Breakfast |
Snack Almonds | |
Lunch Grilled chicken salad 1-2 oz. blue cheese dressing |
Snack Almonds | |
Dinner 6 oz. grilled salmon Olive oil 1 1/2 cups green beans |
Dessert Lean Cow Ice Cream Sandwich (140 cal.) Cup 2% milk |
Nutritionist’s Analysis
I am pleased you ate more on Day 2 and that you allowed yourself to have a dessert. Following a healthy lifestyle means it is for the long term, not a diet in the short term. This is certainly going in the right direction. Your choices are certainly excellent. You can add another vegetable at dinner certainly and some fruit juice at breakfast.
When it comes to carbs, a lot has been written in the diet books recently to scare people away from carbs. However, whole grains are excellent and have many healthful antioxidants. They have a lot of fiber, and they are full of vitamins and minerals. The trick is to find breads and cereals that are 100% whole grain and incorporate a small amount of them in the diet. Breads and cereals are mainly carbohydrates, and carbohydrates provide energy. Our brain, which uses only carbohydrates for energy, needs about 120 grams of carbohydrates a day for it to function normally. That is about 2-3 slices of bread or about 3 servings of cereal. Our muscles use carbohydrates for energy when we exercise, particularly in the early phase of exercise. If we don’t have carbohydrates, our body starts to break down muscle tissue where it can get the carbohydrates it needs. The recommendation is to have about 55% of our calories come from carbohydrates, 30% from fat and 15% from protein to assure that we provide adequate carbohydrates for our brain and muscular activity.
Your caloric intake is still low – 1,899. You can go up to 2,200. I like that you chose salmon and olive oil. Olive oil is a great choice because it is high in monounsaturated fats, which research shows to reduce a person’s risk for coronary heart disease and help with cholesterol regulation. Besides being high in protein and low in saturated fat, salmon is high in omega 3 fatty acids, and consumption of salmon benefits cardiovascular health.
Still lacking fruit. It’s tough. Different varieties of fruit are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Still a little low on grains as well. Dairy looks great.
The LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture