many many many more components of food that are very important, but these are just a few, to give a short introduction to the world of FOOD COMPOSITION! :)

How much should I eat? O.o

About me (:

Female adolescent, aged 14, height of 160-ish, around 162cm I think, weight 42kg (:

So, according to the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowances), which is the recommended daily levels of nutrients needed for a female of my age group, this is what I need daily:

• Protein - 66g
• Iron - 18mg
• Vitamin A (retinol) equivalent - 725mcg
• Vitamin D - 2.5mcg
• Thiamin - 0.86mg
• Riboflavin - 1.29mg
• Niacin equivalent - 14.2mg
• Vitamin B12 - 2.0mcg
• Folic acid - 200mcg
• Ascorbic acid - 30mg
• Calcium - 1000mg

It also said on the website (http://hpb.gov.sg/foodforhealth/article.aspx?id=2652) that females of my age group are around 161cm tall and 52kg. Guess I'm falling short of that criteria ><