Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods

Through this nutritional tool, you can find out the energy and nutritional values of the food that you eat so that you can change it to suit a healthier diet for yourself. I have tried to find out the nutritional value of the food I eat after dinner and before lunch. I have also tried to find out the nutritional value of yoghurt since I eat it for lunch and dinner almost everyday. Below is the table with the nutritional values. From this, I can choose to eat food containing less fat and sodium and more protein and carbohydrates.

	Parathas	Mixed Vegetable Gravy	Yoghurt	Chapatti	Dosa
Energy (kcal)	136	542	80	187	97
Protein (g)	3	7	4	4	2
Total Fat (g)	5	32	5	7	2
Saturated Fat (g)	3.1	25.1	2.9	3.1	0.9
Dietary Fibre (g)	1.8	22.1	1.9	4.1	0.6
Carbohydrate (g)	19	56	5	28	18
Cholesterol (mg)	19	31	12	0	0
Sodium (mg)	176	631	466	155	264
Sugar (g)	1	12	5	1	1
Calcium (mg)	12	128	163	17	8
Iron (mg)	0.33	3.53	0.30	1.02	0.00

Food Intake Assessment

Through the Food Intake Assessment, we can find out whether our diet meets our body nutritional requirements and get additional messages on how to improve your diet. I was recommended to reduce my fats by exercising more and eating foods of lower fat content. I was also advised to reduce my sodium content through decreasing salt content in our foods. As an Indian, I usually eat more salt so this has increased my sodium content. Below is a table showing my diet compared to recommended daily diet.

	Avg. Intake per Day	Recommended Daily Allowance	% of Recommendation Met
Energy (kcal)	2,091	2,342	89
Carbohydrate (g)	303.9	351.3	87
Protein (g)	62.7	90.3	69
Total Fat (g)	68.0	78.1	87
Saturated Fat (g)	38.0	26.0	146
Cholesterol (mg)	102.1	234.2	44
Calcium (mg)	1,109.6	1,000.0	111
Dietary Fibre (g)	30.5	23.4	130
Sodium (mg)	2,645.5	1,562.0	169

How to Analyse your 3 - Day Diet?

Ok, so now that you have traced your 3 - Day Diet and have all the data you need, it is time to start analysing! You can try out these methods: Recommended Daily Diet Allowance, Healthy Diet Pyramid, Food Intake Assessment, Recipe Analysis or Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods. The ones I have used are Food Intake Assessment, Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods and the Healthy Diet Pyramid. All the methods I've mentioned are online on the Health Promotion Board website so they are easily accessible and really simple! I've chosen only 3 methods because I think they will provide a fairly wide overview of my diet, but you can use Recipe Analysis if you have special recipes. It's really up to you!

Day 3 - Sunday, 21/8/11

Time	Food and Drinks Consumed	Quantity
9.00am	Koko Crunch Cereal	1 bowl
12.30pm	White Rice	1 bowl
12.30pm	Potato (fried)	1 serving
12.30 pm	Yoghurt	1 cup
12.30pm	Lentils	1 cup
5.00pm	Paratha	2 pieces
5.00pm	Mixed Vegetables Gravy	1 cup
8.00pm	White Rice	2 pieces
8.00pm	Cabbage	1 serving
8.00pm	Yoghurt	1 cup
9.30pm	Mango	½ Mango
Whole Day	Water	2 litres (approx.)