Reflections

What have you learnt about your eating habits?

My diet does not have enough protein and calcium in it. This is mainly because I rarely take milk or dairy products, and the meat I eat do not tend to be rich in protein. I could eat more beans and eggs to increase the protein in my diet. And veggies. As for calcium, since I really doubt I can stand dairy products, I DID SOME RESEARCH :DDDDD

I also realised that one good thing about my diet is that I don't tend to snack on junk food a lot like most other teenagers do.

Also, I don't realy eat a lot of vegetables. Maybe I eat a lot of bean sprouts because they are always in food and my dad can't eat bean sprouts cus of some health stuff. So I get my dad's share too and that's a lot of bean sprouts. But. Those aren't really GREEEN, LEAFY vegetables. Sometimes my parents buy salads home for dinner. That's sometimes, not always. So there are many times when I go without vegetables for a while. At school, I could eat more vegetables since that's basically the only times I can eat more vegetables.

My sodium level was CRAZY. I don't really remember eating that much salt. But actually, I think I know why it's that high. When I looked for chicken rice on the food intake assessment tool, there was this option: paste, hainanese chicken rice. I clicked that one cus the: chicken rice option looked like it was just rice with chicken since they didnt call it chicken rice. And I went on to state the quantity as one bowl or sth. It might have really referred to CHICKEN RICE PASTE. And THAT'S JUST GROSS WHO EATS ONE BOWL OF PASTE. And paste is usually so salty omg. Still even without the paste I suppose my sodium level might still be a little high because I tend to eat out or buy food back home. So i could consider trying to cook at home more often. Also, when I do eat instant noodles, I usually pour less than half the packet of seasoning, and I don't drink the soup. That = less sodium :D

Do you consider your diet a healthy one? Why?

My diet isn't the most healthy, but I doubt it's the most unhealthy either. :D I try not to take too much sodium, fat or junk foods, and rarely snack on potato chips. I remove cream from my food too, but the food analysis tool probably couldn't calculate all those. Although I try not to eat unhealthy food, I don't exactly take the extra step to EAT healthy food. I don't have enough vegetables in my diet, and not enough calcium as I don't take dairy products often. But apparently ORANGES are great alternatives to milk for calcium, plus they are rich in vitamin C, so I could stuff myself with one hundred oranges a day. (just kidding) But yeah, I could definitely take more fruits in my diet as well. Another healthy alternative is non-fat yoghurt which I don't mind as long as there's some form of flavour in it compared to PLAIN GROSS YOGHURT. okay nvm. AND BROCCOLI. I like broccoli. It's like eating a tree. But it's hard to find broccoli being cooked outside, since I usually eat out. Still, when I eat at home, I could consider eating broccoli. and tofu. Broccoli and tofu. Sounds cool.

My diet is too high in sodium which could lead to health problems. I will try to eat out less so that I take less sodium rich foods.


Are the suggested nutritional tools useful? How?

The suggested nutritional tools are useful in helping me understand the nutritional content of the food I eat. No human being is programmed to know what nutrients go into their body, so the nutritional tools do just that, and give me warning signs about what food habits I need to change. For example, my high sodium intake and what nutrients I may be lacking in my diet. Furthermore, the closer analysis provided by food info tool helps me pinpoint the foods that are overly high in fat, sodium etc so that I can control my diet by not eating those foods.

Why is your suggested one-dish meal healthy?

The initial cooking style of my dish was to be fried in a lot of oil, a very unhealthy cooking method that led to the dish being oily and high in fat content. However, I modified its cooking method, to be cooked in a soup instead of fried. Also, the ngoh hiang skin was initially very salty, and I changed it to wanton skin so that it would have a lower sodium content, especially since my diet has such a scary level of sodium already.

I also made the wanton healthier with the addition of carrots and corn. Corn is a surprising source of several vitamins, including folic acid, niacin and vitamin C, while carrots are notably rich in anti oxidants, vitamins (carotenes & vitamin A) and dietary fibre. In fact carrots are REALLY REALLY good for health. Even a bit of carrot in a meal can work wonders :D

The garnish of lettuce and cherries for the wanton are also super healthy. Lettuce is a vegetable and vegetables are good :D cherries are described as SUPER FRUIT because they are packed with antioxidants called anthocyanins that aid in the reduction of heart diseases and cancer. Furthermore cherries are one of the few foods that contain melatonin, an antioxidant that helps regulate heart rhythms and the body's sleep cycles. They contain 19 times as much vitamin A than strawberries and blueberries. Cherries have a lot more health benefits which I have not listed, so I have chosen cherries over other fruits to use as garnish. :D

Mee suah is also a rather healthy soup noodle which I often eat when I'm sick.