Boy 6, 17 years
Eating assignment
So I was supposed to keep an eye on what I eat on Wednesday and Thursday. My list is from
Thursday, even though I ate bit more on that day than usually. On Friday we got to use EnergyNet
and we got to use these fancy programs that showed approximately how much we expend and
gain energy during a day. First I was bit afraid of results but it seemed to actually be kind of
approximate value that many Finn’s have. Energy expenditure I got to find out was 3081 kcal
12896 kJ in a normal day. This is something that I needed to compare with the food table I got to
make later on. To get kind of best results, I should gain approximately same amount of energy
from eating that I expend during a day. So here’s my list of things I ate during Thursday and the
energy gained from food on that day.
Your menu 9.3.2008
Food
Amount
Energy:
2375 kcal
9944 kJ
Blue cheese, 20 g
2
Candies, 60 g
2
Chicken breast (fillet), 1
piece, 120 g
1
Chicken soup, 300 g
1
Salt:
11.3 g
Chocolate, 1 piece, 6 g
1
Fiber:
16.0 g
Fudge, 25 g
1
Kebab, 1 portion, 250 g
1
47 %
Mayonnaise (low fat), 15 g
1
Energy from
carbohydrates
Milk, glassful, 170 g
2
Mini-Weetabix, 50 g
2
Rice, 1 portion, 100 g
1
Salad (no dressing), 150 g
1
Salt, 0.5 g
2
Soda, 1 bottle, 330 g
1
Carbohydrates:
275 g
Proteins:
119 g
Fat:
(*)
Energy from
fat
(**)
81 g
( 36 g)
31 %
(14 %)
Energy from
proteins
20 %
Energy from
alcohol
0 %
* out of which is saturated
** from saturated fat
Youghurt (fruit/berry), 125 g 2
Note that you can’t exactly trust on this table because it’s approximated and has the values that
usually are used to make that food and so on. So as you can see, I gained actually a little less
energy as kcal than I used, though I still used more energy as kJ than on my food table. What kind
of shocked me most is the amount of salt I see on my menu, it’s two times more than
recommended and I didn’t even know how much this kind of food has salt on it. Second thing that
I think I need to eat more is fibers. I guess I need to start eating rye bread more, and less of
yoghurt. I think I get almost enough of carbohydrates and I can see that there is no lack of
proteins, which I thought was more my problem but I think I ate more meat that day than usually.
I am happy to see that my food didn’t contain too much fat, though there was too much of
saturated fat in it. I guess kebab is the problem here. Oh well it was a though day and we were
hungry after mathematics lesson, that’s my excuse. And that’s the problem most people have,
excuses. To improve my eating habits I need a lot less salty food, which is meat supposedly. Candy
is something I could always leave out of menu, but to be honest I am not too eager to leave it out
of the menu for ever. It’s more of a lifestyle habit since I do a lot of stuff with computer, and when
we visit these “lan-partys” it’s so normal to eat a lot of sugary things and stuff. The positive things I
think are that I don’t drink alcohol, not at all. I think it’s something I don’t just need. To release
stress I have my own healthier way to do it, just playing ping pong or chatting with friends and
doing something fun doesn’t have to include alcohol. To conclusion I could say that my eating
habits are healthy enough for myself but of course there are things that can always be improved.
It’s not that healthy to stress too much of what you eat, just try not to eat same things every day,
which is kind of impossible when you are at school.