Sinner Saved

Epilogue

2012-12-07T20:22:00.000+00:00

It's been a long time since I last posted on this blog and I don't know how many people still read here but I thought it was about time I updated so that people aren't left wondering what happened to me. We finally had a baby girl in July after another hyperemesis gravidarum pregnancy during which I spent most of eight months in bed. (I have a hyperemesis gravidarum blog on which I attempted to record the pregnancy but it is rather sparse as I was mostly too ill.) Little Girl is absolutely delighted to finally have a baby sister and we are so thankful for the blessing of another child. Although I will leave this blog up, I feel like it is part of a different chapter of my life - the one before two years containing 17 months of pregnancy (over four pregnancies) and 12 months of hyperemesis gravidarum (over two of those) but only one baby - so I will no longer be blogging here. I do however intend to continue my hyperemesis blog.

While I am posting I also want to thank Clare (who blogs at Battlements of Rubies) and Elena (who blogs at My Domestic Church) for all the times that they have posted about the loss of their babies. They are two Christian women who I admire greatly and my memories of things that they have said in the past have helped me far more than they know since last April.

Isabella's Story

2011-04-19T14:55:00.002+01:00

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

We found out at a routine scan at 21 weeks that Isabella had died. I had wondered when I had a very early scan (due to hospital admission for hyperemesis) and they told me I definitely wasn't as far on as I thought whether there was something wrong as I knew for sure my dates were right but I half dismissed it on the basis that if I had hyperemesis everything must be okay and half didn't care since I was so ill. I wanted to ask about it but nobody ever discussed the scan with me and it was hard enough trying to get anyone to take how ill I was seriously so it was way down the list of priorities. Later I on in my pregnancy I became half convinced that I would go to the 20 week scan (mine was at 21 weeks because they said I wasn't as far on as I thought) and find out the baby had died. I was so worried about it at one point that I read quite a bit online about what sort of treatment options the hospital was likely to offer in such a circumstance.

On the day of the scan I seriously considered cancelling it. I hadn't felt movements for a few days but since I'd first felt them at 15 weeks I had sometimes gone a full week without feeling anything. I knew fairly soon after the scan started that there was something wrong. Instead of clicking away taking measurements, the ultrasonographer seemed to keep trying to get a better view. She did a femur length measurement and then asked me if I'd previously had small babies. After a little bit more time looking, she told us that she was sending us to have a scan with someone else on a different machine because she couldn't find a heartbeat. I was glad that unlike my eight week miscarriage, she spoke to us both and we were given a private room to wait rather than having to sit in the public waiting room.

After the second scan we had to wait for a while to see a doctor. He ran through the treatment options (which boiled down to induction or waiting to go into labour), talked a little bit about the option of having a post mortem and answered the few questions we had been able to think of in the short time. I asked if they had any information leaflets they could give us and they gave us an appointment to go back later that week to discuss things after we'd had time for the news to sink in.

When we got home I was disappointed to discover that I hadn't really been given any useful information. All but one thing was about post mortems and the one thing that wasn't was a printout about miscarriage treatment options which said it expired in 2004. It was actually about earlier miscarriages anyway as it included the option of surgical management which I had been told wasn't an option at the late stage I was at. I felt frustrated that despite their response to my complaint after my early miscarriage last year women are still not being given proper information about the practical aspects of what happens, what to do afterwards etc.

Searching online I was able to find some of the information I wanted but this was not without its downfalls. I found the Miscarriage Association website to be helpful to a limited extent but the SANDS website to be much more helpful. When searching for "late missed miscarriage" I would find websites stating that up to 20 weeks is a miscarriage and beyond 20 weeks is a stillbirth but in the UK legally if your baby dies before birth prior to 24 weeks, it is "just" a miscarriage. This was completely different both physically and emotionally to what happened at eight weeks and the term "miscarriage" to me does not communicate it accurately.

When we went back for my "appointment" they didn't seem to know why we'd come. Even though I'd said I wanted to opt for expectant management, they seemed to think I'd come because I wanted to be induced and we had to wait almost an hour for the on call doctor to come and speak to us. We did get some of our questions answered but it seemed to be very difficult to obtain any information about arranging for a burial. We were then sent away without another appointment and told to phone the PAU and come in when I was in labour. (I actually had no intention of going in until after the birth but we hadn't told them that.)

The following day I had contractions and thought that it was going to happen but after I went to bed, they gradually became less frequent and by the following afternoon had gone completely and nothing happened for just over a week.

On the Sunday morning I felt slightly achy in a period pain kind of way but only very faintly. We went to church and had planned to go for a drive and sit in the car somewhere nice to eat our lunch afterwards but my husband was tired so we ate at home and he lay down for a half hour rest to see if he would feel up to a drive later on. I decided I might as well lie down too and after lying down for a few minutes I felt so sleepy that I told him I wasn't bothered about going for a drive after all.

A couple of hours later I woke up feeling a bit more achy and when I turned onto my side it was fluctuating rather than constant. I wondered if it might happen that night or the following day and since I was due a bath to wash my hair, I thought it would be a good idea to do so before dinner. I started running the bath and sorting out a towel and clothes etc. Meanwhile my husband decided to get up to make the dinner and he brought me a cup of tea. I had a few sips and then decided to go to the toilet and get undressed to get in the bath so I put it down on the window ledge.

At that point, my waters broke and I somehow managed to get myself onto the toilet so that it went mostly down the toilet or was soaked into my sanitary pad (or on my hands). Fortunately my husband was only just on his way back downstairs so heard me shout to him to come and help and came back up. I told him I wanted to get in the bath so he needed to help me get cleaned up and get my clothes off as I had blood stained waters on me. We'd more or less got sorted out when I suddenly realised she was being born so I said, "She's being born." He asked me what I wanted to do and I said I didn't want her to be born on the toilet so under my instruction, he grabbed an old towel to put on the floor which I kneeled on and she was born into my hands at eight minutes past four. The cord was too short to put her down easily so he cut the cord and I cleaned her up a little bit. I laid her on a muslin and my husband took a few photos of her while I waited for the placenta to come out. After the placenta has come out, I wrapped Isabella up in the muslin and went in the bath while my husband tidied everything up and laid Isabella in a box we had prepared. After my bath we took photos of Isabella being held by each of us.

All this time (maybe 25 minutes in total) Little Girl had been happily (and loudly) reading about Noah's Ark to her toys in the downstairs hall and hadn't noticed or been troubled by our disappearing. Since she had expressed a desire a number of times to see Isabella, we had decided that as long as we felt she looked okay, we would let her see her once we had wrapped her up with just her face showing. (I had been worried that with having been dead for a while she might not be okay to see so I was relieved she was okay.) We went downstairs and told her and asked if she still wanted to see Isabella. We showed her a photo first before showing her and she held her on her knee. She wrapped up a teddy bear she had as a present for Isabella and then unwrapped it for her and showed it to her (and showed her a few of her own toys too).

We had dinner and then got packed up to go to the hospital. The PAU was closed because it was the weekend so we had to phone the labour ward instead who told us to go them when we got there. Annoyingly they seem to be incapable of reading your notes so I had to explain everything to the first midwife who was dealing with me. Both she and the next midwife (we arrived just before shift changeover) seemed to find it odd that I hadn't had time to get to hospital but everything happened so quickly that if I hadn't been in the bathroom already I wouldn't even have made it there. I was very glad we'd planned for it to be at home as it meant we were prepared when it did and it gave us space and privacy and time with Isabella after she was born which I don't think we would have had in hospital. We were also able to take much nicer photos than the ones the hospital took. After having various checks, blood tests and swabs, I was discharged about three hours after we arrived.

In many ways, the timing couldn't have been better. It happened on a Sunday which I was glad about. My husband was not only home but happened to be close enough to actually hear me when I called him as if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been there for the actual birth. He also had the day off the following day which meant he didn't have to either go to work or phone customers to cancel. We were able to sleep in the following day and I actually slept better than I had in the previous two weeks.

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

Hyperemesis Gravidarum

2011-03-16T14:58:00.001+00:00

In case anyone is wondering what happened to me, due to hyperemesis gravidarum I am unlikely to be posting between now and August.

Pro-lifers You Can Make a Difference Now!

2010-11-19T08:49:00.002+00:00

Whilst I find the whole concept of using an internet poll to decide whether to have an abortion abhorrent, I feel I must urge everyone possible to vote for this baby to live:

http://www.birthornot.com/

You will need to copy and paste the link as I don't want a live link which would track back here.

I'm tempted to write more but since I am extremely angry I shall restrain myself - I think the site speaks for itself.

Until We Meet

2010-11-09T13:07:00.002+00:00

(To my unborn children)

Loved and lost…
…so brief a spell on earth

A candle flickering briefly in the darkness

You touched my womb but a moment
My heart forever

No bump
No birth
No baby

Did I imagine you?
O happy dream!
Joyous Summer!
Now Winter comes
I feel the cold.

Did you know before you left me?
Did you hear my voice
my heart?
Did you feel pain?

I miss you.

You never saw the sun or moon
Never knew the joy of spring
You never saw your big sister
Or knew the joy of love and laughter

But one day I will come to join you
Will you know your mother's face?
God chose to take you straight to heaven
To spare you from the pains of earth

For unto everything is a season
A time to be born and a time to die
You never knew grief and mourning
Never had a need to cry

I won't forget you precious babies… take good care
until we meet.

Horse Boy Camps Worldwild - One Family's Experience

2010-08-27T15:11:00.002+01:00

This is a guest post written by my friend. Having worked with children with autism myself I am appalled at the treatment of her family for what I would consider to be fairly "normal" and not particularly extreme autistic behaviour.

My uncle saw an article in the newspaper promoting the Horse Boy Camps and offered to send us there if we were interested as I have a 13 year old Autistic son.

It was terribly expensive, £1200 for 5 nights b&b - but finding somewhere able to cater for people with autism is incredibly hard, so that's the price you have to pay.

I read Rupert Issacsons book with interest, and we were able to book to go to the camp in Scotland running 24th to 29th July.

We arrived after a 7 hour journey on Saturday and a summary of our trip is here below;

From the booking it was a little disorganised, but they were in the process of one leader, Rhoda McGovern, leaving and a new one, Gillian Naysmith, starting so we thought that was just a minor blip.

We arrived at Ardlamont House on Saturday evening, a beautiful huge stately type house with attached cottages. We thought we were in a cottage, but we'd been told wrongly by Rhoda, and were in two rooms as the main house. Again, a bit disorganised but not a problem.

The house was beautiful, but not at all child or autism friendly with knickknacks all over - but the house owners were also apparently experienced in dealing with autistic children and adults, so obviously knew what to expect if they're opening their house to them.

Then we find out it's not b&b, but self catering. We'd brought other meals but not breakfast stuff and the nearest shops were 30 miles away including a ferry crossing. The other families complained and after the 'organisers' having some chats with the owners, they decided they would provide breakfast after all.

My party was myself, my severely autistic son Joe 13, my daughters Olivia 9 and Violet 18 months old. My Mum also came with us as my partner was unable to get the time off work. Gillian was there with her partner, her 9 year old daughter and her 6 year old autistic son. Another family had a 5 year old autistic son and a 2 year old daughter, and there was a lady with her 3 year old autistic son.

Saturday night the volunteers took Joe and Olivia and some other children up to the stables to meet the horses. We had some dinner and a lovely nights sleep.

Sunday we had a lovely cooked breakfast - Joe was a little unsettled and a little bangy but no where near as bangy has he could have been.

After breakfast we went up to the stables, and had horse and carriage rides around the estate. Joe observed the horses as I expected, but was quite happy with the volunteers watching what was going on - a lovely morning.

After breaking for lunch, we went back to the stables to ride down to the beach. Joe again observed, getting a little closer to the horses but not too close. Olivia & I got to ride down to the beach, then once at the beach everyone took turns riding. A couple of the little ones got onto horses, Joe and the 5yo boy again observed.
After a while Joe took me over to one of the horses and stroked it, which I thought was a breakthrough and I thought after a few days he might actually get onto one. Olivia & Violet were having a brilliant time getting to ride and play on the beach with plenty of people about to play with/help with Joseph so I could play with her.

Then we had some free time. We sat in the garden of the main house playing with the dogs and chatting, again a lovely afternoon.

Joe was quite happy outside in the garden and I went in to make a cuppa and start dinner while some of the volunteers stayed outside with Joe. Then Olivia came running in, Joe had smacked and broken a little pain of glass in a window. I went out to see what had happened and one of the paid staff, Karen Thursfield, said he was sitting there, very calm and chilled, when he got up and ran at the window.

It turns out (Olivia & a volunteer, Charley later told me) that this woman claims to be a 'healer' and when everyone else but her had gone inside, sat close to Joe and started waving her hands around his head/body & chanting, he'd jumped up and ran away distressed! He doesn't like strange people in his personal space and doesn't have the ability to tell them.

He was quite distressed after this but again, not as bad as he could have been, and calmed down and came in to eat dinner with us.

After dinner, the Gillian & Karen came into the kitchen where me & mum were doing our dishes. They said that they'd had a meeting and suggested we leave as this 'situation' isn't helping Joe as he is very unsettled. I said it's day one, he's autistic which means he doesn't like change to routine but for 95% of the day he'd been perfect. They said that they'd spoken to the Rupert Isaacson, and he'd also suggested we leave.

I was absolutely raging and told the organiser exactly what I thought of her and the organisation. I told her they were aware of Joes age when I booked, and if they only welcome younger easily managed autiistic children they should have said.

Interestingly, they've since changed their website. When we booked it was "open to all families who have children on the autistic spectrum'. Now it is for children on the autistic spectrum aged 2-12.

I mentioned a full refund and she said I could discuss getting a partial refund.

Not just because he's my boy, but in total honesty the other autistic children were a lot worse behaved than Joe, but they were all small enough to be picked up and taken to their rooms out of sight.

Mum suggested to them that maybe we're being sent home because they're worried seeing a 13yo autistic boy is worrying the other parents because they're seeing what they face in the future.

Two of the volunteers were absolutely devastated by the treatment we received.

One of them, Charley, was an absolute star. She was only 24, but works with autistic adolescents in Manchester. She was absolutely brilliant with Joe and you could see she was the only person there with any real experience. She'd told the organisers that they were being ridiculous and that she'd dealt with much worse behaviour than Joe was displaying but the organiser told her she'd been desensitised due to her job - an absolute insult to her and to my family.

Since we've returned, we've been passed from person to person with nobody taking any responsibility. The partial refund seems to have been forgotten. We're £1200 out of pocket and my children will be going back to school next week with only sad memories of the summer holidays.

I'd hate for any other family to experience similar treatment.

Be aware, these Horse Boy Camps are only suitable for you if your child is the 'right' type of autistic, and under 5' and 5 stone so you can hide them away when they're being 'autistic'.

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

2010-08-02T00:30:00.001+01:00

Faith & Family : Features : The Case for Siblings

tags: Large families children
Kentucky Fried Cruelty :: Why KFC?
I think I've only eaten from KFC a couple of times in my life but having read this I don't think I'll be eating their food again.

(Link found via Buffy's Salon)

tags: Consumer ethics

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Eighteen

2010-07-30T19:00:00.000+01:00

Breakfast

Apple and Sultana Porridge
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Toasted sourdough fruit loaf with marmalade (I wasn't very hungry which isn't surprising considering my calorie intake the previous day was well above average)
Orange juice
Tea

Dinner (at IKEA)

Tuna melt panini
Small piece of a BLT sandwich
Cranberry flapjack
2 cups of hot chocolate

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1754kcal
Protein 61g (122%)
Total Fat 59g (90%)
Sat. 25g (127%)
Chol. 117mg (39%)
Carb. 255g (85%)
Fiber 19g (75%)
Sugars 78g
Calcium 838mg (84%)
Iron 10mg (57%)
Magnesium 292mg (73%)
Phosphorus 1245mg (125%)
Potassium 2048mg (59%)
Sodium 1806mg (75%)
Zinc 8mg (50%)
Copper 1mg (55%)
Manganese 5mg
Selenium 137µg
Vit. C 90mg (151%)
Vit. B1 2mg (120%)
Vit. B2 2mg (94%)
Vit. B3 16mg (80%)
Vit. B5 4mg (38%)
Vit. B6 1mg (40%)
Diet. fol. eq. 466µg (117%)
Vit. B12 3µg (43%)
Vit. A 1614IU (32%)
Vit. A1 363µg
Vit. E 5mg (27%)
Vit. K 30µg
Vit. D 244IU (61%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Seventeen

2010-07-29T18:51:00.000+01:00

This is where the quality of my food goes downhill because my husband took time off work and we were on "holiday" at home. As before italics indicate food not made at home.

Breakfast

Baked porridge
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

"Cream cheese" sandwich (technically it's not cream cheese as I make it from yoghurt)
"Nobbly Bobbly" ice cream

Dinner

Fish n chips
Chocolate pudding
Kombucha
Orange juice
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 2196kcal
Protein 72g (144%)
Total Fat 116g (179%)
Sat. 52g (261%)
Chol. 350mg (117%)
Carb. 227g (76%)
Fiber 14g (57%)
Sugars 113g
Calcium 691mg (69%)
Iron 8mg (42%)
Magnesium 306mg (77%)
Phosphorus 1330mg (133%)
Potassium 3368mg (96%)
Sodium 1090mg (45%)
Zinc 7mg (44%)
Copper 1mg (50%)
Manganese 3mg
Selenium 115µg
Vit. C 134mg (223%)
Vit. B1 1mg (80%)
Vit. B2 1mg (82%)
Vit. B3 10mg (52%)
Vit. B5 4mg (41%)
Vit. B6 1mg (70%)
Diet. fol. eq. 234µg (58%)
Vit. B12 4µg (63%)
Vit. A 2585IU (52%)
Vit. A1 646µg
Vit. E 8mg (41%)
Vit. K 47µg
Vit. D 166IU (42%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Sixteen

2010-07-28T18:45:00.000+01:00

Breakfast

Baked Porridge
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Pate on sourdough toast
Lacto-fermented cucumber
Banana loaf
Orange juice

Snack

Fruit/Nut/Chocolate mix without the hazelnuts

Dinner

Slow cooker roast chicken with potato, cabbage and carrot
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1877kcal
Protein 74g (149%)
Total Fat 96g (148%)
Sat. 46g (228%)
Chol. 373mg (124%)
Carb. 194g (65%)
Fiber 19g (75%)
Sugars 81g
Calcium 664mg (66%)
Iron 11mg (60%)
Magnesium 399mg (100%)
Phosphorus 1408mg (141%)
Potassium 3287mg (94%)
Sodium 1138mg (47%)
Zinc 12mg (77%)
Copper 4mg (185%)
Manganese 4mg
Selenium 83µg
Vit. C 134mg (224%)
Vit. B1 1mg (87%)
Vit. B2 2mg (100%)
Vit. B3 21mg (103%)
Vit. B5 6mg (64%)
Vit. B6 2mg (100%)
Diet. fol. eq. 201µg (50%)
Vit. B12 11µg (188%)
Vit. A 17486IU (350%)
Vit. A1 2266µg
Vit. E 4mg (22%)
Vit. K 43µg
Vit. D 69IU (17%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Fifteen

2010-07-27T18:35:00.000+01:00

I've got rather behind on these for various reasons so I'm just going to post what I ate and the nutritional information and then put any comments on the Day Twenty One when I do the weekly average.

Breakfast

Apple and sultana porridge
Orange juice
Tea
Kombucha

Lunch

Ham and cheese toastie with salad and crisps (this was a meal out with family)

Dinner

HM Broccoli and stilton soup
Sourdough bread and butter
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1695kcal
Protein 84g (167%)
Total Fat 88g (135%)
Sat. 50g (249%)
Chol. 250mg (83%)
Carb. 151g (50%)
Fiber 16g (63%)
Sugars 36g
Calcium 1838mg (184%)
Iron 8mg (46%)
Magnesium 269mg (67%)
Phosphorus 1770mg (177%)
Potassium 2377mg (68%)
Sodium 2395mg (100%)
Zinc 11mg (72%)
Copper 1mg (35%)
Manganese 3mg
Selenium 93µg
Vit. C 189mg (316%)
Vit. B1 2mg (107%)
Vit. B2 2mg (124%)
Vit. B3 10mg (51%)
Vit. B5 4mg (45%)
Vit. B6 1mg (65%)
Diet. fol. eq. 355µg (89%)
Vit. B12 3µg (53%)
Vit. A 8362IU (167%)
Vit. A1 651µg
Vit. E 6mg (30%)
Vit. K 126µg
Vit. D 174IU (43%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Fourteen

2010-07-26T14:47:00.000+01:00

Breakfast

Toasted sourdough fruit loaf with home made low sugar marmalade
Tea
Orange juice
Kombucha

Lunch

Tinned Sardines in Tomato Sauce on sourdough toast
Orange juice
30g Chocolate

Dinner

Chilli
Banana Loaf
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1422kcal
Protein 48g (96%)
Total Fat 54g (84%)
Sat. 25g (124%)
Chol. 196mg (65%)
Carb. 195g (65%)
Fiber 18g (70%)
Sugars 52g
Calcium 521mg (52%)
Iron 11mg (63%)
Magnesium 258mg (65%)
Phosphorus 948mg (95%)
Potassium 2149mg (61%)
Sodium 1453mg (61%)
Zinc 8mg (55%)
Copper 3mg (165%)
Manganese 4mg
Selenium 93µg
Vit. C 106mg (176%)
Vit. B1 1mg (87%)
Vit. B2 1mg (76%)
Vit. B3 14mg (70%)
Vit. B5 4mg (44%)
Vit. B6 1mg (70%)
Diet. fol. eq. 417µg (104%)
Vit. B12 18µg (297%)
Vit. A 11979IU (240%)
Vit. A1 2458µg
Vit. E 4mg (22%)
Vit. K 22µg
Vit. D 752IU (188%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Not really much to comment about as most of it is fairly typical. I guess the sardines must be high in vitamin D though as I'm usually low and that is the only thing particularly different from usual. The vitamin A is particularly high because my chilli contains liver.

Average Nutrition over the last week as a percentage of the UK RDI
Protein 140
Fat 91
Sat Fat 140
Carb 94
Fibre 86
Sugars 74
Calcium 84
Iron 80
Mg 100
Ph 182
K 145
Na 53
Zn 94
Cu 206
Mn 264
Se 205
Vit C 183
Vit B1 134
Vit B2 115
Vit B3 93
Vit B5 95
Vit B6 113
Fol eq 158
Vit B12 239
Vit A 203
Vit A1 118
Vit E 43
Vit K 67
Vit D 116

I find it pretty amazing that my fat over a whole week has averaged out as below the recommendations since I make a deliberate choice not to eat a low fat diet. I use butter and lard in my cooking, I use whole milk and I am certainly not stingy when using fat to brown onions at the start of dish. I've even had people comment on how generous I am with butter when I spread it on my bread. (And I'm not underestimating how much I used - I've actually weighed slices of bread before and after buttering them to make sure I'm accurate.)

In the first week, I was particularly low in salt and vitamins E and D. Salt doesn't bother me and neither does vitamin D (which is apparently rectified by half a tin of sardines anyway). Vitamin E is more important and although it has improved slightly, it is definitely something to work on. I have read up about signs of deficiency though and it is encouraging to know that I am not showing any particular signs of vitamin E deficiency.

Other than those things noted last week, the only things below 80% are sugars (which funnily enough I'm quite happy about) and vitamin K which has dropped from 90% to 67%. I notice that most days it has ranged from the 20s to the 70s except for day one when it was 295% and day eleven when it was 312%. On both of those days I had spinach and bean curry. Spinach is one of the richest sources of vitamin K and beans are also a good source. I think I should make a conscious effort to eat beans on a more regular basis as they also seem to be good for iron and B vitamins.

If I multiply up the average percentage over the full two weeks to what they would be if I consumed 2000 calories per day, I would only be below 100% on sugar, salt, iron and vitamins E and K and below 90% on only salt and vitamin E (vitamin E would be 50%). I would conclude therefore that the only particular deficiency in my diet is vitamin E. Although I'm disappointed to find out my diet is deficient in this respect, it is encouraging to find that for the most part I have a good diet and I'm glad to now be aware of the lack of vitamin E.

If you are at all interested in nutrition and what you eat, I would recommend the food diary challenge as an excellent way to discover how you are actually doing nutrition-wise.

30 Day Food Diary Challenege - Days Twelve and Thirteen

2010-07-25T15:06:00.001+01:00

Since two of my meals on Saturday and one meal on Sunday were provided by other people, I can't really enter them into the software for nutritional analysis so instead I am posting details of all six meals but them combining the nutritional information from the three meals at home as if they were from one day. I will put the food which wasn't at home in italics.

Breakfast

Egg on toast
Orange juice
Tea

Lunch

Variety of sandwiches (ham and mustard, cheese savoury, egg and cress, tuna and sweetcorn).
Orange squash

Snack

Feast ice cream. (I actually don't like chocolate ice-cream but my husband went to buy them while I was queuing with Little Girl to go in a replica military helicopter.)

Dinner

Plated salad
Orange juice
Logan berry pie with cream

Snack

Toasted sourdough fruit loaf with home made low sugar marmalade.

Breakfast

Buttermilk soaked pancakes
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Chicken sandwiches with lacto-fermented cucumber. (Sounds gross but they taste pretty similar to shop bought gherkins - I really like them.)
Banana loaf.
Orange juice
Tea

Dinner

Cheese salad sandwiches
Crisps
Fruit scone with cream and strawberry jam
Strawberry and apple pie

Evening

Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1329kcal
Protein 64g (127%)
Total Fat 39g (59%)
Sat. 20g (98%)
Chol. 416mg (138%)
Carb. 193g (64%)
Fiber 19g (76%)
Sugars 41g
Calcium 562mg (56%)
Iron 9mg (48%)
Magnesium 315mg (79%)
Phosphorus 1141mg (114%)
Potassium 2592mg (74%)
Sodium 1496mg (62%)
Zinc 8mg (51%)
Copper 1mg (45%)
Manganese 6mg
Selenium 134µg
Vit. C 180mg (300%)
Vit. B1 1mg (93%)
Vit. B2 2mg (94%)
Vit. B3 18mg (90%)
Vit. B5 5mg (54%)
Vit. B6 2mg (80%)
Diet. fol. eq. 229µg (57%)
Vit. B12 2µg (42%)
Vit. A 2077IU (42%)
Vit. A1 435µg
Vit. E 3mg (13%)
Vit. K 13µg
Vit. D 149IU (37%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Interestingly my fat intake is low on this analysis which probably indicates that my breakfasts are low in fat given that this includes two breakfasts and a lunch. I don't think I can really draw any other conclusions from the information.

The Recipe Room

2010-07-23T15:50:00.003+01:00

I haven't gotten as far as doing my post of yesterday's food yet but I wanted to just mention that I now have a recipe blog. Anything in my food diary which I have posted a recipe for will be linked. I'm thinking of transferring those recipes which I've already posted here (such as yoghurt and sourdough bread) but I'm currently undecided about that.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Eleven

2010-07-23T14:45:00.000+01:00

Breakfast

Baked porridge served with yoghurt
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Chicken sandwich
Orange juice

Dinner

Spinach and Bean curry served with rice
Orange juice
Kombucha

Evening Snacks

Fruit nut and chocolate mix (without hazelnuts)
Packet of crisps
Tea

Nutritional Information
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1942kcal
Protein 75g (151%)
Total Fat 79g (122%)
Sat. 31g (154%)
Chol. 192mg (64%)
Carb. 248g (83%)
Fiber 26g (104%)
Sugars 82g
Calcium 751mg (75%)
Iron 17mg (93%)
Magnesium 474mg (118%)
Phosphorus 1461mg (146%)
Potassium 3852mg (110%)
Sodium 1172mg (49%)
Zinc 12mg (79%)
Copper 2mg (110%)
Manganese 5mg
Selenium 76µg
Vit. C 120mg (200%)
Vit. B1 2mg (120%)
Vit. B2 2mg (88%)
Vit. B3 18mg (92%)
Vit. B5 7mg (71%)
Vit. B6 2mg (95%)
Diet. fol. eq. 704µg (176%)
Vit. B12 2µg (33%)
Vit. A 8432IU (169%)
Vit. A1 263µg
Vit. E 7mg (36%)
Vit. K 234µg
Vit. D 67IU (17%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

A week into this challenege I told my husband that I don't seem to have a lot of vitamin E and that it comes from plant oils and also that I don't have a huge amount of salt. He commented that maybe he needs the crisps he eats (which I rarely eat) for vitamin E and salt. He has now give me a packet of crisps twice in one week which is pretty unheard of so I wonder if he thnks I need them to improve my nutrition. I'll have to ask him after he comes home form work.

I had quite a high (relative to my usual) calorie intake which I guess is partly down to having done quite a lot of gardening that day and partly down to no dinner the night before.

I also had a pretty good iron count which I think is mainly down to the curry which is deliberately high in iron (9mg per serving). I'm planning to post the recipe on my recipe blog but I want to take a photo of it first as I think recipes with pictures are much better.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Ten

2010-07-22T14:37:00.002+01:00

Breakfast

Baked Porridge served with yoghurt
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Almond butter and banana sandwich
Orange juice

Mid Afternoon snack

Fruit, nut and chocolate mix
Orange juice

Evening

Apparently either the hazelnuts in the Coop mix are raw or I'm allergic hazelnuts when they're cooked and not just raw. I don't know whether there were more hazelnuts in this particular portion or whether it was because I ate it on an empty stomach but I felt so sick after eating it that I couldn't eat any dinner. Needless to say I'm no longer eating the hazelnuts.

Nutritional Information
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1346kcal
Protein 38g (76%)
Total Fat 71g (109%)
Sat. 25g (125%)
Chol. 112mg (37%)
Carb. 156g (52%)
Fiber 15g (60%)
Sugars 73g
Calcium 640mg (64%)
Iron 8mg (43%)
Magnesium 365mg (91%)
Phosphorus 1013mg (101%)
Potassium 2273mg (65%)
Sodium 730mg (30%)
Zinc 7mg (48%)
Copper 2mg (85%)
Manganese 4mg
Selenium 44µg
Vit. C 95mg (159%)
Vit. B1 1mg (60%)
Vit. B2 1mg (71%)
Vit. B3 5mg (24%)
Vit. B5 3mg (33%)
Vit. B6 1mg (45%)
Diet. fol. eq. 133µg (33%)
Vit. B12 2µg (27%)
Vit. A 1292IU (26%)
Vit. A1 220µg
Vit. E 8mg (40%)
Vit. K 17µg
Vit. D 67IU (17%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Obviously with not having eaten dinner this is an unusual day so not really worth analysing.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Nine

2010-07-21T18:41:00.005+01:00

Today I'm posting before the end of the day although after dinner so some detail may change. (I have now added 30g chocolate into the nutritional analysis.)

Breakfast

Apple and Sultana Porridge
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Pate sandwich
Fruit/nut/chocolate mix
Orange juice

Dinner

Spicy Pork n Veg Pasta
Orange juice
Kombucha

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1685kcal
Protein 64g (127%)
Total Fat 64g (98%)
Sat. 25g (127%)
Chol. 137mg (46%)
Carb. 234g (78%)
Fiber 20g (79%)
Sugars 86g
Calcium 592mg (59%)
Iron 12mg (66%)
Magnesium 419mg (105%)
Phosphorus 1344mg (134%)
Potassium 2890mg (83%)
Sodium 559mg (23%)
Zinc 11mg (71%)
Copper 4mg (195%)
Manganese 5mg
Selenium 119µg
Vit. C 156mg (260%)
Vit. B1 2mg (107%)
Vit. B2 2mg (88%)
Vit. B3 14mg (70%)
Vit. B5 5mg (50%)
Vit. B6 2mg (80%)
Diet. fol. eq. 163µg (41%)
Vit. B12 11µg (180%)
Vit. A 7584IU (152%)
Vit. A1 1957µg
Vit. E 5mg (24%)
Vit. K 30µg
Vit. D 154IU (39%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

I just remembered I did also have some token salad with dinner but not enough to be worth the effort of entering into the nutritional analysis. I'm low again in calories again which surprises me as I thought I'd be hungrier both to catch up on yesterday and because I spent around an hour digging a new bed in the garden. I also deliberately put olive oil in the pork dish to help with vitamin E but I guess because it was such a small quantity it didn't make a significant difference. I must make that mayonnaise soon - yesterday evening I used the food processor to grate a mountain of cheese I bought cheap because it was going out of date (I keep grated cheese in the freezer) and I don't think it's made it through the dishwasher yet.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Eight

2010-07-20T18:30:00.001+01:00

Edit: I eventually remembered I'd had a packet of crisps my husband gave me in the evening so I've added it in and now the nutritional information looks a bit more normal.

We were meant to have spicy pork n veg pasta for dinner but I forgot to switch the slow cooker on at the wall so my husband kindly rustled up an omelette for us instead. It was only when I was writing this up that I remembered that Little Girl and I had already had almost the same thing at lunch time. Doh!

Breakfast

Apple and Sultana Porridge
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Egg on Sourdough Toast
30g Chocolate
Orange juice

Dinner

Cheese omlette
Sourdough Bread
Banana loaf
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Evening snack

Packet of crisps (potato chips)

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1540kcal
Protein 51g (103%)
Total Fat 81g (124%)
Sat. 41g (204%)
Chol. 639mg (213%)
Carb. 166g (55%)
Fiber 18g (72%)
Sugars 67g
Calcium 649mg (65%)
Iron 9mg (48%)
Magnesium 272mg (68%)
Phosphorus 1158mg (116%)
Potassium 1902mg (54%)
Sodium 1246mg (52%)
Zinc 8mg (53%)
Copper 1mg (50%)
Manganese 5mg
Selenium 115µg
Vit. C 12mg (20%)
Vit. B1 1mg (60%)
Vit. B2 2mg (88%)
Vit. B3 7mg (33%)
Vit. B5 6mg (55%)
Vit. B6 1mg (55%)
Diet. fol. eq. 161µg (40%)
Vit. B12 3µg (48%)
Vit. A 1985IU (40%)
Vit. A1 527µg
Vit. E 5mg (26%)
Vit. K 16µg
Vit. D 138IU (34%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

I've been lower than I expected on calorie count all the way through this but I'm convinced I must have forgotten something for it to be that low. I've racked my brains though and can't think of anything. I'm thinking maybe I need to do more exercise as it makes it hard to get in all the right nutrition with such a low calorie consumption.

I'd be really interested to read the posts of anyone else who wants to join in this challenge so please leave a comment if you decide to do it - it doesn't matter when you start.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Seven

2010-07-19T14:08:00.001+01:00

Breakfast

Apple and Sultana Porridge
Orange Juice
Tea
Kombucha

Lunch

Egg on Toast
Fruit, Nut and Chocolate Mix
Orange Juice

Dinner

Lamb Hotpot
Banana loaf
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1739kcal
Protein 52g (103%)
Total Fat 91g (140%)
Sat. 39g (194%)
Chol. 303mg (101%)
Carb. 195g (65%)
Fiber 22g (86%)
Sugars 84g
Calcium 602mg (60%)
Iron 10mg (58%)
Magnesium 384mg (96%)
Phosphorus 1238mg (124%)
Potassium 2709mg (77%)
Sodium 744mg (31%)
Zinc 9mg (60%)
Copper 2mg (95%)
Manganese 5mg
Selenium 80µg
Vit. C 129mg (214%)
Vit. B1 1mg (93%)
Vit. B2 2mg (94%)
Vit. B3 10mg (48%)
Vit. B5 4mg (43%)
Vit. B6 1mg (60%)
Diet. fol. eq. 223µg (56%)
Vit. B12 3µg (45%)
Vit. A 6656IU (133%)
Vit. A1 275µg
Vit. E 4mg (21%)
Vit. K 48µg
Vit. D 172IU (43%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Through a very convoluted spreadsheet, I'm now able to produce a seven day average as a percentage of the UK RDAs (which come from the EU). The UK RDAs are slightly lower and looking at them averaged over a week I'm not doing as badly as I first thought:

Calcium	92
Iron	78
Mg	97
Ph	189
K	162
Na	62
Zn	99
Cu	229
Mn	243
Se	163
Vit C	188
Vit B1	130
Vit B2	109
Vit B3	87
Vit B5	84
Vit B6	108
Fol eq	137
Vit B12	254
Vit A	412
Vit A1	144
Vit E	41
Vit K	90
Vit D	56

The only things lower than 80% are iron, sodium (i.e. salt), vitamin E and vitamin D. I'm not too worried about being low on salt and as I've said before I'm sure I get plenty vitamin D through sunlight. The iron was mainly brought down by the day at my Auntie's so it's vitamin E which is the key thing I've been low on. I am planning on making some mayonnaise though so I can have tuna/egg mayonnaise sandwiches so that should help with the vitamin E consumption and since it is a fat soluble vitamin (and therefore stored in the body) it doesn't matter too much if my intake varies.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Six

2010-07-18T14:13:00.001+01:00

Breakfast

Sourdough soaked pancakes. Normally these would be buttermilk soaked but we were out of buttermilk (and plain yoghurt which would be my alternative) so I soaked the mixture overnight with regular milk and a tablespoon of sourdough starter.
Orange juice
Tea

Lunch

Bangers n mash with red onion gravy and peas and carrots. (I rather over catered in terms of peas and carrots on Friday when we had a friend round so we've been using them up ever since.)
Strawberry with cream
30g dark chocolate
Orange juice
Tea

Dinner

Pate on toast
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1674kcal
Protein 57g (115%)
Total Fat 101g (155%)
Sat. 49g (246%)
Chol. 369mg (123%)
Carb. 144g (48%)
Fiber 17g (67%)
Sugars 40g
Calcium 484mg (48%)
Iron 8mg (47%)
Magnesium 259mg (65%)
Phosphorus 1031mg (103%)
Potassium 2740mg (78%)
Sodium 1944mg (81%)
Zinc 10mg (67%)
Copper 3mg (145%)
Manganese 3mg
Selenium 61µg
Vit. C 147mg (246%)
Vit. B1 1mg (87%)
Vit. B2 2mg (94%)
Vit. B3 18mg (90%)
Vit. B5 5mg (48%)
Vit. B6 2mg (80%)
Diet. fol. eq. 196µg (49%)
Vit. B12 12µg (192%)
Vit. A 12830IU (257%)
Vit. A1 2248µg
Vit. E 3mg (14%)
Vit. K 24µg
Vit. D 146IU (37%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

A fairly low iron figure again despite one of my meals being pate on toast. This is partly down to laziness and not having made some more fruit/nut/chocolate mix but this has now been done so my iron consumption should improve. (Although since I'm on iron capsules at the moment, the iron I consume through food is probably a moot point really.) I do find it suprising though how hard it is to keep iron consumption high - if I wasn't anaemic I would think the figures were set too high.

Tomorrow (which is actually today because I'm writing this on Monday) will be day seven so I will be able to do averages for the first week.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Five

2010-07-17T13:47:00.002+01:00

Breakfast

Egg on toast
Orange juice
Tea

Lunch

Bread
Camembert
Olives
Fruit loaf with marmalade
Fruit, nut and chocolate mix
Orange juice
Kombucha

Dinner

Pork chop
Buttered boiled potatoes
Peas and carrots
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1663kcal
Protein 71g (141%)
Total Fat 75g (115%)
Sat. 35g (174%)
Chol. 344mg (115%)
Carb. 195g (65%)
Fiber 27g (106%)
Sugars 61g
Calcium 562mg (56%)
Iron 12mg (67%)
Magnesium 391mg (98%)
Phosphorus 1412mg (141%)
Potassium 3308mg (95%)
Sodium 1544mg (64%)
Zinc 10mg (67%)
Copper 2mg (105%)
Manganese 5mg
Selenium 111µg
Vit. C 153mg (255%)
Vit. B1 2mg (127%)
Vit. B2 1mg (82%)
Vit. B3 19mg (97%)
Vit. B5 5mg (50%)
Vit. B6 2mg (100%)
Diet. fol. eq. 257µg (64%)
Vit. B12 2µg (37%)
Vit. A 12236IU (245%)
Vit. A1 440µg
Vit. E 4mg (20%)
Vit. K 56µg
Vit. D 85IU (21%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

On Saturday I actually ended up eating a lot of things similar to Friday so there's not a great deal of difference. One thing I've noticed which has surprised me is that (relative to the recommended amounts) apparently my diet is high in protein and low in carbohydrate. I wouldn't particularly say I have a high meat diet (although obviously there is meat in it) but I guess there must be more protein in other things than I appreciated.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Four

2010-07-16T13:24:00.001+01:00

Breakfast

Baked Porridge
Orange juice
Kombucha
Tea

Lunch

Fruit loaf with Clementine Spread
30g dark chocolate
Orange juice
Kombucha

Dinner

Pork
Peas and carrots
Mashed potato
Peach yoghurt
Buttered fruit loaf
Orange juice
Tea

Nutritional analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1874kcal
Protein 74g (149%)
Total Fat 64g (99%)
Sat. 34g (171%)
Chol. 220mg (73%)
Carb. 268g (89%)
Fiber 32g (126%)
Sugars 97g
Calcium 853mg (85%)
Iron 11mg (61%)
Magnesium 415mg (104%)
Phosphorus 1647mg (165%)
Potassium 3916mg (112%)
Sodium 1872mg (78%)
Zinc 11mg (72%)
Copper 2mg (75%)
Manganese 7mg
Selenium 129µg
Vit. C 159mg (265%)
Vit. B1 2mg (140%)
Vit. B2 2mg (100%)
Vit. B3 22mg (108%)
Vit. B5 6mg (57%)
Vit. B6 2mg (100%)
Diet. fol. eq. 270µg (68%)
Vit. B12 2µg (42%)
Vit. A 11619IU (232%)
Vit. A1 370µg
Vit. E 3mg (16%)
Vit. K 39µg
Vit. D 67IU (17%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Friday was a low day iron-wise but overall I think I'm doing fairly well in terms of iron. I think vitamin B5 has been low quite a few times and vitamin E is low again. Having looked at my list of foods high in vitamin E there are plenty which I eat (such as cashews, olive oil, mayonnaise, dried apricots, tomato puree, chickpeas and spinach) so hopefully I will find that on average I do have enough. I'm thinking of calculating weekly averages of the %RDA figures as I think that may be more useful than just looking at the daily figures.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Three

2010-07-15T19:10:00.003+01:00

Today I discovered a slight glitch with the nutritional software. It seems that when I use single serving sizes to create my "menu" in the software, those nutrients which are displayed only to one significant figure (namely vitamins B1 and B6) end up lower than they should be. In each single serving recipe today they showed up as 0mg but each had a %RDA of anything from 5 to 20% which should have added up to over 70% for each. Presumably when transferring to the menu, the figure in mg is rounded down and then used to calculate the %RDA as they both came out as zero. I managed to get round this by scaling each recipe by ten before adding to the "menu" and then telling the menu that it was for ten people so that it came out with the figures for one. I've now done the same for yesterday's figures (which improved some figures somewhat) but haven't done so for day one.

On to today's food:

Breakfast

Baked porridge
Orange Juice
Tea

Lunch

Pate on sourdough toast
Orange Juice
Banana Muffin

Afternoon/evening snack

Fruit/Nut/Chocolate Mix
Cup of tea

Dinner

Chorizo, olive and tomato pasta
Orange juice
Kombucha

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1877kcal
Protein 60g (121%)
Total Fat 88g (136%)
Sat. 40g (199%)
Chol. 252mg (84%)
Carb. 227g (76%)
Fiber 19g (74%)
Sugars 84g
Calcium 826mg (83%)
Iron 12mg (69%)
Magnesium 389mg (97%)
Phosphorus 1294mg (129%)
Potassium 2705mg (77%)
Sodium 1865mg (78%)
Zinc 11mg (76%)
Copper 4mg (190%)
Manganese 4mg
Selenium 110µg
Vit. C 106mg (178%)
Vit. B1 1mg (87%)
Vit. B2 2mg (100%)
Vit. B3 10mg (50%)
Vit. B5 5mg (52%)
Vit. B6 1mg (70%)
Diet. fol. eq. 175µg (44%)
Vit. B12 11µg (190%)
Vit. A 8100IU (162%)
Vit. A1 2105µg
Vit. E 4mg (21%)
Vit. K 33µg
Vit. D 71IU (18%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Although my fibre figure looks low, it is probably higher as the software doesn't distinguish between wholemeal and white pasta and I imagine the figures it uses are based on white.

I've now looked up the Tolerable Upper Limit Intake per day for Vitamin A and found it is 3000mg so I am within the limits for this. I believe there is some controversy as to what level of vitamin A is too much so intend to do a bit more reading on this subject.

Other than a list of vitamin E rich foods, I don't seem to have any information on vitamin E so that is definitely something I need to look into.

I'm also creating a recipe blog so that I can give the recipes I have used without filling up this blog with recipes.

30 Day Food Diary Challenge - Day Two

2010-07-14T20:22:00.004+01:00

(Yesterday's post has now been updated.)

Today we were visiting my Auntie for most of the day so I only had breakfast and dinner at home. I had:

Breakfast

Baked porridge (oatmeal)
Orange juice
Tea

Mid morning snack

Scone with homemade strawberry jam, cream and a strawberry on it.

Lunch

Quiche
Coleslaw
Potato salad
Grated carrot and cheese
Tinned peas and sweetcorn
Pickled beetroot
Tomato
Yoghurt with peach, banana and strawberries.
Orange juice
Tea

Dinner

Orange juice
Egg on toast
Tea

It probably seems like a small dinner but the mid morning snack and lunch added up to almost 1000 calories and that is excluding the quiche and scone because the software doesn't have nutritional information for them.

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts per serving (daily value):
Calories 1688kcal
Protein 50g (101%)
Total Fat 98g (151%)
Sat. 37g (183%)
Chol. 416mg (139%)
Carb. 162g (54%)
Fiber 17g (68%)
Sugars 58g
Calcium 1033mg (103%)
Iron 7mg (38%)
Magnesium 255mg (64%)
Phosphorus 1222mg (122%)
Potassium 2987mg (85%)
Sodium 1593mg (66%)
Zinc 7mg (49%)
Copper 1mg (40%)
Manganese 3mg
Selenium 59µg
Vit. C 183mg (305%)
Vit. B1 1mg (67%)
Vit. B2 2mg (100%)
Vit. B3 6mg (31%)
Vit. B5 5mg (52%)
Vit. B6 1mg (70%)
Diet. fol. eq. 247µg (62%)
Vit. B12 3µg (52%)
Vit. A 9008IU (180%)
Vit. A1 523µg
Vit. E 13mg (64%)
Vit. K 50µg
Vit. D 86IU (21%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Interestingly today (when to my mind I ate a lot of fruit and veg) the fat consumed is a lot higher than yesterday. I am also surprised to see that I was actually low on most vitamins and on fibre although I'm glad my vitamin E intake was better today. The low iron content doesn't surprise me since I know that I have to make a deliberate effort to choose high iron foods in my own cooking.

It's very interesting to note that lots of fruit and veg doesn't automatically mean lots of vitamins.

If you decide to join me on the Food Diary Challenge, please leave a comment.

30 day Food Diary Challenge - Day one

2010-07-13T15:18:00.004+01:00

I have been spending quite a lot of time looking at nutrition recently and I thought it would be interesting to record and analyse what I eat each day to see how well I am actually doing rather than just guessing that I'm probably okay. I'll post what I've eaten (and/or am planning to eat) each day along with a nutritional analysis produced by some software I have a free trial of. If I am posting on a subsequent day, I will post-date my post to the day it refers to. I know that the nutritional analysis won't be exact as sometimes it doesn't have an exact match for an ingredient (e.g. when I use homemade chicken stock, it uses figures from canned chicken stock which I imagine doesn't have quite the same nutritional value).

So far today I have had:

Breakfast

Apple and sultana porridge (oatmeal to Americans).
Glass of orange juice.
Cup of tea.

Lunch

Pate on homemade wholemeal sourdough bread.
Glass of orange juice.
Homemade low sugar marmalade on homemade wholemeal sourdough fruit loaf. (My that's a tongue twister isn't it!)
30g dark chocolate. (I read about a study where 100% pregnant women who ate 30g chocolate did not become anaemic and need iron supplementation whereas 70% of those who didn't have the chocolate needed supplementation. To my knowledge I'm not pregnant but I am anaemic so I figure it's a good idea but I have dark chocolate because it is more tolerable than milk chocolate and contains less sugar.)

I am planning to have:
Dinner

Bean and Spinach Curry (served with mashed potato because we had a mountain of sprouting potatoes so I made a mountain of mash yesterday).
Homemade peach yoghurt.
Glass of orange juice.

Evening

2-3 cups of tea
Some kind of snack as yet undetermined (probably cashews, banana loaf or more fruit loaf) but given the current low calorie count I imagine I'll need something - I'll update tomorrow.

Edit: I had everything I had planned except that I wasn't actually hungry enough to have a snack and I also had 1/3 strawberry at dinner. (It was the first strawberry from the garden and there are three of us.) I've updated the nutritional analysis below and also removed the caffeine from the analysis because I drink decaffeinated tea so it is incorrect. I also added in a retinol figure (vitamin A1) so that I can check it isn't too high.

Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional facts (daily value):
Calories 1673kcal
Protein 59g (118%)
Total Fat 48g (74%)
Sat. 27g (135%)
Chol. 195mg (65%)
Carb. 267g (89%)
Fiber 36g (144%)
Sugars 90g
Calcium 791mg (79%)
Iron 16mg (89%)
Magnesium 449mg (112%)
Phosphorus 1484mg (148%)
Potassium 4352mg (124%)
Sodium 821mg (34%)
Zinc 13mg (87%)
Copper 5mg (250%)
Manganese 7mg
Selenium 81µg
Vit. C 176mg (293%)
Vit. B1 1mg (67%)
Vit. B2 2mg (118%)
Vit. B3 14mg (70%)
Vit. B5 6mg (60%)
Vit. B6 1mg (50%)
Diet. fol. eq. 564µg (141%)
Vit. B12 20µg (333%)
Vit. A 20342IU (407%)
Vit. A1 3834µg
Vit. E 3mg (15%)
Vit. K 221µg
Vit. D 155IU (39%)
Exported from Shop'NCook Pro 3.4.3 (http://www.shopncook.com)

Things which jump out initially (aside from the low calorie count) are the low vitamin E and D count and the high vitamin A count.

I've estimated how many servings I'll get out of the curry so updating that after it is served may affect the calorie count (and of course other figures). I should add that I am aiming to maintain my weight as I am not currently underweight which is why I am concerned about low calorie count.

I'm not too concerned about the vitamin A as I think it's mainly the stuff from the pate which is retinol with the remainder being beta-carotene. The body only converts beta-carotene into retinol if it is required and it is retinol rather than beta-carotene which can cause problems in large quantities. I also don't eat pate every day so this may be an anomaly.

The vitamin D isn't a concern either as I know that the body can produce this in the presence of sunlight and since I have a slight tan I figure I must spend enough time outdoors for that.

Vitamin E I don't know so much about so I'll have to check what information I have in my nutrition file (which is mainly filled with things I've printed from the FSA, Danish food databank and the USDA) and keep an eye on how it varies. I believe it is a fat soluble vitamin which means that unlike vitamin C and the B vitamins it is stored in the body so it is not so important to have the "right" amount every day.

If you want to join in, you can get a 45 day free trial of Shop n Cook by visiting the url given with the nutritional analysis. It is very easy to use and I can get a full nutritional breakdown with far less work than it used to take me just to calculate iron content.