Tuesday 9 October 2007

A post for Anonymous...

I guess you wonder if what I eat is the cause of some of my health problems, due to your recent queries on my diet. So here is what I ate yesterday, every last crumb. It is a typical day's food really, excepting that most nights, I have a hot meal of some kind instead of salad. Okay, here it is

Breakfast - bowl of Kelloggs Special-K with a sprinkle of California Raisins

Lunch - A small crusty baguette with thin slices of Double Gloucester cheese and coleslaw, three cherry tomatoes, some red grapes, and an Apple.

Evening/Teatime meal - Salad comprising lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, cheese, celery, and mixed salad stuffs bought from Morrisons (like Florida Salad, Italian Pasta salad, tuna and sweetcorn pasta, mixed beans - like a spoonfull of each) and a cheese bread thing, not sure what they are called, like pastry with cheese inside. For afters Mr Kipling apple pies with fresh picked blackberries that I collected in the afternoon, and Ambrosia low fat custard.

Snack - an Apple

During day I had 4 cups of Nescafe coffee and 1 cup of tea, using semi-skimmed milk. (I don't take sugar in my drinks)

I also chew Wrigleys gum a lot, because I have such a dry mouth otherwise, and I can't keep drinking all day, else I would spend even longer on the toilet than I do already.

That's it. Now I have to admit a lot of days I have a cake for a snack, and sometimes I have McDonalds for lunch so then I try and have a small meal in the evening instead. Sometimes my evening meal is a ready meal, but I'm sure I always eat my "five a day" fruit and veg, I eat the Healthy options type ready meals too, low salt, low fat ones where at all possible. I rarely eat sweets, but my biggest downfall, and hence why I've put on 28 lbs in the last year is cakes. I just can't bloody resist them, and also biscuits. But when I went shopping I didn't buy any this weekend, so have none. I did buy the apple pies though. A box of 8, on Sunday, and there are now two left for tonight. I also normally have a yoghurt instead, so have plenty of those in the fridge at all times.

So there you have it. If you can come up with something from my diet that I'm lacking or any advice, then I'm happy to listen.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

go to fitday.com and check out the nutritional content of what you eat. Your protein consumption looks mighty low and that may be a cause of your listlessness. That may be why you crave pie, such an innocent sounding addiction but its not really. XXX

nicola said...

there might be some sense in that Jan, being an ex veggie myself, I can remember the listlessness from lack of protein in my diet, do you eat eggs?

The Quacks of Life said...

like most things everything in moderation. you need a balanced diet.

you're not a rabbit!

oh what did Emma have ;)

nicola said...

Jan did you read the rest of the forum that we were looking at last night, I had another read there is some interesting bits, I do think it is worth considering

Mary said...

Cheese, Yoghurt,beans, tuna,they are all sources of protein and vegetables also contain protein. many people have a misguided belief that we need a lot of protein and that we must eat it in from a concentrated source. This is not so.
Cakes are a little bit of a downfall but my only concern is that your fluid intake is rather low, 5 cups even if they are mugs is a little on the low side.Maybe you forgot to mention any water or juice that you drink.

Jan said...

Wow so many replies, thanks everyone. I'll now attempt to answer the questions.

Anon - thanks for that link, I have been looing into the protein thing, and did a google search for foods with protein, and I can see that I do lack the things listed in my diet, apart from tuna, and of course, I have just started eating a bit of chicken again after 13 years of being veggie. There are some really interesting facts about what protein does and doesn't do for your metabolism too that I had no idea about. It's certainly got to be worth a try, I see cottage cheese is listed as high protein, so will try and swop to that, I do like it, and it's not as fattening as the sort I normally have.

Nic, no I rarely eat eggs. I last bought half a dozen from up the road about 3 months ago, and I still have one left. They tend to do things to my stomach unfortunately, and I don't really have the sort of meals where I would have egg I guess, apart from maybe hard boiled. I have been looking at that forum again yes, it is very interesting, am tempted to join. The light boxes are pretty pricey though, I may see if I can get one from eBay or somewhere, being a cheapskate, and also being a sceptic, I just cant see how looking at a light is going to do anything for my state of mind. Why is it different to looking at a normal lamp? I mean I have plenty of those, they didn't cost £160. I just don't want to be ripped off, I waste my money so often. And I'm not even convinced it is the problem. Would love to be proved wrong though.

Pete, no I am not a rabbit. I wouldn't think the fact that I have a bit of salad would mean that actually, I have lots of other things, I've not noticed rabbits eating Apple pie and custard lately either! Emma had her normal dog biscuits, dog chocs and Pedigree dinner.

Mary, thanks for your input about the protein. I will have a little try to increase my intake though I think, I read some interesting stuff on a website I found today, can't do any harm anyway. My fluid intake is low for a good reason. I am borderline for diabetes insipidus, have to keep having that checked. It means that I don't produce enough of the hormone to concentrate my urine. Consequently I spend a lot of time having a wee. The more I drink, the more I wee. Drives me potty, my life revolves around where there is a toilet! I never drink after about 7.30 at night, but still have to get up once or sometimes twice in the night. I mean in the morning, I have two coffees, one first thing, another about 10.30, and I have to wee about 7 times. Grrrrr. I do sometimes have a can of diet Coke or something or orange, but I'm not a great fan of cold drinks.

Well think that was about it, thanks again everyone.

(By the way, I had the same food today except I had toast instead of the baguette for lunch, and Quorn Fillet with my salad tonight ;) )

Robbiegirl said...

Reading that I'd wondered if you were getting enough complex carbs.

The carb-rich foods you list are all high or medium GI, so they release sugar into your blood fairly quickly. The body reacts to this by kind of panicking and over-producing insulin which mops up the sugar, leaving you with low blood sugar and no energy. And it makes you crave more sugar. Like cake.

Might be worth trying more wholegrain/low GI foods - All Bran or Weetabix or similar for breakfast, baked beans on wholemeal toast or a protein-filled sandwich with wholemeal bread for lunch, and brown pasta/rice/jacket potato etc. with dinner. Loads of fruit and veggies. You'll feel fuller for longer and not get that horrible "sugar crash".

My £0.02 anyway...

Anonymous said...

I am glad you are looking at your diet with FitDay. I would have a real hard time eating ch__k_n with that gorgeous pet of yours running around the house. I couldnt do it. I know you'll figure it out. My only other wonder is about local food. You always mention large national stores that you shop in. Is "organic" food available? Just a question. Is local produce/meat available?

Karen said...

Try drinking water with a slice of lemon instead of your coffees. Caffeine is a diuretic (is that spelled right), and will make you wee more. So is coke. Any fizzy drinks are really bad for you. I remember watching You are what you eat one day and Gillian McKeith put them above alcohol and smoking as real baddies. Apparently they make your bones leach calcium!

Robbiegirl said...

I agree about the coffee/coke (you know how I feel about caffeine), but I'd take anything Gillian McKeith says with a pinch of salt.

Have a look for her on Wikipedia - she has no relevant qualifications whatsoever. The woman's a quack. And she talks obvious nonsense.

Fizzy drink are fine as long as they aren't loaded with sugar, caffeine or aspartame - the acid can affect your teeth but as long as you consume them in moderation it's fine. Although fruit juice diluted with water, or sugar-free dilute squash would be better choices.

nicola said...

had another thought, how about rehydration salts, that will help with the dry mouth too, you can drink less as it does more good...great for hangovers too...apparently ;)

Jan said...

Blogger is playing up, I just wrote a huge reply to all the new comments, and its not worked. Thanks everyone, appreciate your thoughts but I'm buggered if I'm going to write that lot out again. Effing blogger Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr