What have I learnt about my eating habits?
I've learnt that I'm eating more than my RDDA especially for my sodium intake. I must cut down on fatty food and ask for less gravy in my food. Too much of all these can cause various health problems like heart diseases. Also, I am very much lacking in calcium. I should drink more milk frequently and eat foods with higher calcium content such as dairy products, green peas and spinach.
Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?
I feel that my diet is not healthy. I am consuming much more than I should in almost all the components except for calcium. My salt intake is more than twice of the recommended amount! I am extremely shocked and appalled by that! I must change my diet now or it will affect my health in the future. Consuming too much fats will increase our risk of getting coronary heart diseases and too much salt intake can lead to stomach cancer and death. I definitely do not want to suffer from such diseases! I will add less seasoning and flavouring in my food now and when I eat at public eating establishments, I will ask for less gravy.
On the other hand, my calcium intake is very low. As an artistic gymnasts, I am at a large risk of getting broken bones. I must take more calcium to prevent myself from breaking my bones. I always thought that drinking milk everyday would be sufficient but now I know that it's not enough. I should consume more diary products and perhaps even other non-diary sources of calcium such as spinach and green peas.
Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? How?
With regards to their purpose, yes, they are very useful in helping us know what's wrong with our diets and how we should improve them. For example, through the Food Intake Assessment, I now know that I should consume less salt but more calcium.
However, with regards to their user-friendliness, the Food Intake Assessment is horrific! It took me three tries to get my analysis done because on the first two times, after I clicked "Analyse", the window said Page Error and the analysis did not load at all. Since, there was no way we could save what we already inputted, each time I wanted to try it again, I had to input it all over again! >.<
Why is your suggested one-dish meal healthy?
It is healthy because the oil used to cook it is olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats. A high proportion of such fats in the diet is linked with a reduction in the risk of coronary heart diseases. Also, the suggested pizza has fruits and vegetables as ingredients. This increases the dietary fibre content of the meal. Dietary fibre adds bulk to the diet and makes you feel full faster so it reduces your appetite. This can help with weight management. It also lowers the total Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, thus reducing the risk of heart diseases. Moreover, it helps the digestive system by speeding the passage of foods through the system and alleviating constipation.
