Thursday, January 27, 2011

What I Ate, Day 4

Breakfast
2 cups coffee
1 egg + 1 egg white on toast
¼ c. blueberries
½ sliced banana
6 oz. low-fat vanilla yogurt
Carbohydrates:  87g       Protein:  50g      Fat:  12.5g

Snack
1 c. sugar snap peas
1 apple
1 stick string cheese
Carbohydrates:  33.5g   Protein: 11g       Fat:  6g

Lunch
1 serving of leftover dinner from last night
(1 cup brown rice, 1 cup potato and garbanzo beans in Trader Joe’s Masala Simmer Sauce)
Carbohydrates:  94g       Protein: 13g       Fat:  4g

Snack
Blueberry vanilla protein smoothie (recipe included)
Carbohydrates:  7g         Protein: 10.5g   Fat:  5g

Berry Vanilla Protein Shake
1-11oz carton Muscle Milk protein drink (chocolate or vanilla)
¼-½  c. frozen berries and/or banana
1 cup ice

Throw it all in the blender for about a minute.  Enjoy!  Serves 2.
Carbohydrates: 7g          Protein:  10.5-11.5g         Fat:  5g

Snack
1 c. low-fat cottage cheese
Carbohydrates:  0g         Protein:  28g       Fat:  4g

Dinner
2 Trader Joe’s mahi-mahi burger patties hashed with rice, bell pepper, and tomato
2 tsp. jalapeno dill tartar sauce
1 serving Sea Salt and Pepper crisps
Carbohydrates: 63.5g   Protein:  39g       Fat:  15g

Dessert:
Fresh n’ Easy French Vanilla pudding
8 oz. milk with 1 scoop protein powder
Carbohydrates:  33g       Protein:  42g      Fat:  7g

How Did I Do?
Ballpark:              Carbohydrates: 265g       Protein:                 175g         Fat:  39g
Actual:                 Carbohydrates: 318g       Protein:                 193.5g      Fat:  53.5g

What I Did:  Power walking and resistance training with Stroller Fitness for 1 hour.  I felt great all day, with my arms only slightly sore after yesterday’s challenging weight workout.  Did I run up and down the stairs 100 times today, because it sure felt like it!  My kids’ energy levels seem to have skyrocketed in the last month, and I think all I do is run around.  Moms, in case you’re wondering, the activity you engage in when taking care of your kids (lifting, pulling, picking up, getting up, strapping in, etc.) needs to get factored in to your activity level.  If you are up with your kids, you are not leading a sedentary lifestyle, and your calorie intake should reflect that.  Motherhood is an endurance sport!  Given yesterday’s and today’s workouts, I’m not surprised that I was hungrier (I ate 7 times!).  I was more active than usual and I needed to eat more.  My actual diet was a fairly well-balanced 2500 calorie diet.

Tips!  Whenever I cook grains, I cook a LOT!  I usually cook 6-8 servings of oatmeal or rice at a time.  I save the rest.  Having oatmeal ready makes breakfast a snap.  Everybody can dress theirs up with bananas, brown sugar, almond milk, or honey and just pop the bowl in the microwave.  Pre-made brown rice saves about 40 minutes of cooking time so you can make stir fry (remember those bags of pre-cut veggies?), Indian food (remember the simmer sauce?), or burritos in about 15 minutes.  The part I love best?  Only one pot to clean!  My point?  Healthy eating need not be complicated!

2 comments:

BrewstersMMs said...

When I look at a nutritional label what does "Calories from Fat" or "Fat Calories" represent? Also, I know there is good and bad fat, which is which?

Unknown said...

Great question! Calories from fat means the number of calories contained in the total fat of the food. One gram of fat contains 9 calories, so a portion of food that contains 7 grams of fat would have 63 calories coming from fat.
Ex: 7g fat x 9 cal/gram of fat = 63 calories

The second part of your question is a little more complicated, and I'd like to do an article on the topic. However, since you asked...

A nutrition label might contain the following information about the fat contained in the product:

Total fat: 14g
Saturated fat: 2g
Trans fat: 0g
Polyunsat. fat: 2g
Monounsat. fat: 10g

Saturated fat comes from mostly animal sources, but is also present in sources like palm oil. These fats should be kept to a minimum because they can damage the cardiovascular system.

Trans fats are liquid vegetable fats that are manufactured to stay solid at room temperatures. According to some sources, they are worse for the cardiovascular system than saturated fats! They are found everywhere, too. They're found in processed foods and in restaurants because they protect against spoilage and "enhance" taste.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are best for your heart. These are olive, canola, corn, sunflower, soybean and peanut oils. They stay liquified at room temperature. Avocados and nuts also contain these fats.

So when you're reading your nutrition labels, pay attention to the fat content and the source of fat. Foods high in poly- and monounsaturated fats are best.