3 Days of Eating

For the past three days I have recorded the eating habits of myself as best as could be done during a busy week and now comparing it to what the Canada Food Guide suggests I should be eating verses what I eat on a normal basis of everyday life.

I will start by reviewing what the Canada Food Guide says and what I ingested during three days. The Canada Food Guide basically says that male teenagers can go to the higher numbers of the recommended servings from the four food groups (grain products, vegetables and fruits, milk products, and meat and alternatives). Being a teenage boy of sixteen puts me at suppose to eat each day; twelve servings of grain products, ten servings of vegetables and fruits, three to four servings of milk products, and three servings of meat and alternatives. As I look at what I’ve eaten in the past three days I doubt that I’ve made all the recommendations. The first day I ate for breakfast oatmeal with a cup of milk, for lunch noodles with green beans and a (what I call a chicken leg) a thigh and drumstick of a chicken chased down by pomegranate juice, for my after-school-snack a cup of milk with cheezes (which don’t count for any nutritional value), and for supper four beef sausages with carrots and garden salad accompanied by a three servings of a noodle-like German food called spaetzle all chased down by two cups of milk. The second day has the same breakfast as the first day (oatmeal with a cup of milk), lunch comes with rice, carrots, three beef sausage, and white grape juice, after-school-snack offers peanut butter and homemade strawberry jam on toast with a cup of milk, and supper was two servings of tuna lasagna with garlic toast and corn, carrots, and peas mixed together with two cups of milk. The third day had the same breakfast as the last two days (oatmeal with a cup of milk), lunch brought rice with corn, carrots, and peas mixed together and a chicken thigh followed by Five Alive® Citrus, after-school-snack produced a toasted bun topped with cheese and salami with a cup of milk, supper gave four biscuits, two cups of milk and two bowels of soup containing; carrots, ground beef, and kidney beans. All this food sounds like a large amount and one might think I’m bursting at the seams, but the food just satisfies and I remain as thin as a “beanpole” as my parents, sisters, and brothers would describe me (and I personally agree with them).

Now I shall my eating habits to what the Canada Food Guide says I should be eating. The first day’s meals meet the reaching the maximum for milk (four servings) and meat (three servings), minimum for grains (five servings), and not even getting to the minimum for vegetables and fruits. The second day’s meals went one higher than recommended for meat and alternatives, reached the maximum for milk, one higher than the minimum for grains, and didn’t get to the minimum for vegetables and fruits. Third day had the same results as the second for meat and vegetables, one more serving than the last two days, and eight servings of grain.

As it is plain to see I have achieved the perfect amount (but sometimes go over the perfect amount) of meat and alternatives, as well as milk products, that enters my body suggested by the Canada Food Guide, while the amount of grains, vegetables and fruits that enter my body need their levels to be increased in my diet according to the Canada Food Guide. This problem can easily be mended by adding more fruits, vegetables, and grains to my lunch kit for school and eating more of those items at home on the weekends and holidays.

I’m probably not the only one who doesn’t follow the recommended, healthy diet (who does), but all the food I ate was made at home using common sense (something that is lacking in so many people of my generation) so the food was cheap, fresh, and nutritious than pre-made and fast food as all the stats presented on nutrition say. Combine this with the fact my parents can hid a serving of oats as well as other fruits and vegetables, one can only guess what nutrients I actually absorbed in those three days.

No, matter how busy the day gets or how many nutrients are packed into a snack, when it comes to food there is always a standard that everyone should try continually to achieve every day of their lives. As a semi-wise man (myself) once said, “Your body is the most awesome looking, best performing, most high tech vehicle you will ever own in the world so keep it clean and functioning at its best because you only ever get one.”