REFLECTIONS
Through this activity, I have understood a lot more of my diet and nutrition intake. When I think of it now, I rarely stopped and thought about whether what I was eating was healthy or not. Before this activity, I was not conscious of my food intake and the nutrition in what I was eating. However, now I have become more aware of my diet.
Through analysing my diet, I realised that I am consuming far too much sodium and saturated fats. My calcium intake is also far too low. This shows how unhealthy my diet is, and to think that I never realised... Well, it's not too late to change my diet. I intend to make modifications to my diet so that I will have a healthy and balanced diet.
One way to cut down on sodium is to simply cut back on my addiction to junk food such as potato chips. Potato chips is merely a want, not a staple food. I should moderate my intake of this so as to reduce my sodium consumption. Saturated fats can also be reduced by removing the skin from meat that I eat. More suggestions for me to achieve a healthier and more balanced diet are in the post below where I used the Food Intake Assessment to assess my diet.
I find my one-dish meal - chicken porridge - to be healthy as it does help me to reduce my sodium and saturated fats intake. The addition of carrots enables me to increase my Vitamin A and fibre, yet it does not add to my intake of saturated fats and the sodium levels are low too. Also, instead of using chicken stock which is full of sodium, I let the natural taste of the chicken blend in with the porridge. Not only is this healthier, but there is also no vast difference in the taste. More elaboration is in the post where I uploaded a photograph of my one-dish meal.
I find the nutritional tools in the Health Promotion Board website to be really helpful. Especially the Food Intake Assessment, the tool was very clear and user-friendly. I did not encounter many problems while using the tool and the results it produced were very detailed. It really taught me the flaws in my diet and how I could modify my diet to make it healthier. The Fat Info Finder and the Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods tools were helpful in telling me which of the foods I eat were healthy and which were not. By using those tools, I found out that food I enjoy eating, eg. potato chips, are really unhealthy and that I should kick my craving for junk food. Bread, the food I usually eat for breakfast, is very healthy, and therefore I should continue this habit.
I learnt a lot through this activity. I will make amendments to my diet and I hope to achieve and healthy and balanced diet soon! (:
