Food Diary 11-12/03/2015

Breakfast: crackers and jam, kiwi, and ovaltine
Snack: Butter cracker and pretzel sticks
Lunch: Cheese Sfilg... (some Italian wrap)
Dinner: Turkey-spinach patty, pesto pea pasta


I also went shopping today without a meal plan. I got more of the spinach patties, an assortment of vegetables (because I haven't been the best in balancing those), and a few other essentials. I am going to see if having the right stock is more helpful at this time than a meal plan, seeing that it didn't help me put all the portions in a week.


12/03/2015
Breakfast: crackers and jam, strawberries, ovaltine
Lunch: Pesto Pea Pasta
Snack: Pretzel sticks, cereal bar
Dinner: Hominy soup, two turkey patties, and a glass of juice
Snack: Marzipan chocolate bar

Food Diary 05/03/2015

Breakfast: Bread with jam, banana, ovaltine
Lunch: chicken and cheese sandwich with chips and juice
Snack: Nutella B-ready bar, Breakfast bar
Dinner: Spinach-turkey patty, hominy stew, more juice
Snack: Cookies

Food Diary 04/03/2015

Breakfast: Banana, crackers with jam, ovaltine
Lunch: Pretzel sticks, cheese sandwich (all out of turkey), cup of juice
Dinner: Shrimp, roasted potatoes, nutella b-ready, cookie, pringles 

Food Diary 03/03/2015

Breakfast: Crackers and jam, Ovaltine
Lunch: Banana, turkey and cheese sandwich, cheese crackers
Dinner: rice with chicken (made by someone else), a piece of cake, and a brownie

Food Diary 02/03/2015

I didn't keep a food diary because I got sick from not eating the right foods... Too many sweets and not enough balanced meals. I'm back on track now.

Breakfast: Ovaltine, banana, crackers with jam
Lunch: Cheese crackers, turkey and cheese sandwich, cup of juice
Dinner: pretzel sticks, Brussels's sprouts from that recipe with sauce, shrimp, lemon yogurt that I made (plain yogurt + left over lemon juice)

Meal Planning 27/02-06/03

I have run out of a lot of things. I think shopping once a week isn't going to be the best idea.
Breakfast: fruit, jam, crackers (I'll probably save this for later), milk
Lunch: Sandwich and chips with juice (I still have some left)

Dinners:
Friday: FESTA
1) Pesto Pasta with peas and chicken (probably save for later)
2) Tomato pasta with shrimp
3) Roasted potatoes and spinach-patty
4) Brussels sprouts (I never at them yet, probably should soon since I have the yogurt) and spinach-patty
Future: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/curried-rice-shrimp

Snacks:
Something sweet (cookies because I have been craving some and it it better to eat something small than to go out and get a big treat)
Something salty for lunches (crackers or chips)


List:
-Laundry soap
-jam
-milk
-fruit
-bread
-sandwich meat
-sandwich cheese
-sugary snack
-chips/crackers

Food Diary 26/02/2015

Breakfast: kiwi, crackers and jam, ovaltine
Lunch: sandwich, cup of juice
Snack: Cheese crackers, nutella b-ready
Dinner: two turkey-spinach patties, last of the vegetable casserole
Snack: Cereal bar, cup of juice

Food Diary 25/02/2015

Breakfast: Crackers with jam, kiwi, ovaltine
Lunch: cheese crackers, nutella b-ready, small orange, sandwich
Dinner: two servings of the vegetable casserole, a turkey-spinach patty, some chips

Food Diary 24/02/2015

Breakfast: crackers with jam, kiwi, ovaltine, and three cookies from France
Lunch: Sandwich with cheese and chicken, cheese crackers
Early part of dinner: tomato, carrot, zucchini casserol (not very delicious)
Later: chips like Cheetos but lighter, two slices of cake

Food Diary 23/02/2015

Breakfast: Kiwi, last chocolate croissant with jam on it, ovaltine

Lunch: Leftover peas with cheese, chicken and cheese sandwich, glass of milk

Snack: Cheese cracker things
Dinner: Turkey/spinach patty, large roasted potato, glass of juice, almond cake

I stopped keeping track of water, but I think I hit all recommended servings! If I missed any it was bread items. Wow, that is impressive.

Food Diary 22/02/2015

Breakfast: Bottle of water,ovaltine, red orange juice, crackers with jam
Lunch: Pasta with red sauce (cheese included) and Pandora cake
Dinner: I attempted the pesto pea pasta- I should have done it with chicken

What it should look like

What it looked like

I ate it with milk and some red orange juice (because my oranges went bad)

Food Diary 21/02/2015

One bottle of water
Breakfast: Ovaltine, Kiwi, crackers with jam

I didn't keep track very well of what I ate as I was out and about.
Lunch: Turkey-spinach things, and roasted potatoes with a glass of juice

Dinner: panzarati and a cracker
Snack: Nuttella B-ready

I don't know how much water I drank, but it wasn't enough.

Food Diary 20 February 2015

Two bottles of water
Cup and a half of red fruit juice (not that I'm measuring but that is how many small glasses I drank)
Breakfast: Ovaltine in remaining milk (smaller than normal portion), chocolate filled croissant, kiwi
Bottle of water
Lunch: sandwich with beef and cheese and a bottle of water
Another bottle of water and rice crackers
Dinner: turkey-spinach patty, greens given to me by people visiting, and roasted potatoes and two bottles of water

Water: 7 bottles
Fruit: 1 and 1/2 servings
Vegetables: 2-3 servings
Grains: 3 servings
Protein: 3 servings
Dairy: 1 and 1/2 servings

Doing better!

Menu Planning! 20/02/2015-26/02/2015

For breakfast I like to choose something regular because then I get into a solid morning habit by accomplishing all the things that are hard to do- like working out. I also will keep what I have started because I have found this pattern to be very effective to me and I believe it is a well rounded breakfast. Ovaltine (dairy and protein), a piece of fruit (I have five kiwis left, so I will need to get a few more to get through the week), a bread item (I've been using the chocolate filled croissants so far, but I should think about moving to a whole grain). To move to whole grain I shall try whole grain crackers with jam, which I already have.

Fruits: I am surprised that it is so few. I will only need a glass of juice a day to go with this breakfast to meet the fruit requirement of two cups.

Vegetables per week (from choosemyplate.gov):
Dark green: 1 and 1/2 cups
Red and Orange: 5 and 1/2 cuprs
Beans and Peas: 1 and 1/2 cups
Starchy: 5 cups
Other: 4 cups (I'm going to guess this is whatever of the above that you want)
17.5 cups of vegetables/ 2.5 cups a day =  7 days
[I'm an accountant, I needed to check the math before trusting it]

I have three portions of Brussels sprouts- dark green vegetable- I will assume this counts as three cups. I will probably use this recipe for them.
Red and Orange vegetables: I would like to try this recipe and maybe add some carrots to it. This will be 4 cups of the r&o vegetables and 1 cup of starch and 1 serving of cheese.
Beans and Peas: I saw a super complicated recipe of pesto and peas, and then I saw this simple pasta and shrimp recipe and I think I will add peas to it.
Starchy: I will probably get a sack of potatoes and roast them periodically.
I know this doesn't exactly add up to the recommended amount, but I'm going from basically zero. I will perfect my diet in more tries.

Considering all the work I did to just get that covered, I am going to go straight to meals. I think getting vegetables actually into my meals will be a very good start. I am putting it in list form as to allow myself to choose and not be too structured. If it is too structured I won't want to cook.

Dinners:
1) Pesto Pea Pasta with Shrimp
2-3) Summer Vegetable with Shrimp/Beef (seasoned and lemon juice)
4) Brussels sprouts and Beef
5) Brussels sprouts and rice with butter and salt
6) Tomato Pasta with potatoes
7) Prepared chicken/turkey with spinach filling with potatoes

Lunch
1-5) Chicken/cheese panino with chips/cackers; cup of juice
6-7) Leftovers; cup of juice

If it seems like my shopping list is missing stuff it is most likely that I have the item.
Shopping List:
-Milk (instead of cream too)
-Ovomaltine (Ovaltine, but spelled the way it is on the bottle)
-Whole grain crackers
-Fruit juice
-Olio
-Garlic
-Pepper (host has lots of sale, maybe I will get my own maybe not)
-Mayonnaise (or Greek yogurt if they don't have any)
-Lemons for lemon juice
-Parsley or seasoning with parsley and thyme
-Tomato
-Zucchini
-Squash
-Carrots
-Onion in seasoning form (if none get a real onion)
-cup of flavored cheese
-sack of potatoes
-peas
-pesto
-butter
-Parmesan cheese
-shrimp
-sliced chicken
-sliced cheese
-bread (whole grain)
-chips/crackers
-beef
-prepared spinach stuffed meat

How much of what should I be eating each day?

In order to ensure that I have the right amount of needed nutrients in my diet, I need to know how much should be in a healthy diet. As anyone in this day and age can do, I googled it. Here are some of my discoveries:

American Heart Association: I am not the biggest fan of this one. It is helpful in letting you know how much is a serving size. Gives different serving sizes for two diet sizes. I don't like it because I don't know where potatoes fit. No they are not a vegetable.

Choose My Plate (government): This one isn't as easy to navigate. There is no one central place to compare all the servings you need of each food group. They are each in their own little chart, but the chart does break it up by age group. Fruits (2 cups, for my needs per day), Vegetables (2 and 1/2 cups, balancing different types all week), Grains (6 ounces), Protein Foods (5.5 ounces), Dairy (3 cups), Oils (6 teaspoons). It did convince me with its vegetable chart that starchy vegetables have their place among other vegetables. I also liked it because ice cream made it into the dairy section, obviously it shouldn't be all your dairy intake (empty calories).

WebMD: "Your Daily Diet: How many calories you should have depends on your age, your gender, and how active you are. An inactive woman should have 1,600-1,800 calories a day. An active average-sized man should have 2,400-2,800 calories. Have a healthy balance of foods each day:
1 1/2 - 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups of vegetables
5-8 ounces of grain, 1/2 from whole grains
3 cups of nonfat or low-fat dairy foods
5-6 1/2 ounces of protein (meat, beans, and seafood) each day
No more than 5-7 teaspoons of oils, mostly from plants, fish, and nuts
121 calories from solid fats and added sugars"

I think many websites are aimed at people trying to lose weight. I am not in that category because I think a healthy weight is different for everyone. In fact if I believed that, doctors tell me that I need to gain weight. Instead of thinking in terms of gain or lose weight, I want to think of getting optimal results. My current diet has me distracted in classes, angry, unmotivated, and not as sharp intellectually as I normally am. I feel like this is because a lack of the needed nutrients in my diet.

The current culture around food- meaning the way food is packaged and sold to us- makes it really difficult for our bodies to get the appropriate nutrients. I think any health related problem can be ameliorated by having the proper diet. The goal is to be healthy and active. Weight will take care of itself if that goal is met. 

Food Diary 19 February 2015

I will state that I was very hungry when I woke up. In fact I was hungry before I had to wake up for the day. This is most likely because the rice meal I ate last night did not have a lot of protein.

Breakfast: Chocolate croissant and bread with chestnut spread
Two bottles of water

Coming to lunch time I am rather hungry again. I thought, what is so different about the protein content of the nut spread to the breakfast that I had yesterday? (I do know that I did eat more yesterday too, but I knew there had to be more because it reminded me of when I ate more breakfast without Ovaltine). I found out:

Ovaltine has 9.9g of protein vs the 1.2g of protein for the chestnut spread. At this point lack of protein seems like the culprit. I shall add some Ovaltine to my lunch to make up for the lack I received earlier.

Lunch: Sandwich with beef and gouda cheese, kiwi, Ovaltine, and a bottle of water
Two bottles of water
Snack: Nutella
Dinner: 4 rice cake/cracker things, more Knorr's rice meal this time pumpkin rice, a glass of red fruit juice
Some ice cream, another bottle of water

Plans and Progress for 19 February 2015

As you can see, I decided that a good way to show how I am doing is by keeping a food diary. I know this also might make my boyfriend happy to see that I am eating well (or get him to remind me to eat when I don't eat the proper number of meals). I may or may not add commentary depending on how I feel about what I have eaten or to discuss meeting or not meeting a goal.

The first day that I made this commitment, a friend posted a article on Facebook that was exactly along the lines of what I needed. http://lifehacker.com/5914303/how-can-i-get-more-into-cooking-at-home if you wanted the link. It offered suggestions on different things and I didn't read the entire article because I knew the part about fixing your kitchen doesn't apply when you are using someone else's kitchen and also it was long and I don't like to read forever. I did discover the food.com app that I decided to try out. Finding recipes that I like was not the easiest on the app, especially with my cooking constraints. It seemed like more than half the recipes required a slow cooker. I think it will be helpful as a place to record menu planning and helping making a grocery list, but for what to eat it seems I will have to search in other places.

I am trying to regularly work out to the Jillian Michael's DVD's. I saw that she had a recommended meal plan online for her Ripped in 30 DVD. I didn't find that menu plan, but she is starting a program for 2015 weight loss. While weight loss is not my goal, I think eating healthy is the best way to fill up with energy. Unfortunately the diet plan that I received was standardized with a calorie intake number inserted:

"Your Diet Plan: Follow a 901 calorie diet plan.Eat three meals a day, and don’t forget to snack to keep your metabolism burning and your energy high. You’re going to need all the energy you can get when you start my kickass workout plan! I’ve built a daily Meal Planner that can help you stay on track – so you stay within your calorie count, without getting bored or hungry. It’s part of my interactive online program.
Pay Attention: Start reading food labels. The everyday foods you eat like bread often hide high fructose corn syrup – an inexpensive sugar that doesn’t suppress hunger levels the way that regular sugar does. It’s super dangerous because it causes you to crave more of it – inspiring addictive behavior and weight gain. Yikes!"

Well, I signed up for newsletters in the process. Maybe some will come with good nutrition guidance.  So this is not going to be as easy as I thought...

Food Diary 18 February 2015

Before breakfast: two bottles of water
Breakfast- Bread with chestnut spread, kiwi, a glass of milk with Ovaltine
Another bottle of water
Lunch: Pizza, about two slices (Italian kind)

Bottle of water

Cooking dinner I ate a snack: Chocolate filled croissant and kiwi
Dinner: Knorr's spinach rice (all of it)
Two more bottles of water

Limitations for where I am

I would like to share my limitations for cooking and goals for what I want to manage with my diet. I am an exchange student in Italy, so firstly I have to deal with a different type of grocery store with different available food than I am used to. Secondly, the kitchen I use does not have a microwave. I only has a stove top and oven. Also I am not used to the pans and such as they are not like the ones I use at home. I have boiled some pasta before and I struggled to find a pot that worked well for that... I know there are some I just chose the wrong one for lack of familiarity. I also have a phobia of people seeing me cook, which is always rough when you have roommates. I guess it isn't really a phobia, it just makes me nervous.

I have an issue with being anemic at times, so I need to watch my iron intake. I also have a hard time getting enough protein in my meals. I do love fruits and vegetables but I usually mostly eat fruit because they are faster as I do not like raw vegetables. I also get very sick whenever I eat meat from a pig- be it bacon, pork, or ham. I also don't like other things too, but you will only notice by the lack of them in my diet or me mentioning not liking something if I ate it anyway. I do wish to eventually get to very balanced meals. We shall see how I get there.

I can cook!

I am Marzipan and I am starting a new blog for a new issue that has come to my attention in my life. I might need to join a blogger's anonymous support group since I keep making more blogs... But, as an introvert, I think blogging is the easiest way to share about my life.

My boyfriend has always teased me that he is the one that does the cooking and will do the cooking. And then today the lady I live with offered to increase my rent for her to cook my meals for me because I was not eating the right types of food to support my studies. For these reasons I have decided to stand up for myself and start doing something to show that I CAN COOK!

I admit that out of laziness I stick with minute meals and sandwiches. I am also intimidated with the kitchen where I am now living. With the support of this blog I am going to start cooking for myself and learn something in the process. The first step that I will need to make is menu planning, then building a shopping list, and then executing the meals in a good order. To make myself more accountable, I will post about each of these endeavors each time I work at it. I can do this! I can cook!