Basic nutrition info

[teigyr]

I'm really new to caring about what I eat. I cared about eating too much or eating fatty foods but it was from a weight standpoint and not a nutrient one. My evil ways are catching up to me and I've gained weight that does not want to go away! I've also been tired and my performance hasn't been what it could be so I thought I'd look seriously at my diet.

I've ordered a sports nutrition book. While I'm waiting for it, I used a computer program to input what I'm eating and what I need for my activity level. I learned:

I am low on calories, for the most part.
I'm also low on carbs, fiber, and potassium.

I'm WAY high on protein. I tend to eat turkey bacon, egg beaters, chicken breast, etc. This wasn't an Atkins thing or anything, I just thought egg beaters, turkey bacon, and chicken was good for me.

I'm low on assorted vitamins so I need to eat fruit. I'm ok with that.

I imagine the book will give me food ideas but for you active people, how do you fulfill dietary requirements? I know bananas have potassium and I'll have to research what else does but are there quick and easy ways to get the things you need?

I'm on thyroid medication so that might need to be checked also but in the meantime, I should get this diet stuff down a bit better.

[Zen]

I hope you got a Nancy Clarke book. She's my nutrition hero.

since I was having cramping issues I did some research and found that raisins and potatoes are high in potassium. The bad news about the potatoes is the potassium is all in the skin. The good news is, peel the taters, brush the skins with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt (lower sodium) bake 'em and have chips!YUM

[teigyr]

Mmmm...I love potato skins. I'm the freak that goes out to eat and eats the whole potato :D I'll have to try olive oil with sea salt. Oddly enough, I use sea salt anyway, never knew there was a benefit to it.

I didn't get Nancy Clarke but looked it up and she looks good. I got one by Monique Ryan; I saw it somewhere else and it got good reviews. It also has simplicity and shopping lists. I don't have a lot of time and I tend to buy things then they go bad. My intentions are good but I have no discipline :rolleyes:

[Torrilin]

Short version: food is good. eat many different foods. eat colorful foods. have fun.

A "serving" is a child size portion, or a reasonable amount for an inactive adult. A "meal" has at least one serving of protein, one serving of veggies, and one serving of starch.

A chicken breast is about 2 servings of protein. Varies based on the chicken, but that gives you a ballpark for eyeballing things.

A small Corelle cereal bowl will usually hold 1 serving of veggies. The large cereal bowl holds roughly 2 servings of veggies. Same for starches. You get lots of good nutrients from veggies, and they provide much of the fiber in your diet. Also, they are tasty, and mostly low in fat. It is sensible to try to eat a big bowl's worth of veggies at every meal... I usually don't quite manage it but I try.

A standard tumbler glass is about 2 servings of a beverage. Women need calcium, so it's a good idea to have a glass of milk every day. If you are lactose intolerant, eat lots of dark green and leafy veggies, as they are also high in calcium.

I am not fond of bananas. I tend to get my potassium from citrus fruits, especially lemons and limes. I love fresh squeezed limeade and lemonade :). I also love baked fruit desserts, and I often add fresh lemon or lime juice to them. Potatoes are also a good potassium source, and I love them. A potato with the skin on (well scrubbed of course) is a good source of many different nutrients. Add a serving of milk, and it is a reasonable sole diet (not recommended, but it won't kill you, unlike almost any other diet made up of only 2 foods). Yes, this means mashed potatoes are health food :D. Leave the skins on, and don't go overboard with the butter.

People need carbohydrates every day. The amount varies based on their health and activity level. Complex carbohydrates are slower to digest, simple ones are easy to digest. Diabetics tend to need less, endurance athletes tend to need more. Potatoes have carbohydrates. Pasta has them. Brown and white rice have them. Bread, wheat berries, museli, granola, canned or dried beans, lentils, dried peas, sugar, corn... If what you like best is white rice, eat the white rice. There are lots of options for starchy foods.

Cooking in untreated (no enamel) cast iron adds trace amounts of iron to anything cooked in it. It's a cheap and easy preventive measure against iron deficiency. Also, eat leafy green things. It's tough to overdose on iron in food, and an iron deficiency is very unpleasant.

The main thing is to not get in a rut. Different foods contain different nutrients. The nutrients we know about are only the tip of the iceberg as far as nutrition goes, so it's best to get as many different nutrients as possible from regular food. It is possible to overdose on some nutrients, so do not decide that only one sort of veggie is ok. It happens even if you are getting them from food (the classic story in my family is the tale of the cousin who turned orange because she would only eat vegetables high in vitamin A. she's now in her 40s, 6 foot tall, and has 3 kids, none of whom have turned orange.).

Supplements can help compensate if you're a little low on a given nutrient, but don't depend on them to get your body every nutrient it needs. If you don't need the excess nutrients in a supplement, your body won't absorb them, and they'll get excreted. Sometimes even if you do need the nutrient, it will get excreted. They're a sensible insurance policy while you're learning about nutrition tho.

[teigyr]

Torrilin - Wow. Thank you, that was very comprehensive.

I very much do the "rut" thing. I suppose I could throw some veggies in with my eggbeaters in the morning :) I go through cycles and nothing is ever bad but my typical eggbeater/turkey bacon breakfast followed by salad for lunch followed by whatever DH cooks for dinner (I work later than he does and dinner ranges from Bad Bad Fatty Things to semi-nutritious things like frozen pizza) isn't the best. From a calorie standpoint only, I'm probably ok but there is no variety or nutrition. It's time to rethink how I do things.

One strange thing about me is I don't really have sense of taste. I taste some things that you don't need smell for but I think maybe that's why I can eat the same things over and over.

I had to relearn a lot about smelling due to a head injury. For a while, sweat smelled like hamburgers and my stomach would growl if I smelled armpit sweat. I never said I was normal :D

[Zen]

Learn to love beans. They're close to a perfect food. I am fond of bushes beans in chili sauce with brown rice. And cheese of course, part skim mozzarella or kraft 2%.

[onimity]

Torrilin's advice is great.

I hate counting nutrients, let alone calories, so I like simple rules. The most useful piece of advice I think I've heard (which Torrilin mentions) is to eat as many different colors of (unprocessed!) food as you can in a day.

I try to avoid processed foods in general and feel *so* much better when I do.

Personally I think fat gets a bad rap. Granted, things like a Big Mac aren't good for you, but fat does have its place. Whole milk, butter & real cheese are not only delicious but also filling.

Most of all, food is delicious, enjoy it in all its varieties!

Anne

[Zen]

Good fats= Sardines, p.nut butter, avacado. Make a sandwich outta that :D

[kelownagirl]

Ugh Zen.... What a sandwich....

I can't get past the gas factor in beans...

[Torrilin]

Torrilin - Wow. Thank you, that was very comprehensive.

One strange thing about me is I don't really have sense of taste. I taste some things that you don't need smell for but I think maybe that's why I can eat the same things over and over.

I had to relearn a lot about smelling due to a head injury. For a while, sweat smelled like hamburgers and my stomach would growl if I smelled armpit sweat. I never said I was normal :D

I'm a major foodie, and the daughter of two major foodies. Thank my dad, having all this stuff memorized is largely his fault :D.

It sounds like your sense of smell got altered big-time. That doesn't mean your sense of taste went away. Scent is a big component of how people "taste" but it's not the only one. You'll still have the basic tastes. You can still enjoy texture. And you definitely can have fun with visuals. Having food be fun makes it easier to eat a variety of foods. You won't always have time or energy to make a meal pretty, but you can do things like always have a couple different textures. Pizza doesn't have the same texture as sandwich bread from the supermarket or pita bread. And none of the bread textures are like a carrot or a strip of green pepper or meat. If you think something is ugly or has an unpleasant texture, it's ok to not eat it. I'm liable to refuse to eat things where I don't like the scent :).

Don't beat yourself up about the lack of nutrition. You're trying to make good choices. No one can make good choices all the time. About once a week (sometimes twice) I have a mad craving and go out for fast food. Usually I manage to keep it fairly healthy by getting a veggie laden sandwich... but every so often there are french fries. And they're calling my name...