Thursday, 8 March 2007

CoM-plicated

I've been having nothing but trouble and uncertainty with CoM today, it appears. Or not with CoM itself - obviously the application is great, fantastic, etc - but with the data that I am putting in it, and that it is giving back to me.

Yesterday I was tinkering and decided to set all my DRIs to the UK DRIs (as in my handy little Boots leaflet, which is at my side all the time at the moment - obsessed, me?!). And then this morning I decided to change them all back again - because I decided that that the UK DRIs I had were too generic, and CoM does have male/female values. So I did.

But then I forgot what my calorie protein/fat/carb ratios should have been for 1200 cals a day (because of course CoM had sent all my targets back to non-CR). So I spent the next hour on the treadmill at the gym attempting to do the math to reset those. I know it's not a hard calculation but I am seriously, but seriously, innumerate...

I think I've got it set up right now... or maybe I haven't. I've never been too sure, really.

(Oh, and for the first time I entered the herbs and spices and vinegar and lemon juice I use on a daily basis. And then I took them off again, because really, surely one can count a calorie too far. And I took the B's off my Total 0% entry...)

On top of all that I have had a particularly cr*p and non-productive day at work that still isn't over, and a not-cheap trip to the vets with the elderly cat. But at least today has not involved Brewer's Yeast in any shape or form. Thank heaven for small mercies.

The Food

Breakfast
Baked butternut squash with cinnamon; Total 0% with the usual nuts, seeds and grapenuts

Lunch
Raw spinach with mushrooms, tomatoes, steamed green beans, artichoke hearts, and hardboiled eggwhites. Flax oil.
Chocolate tofu pudding!

Dinner
Quorn tenders cooked with leeks, mushrooms and savoy cabbage; steamed broccoli.

Snacks
1 red plum
21g rye bread with sunflower seeds
18g hummus
100g raw celery
Lots of decaff coffee with cinnamon
Lite soya milk (which is supposed to have 48% of my DRI of B12 in 250mls. The US DRI for B12 is double what it is for the UK, I noticed last night).

The Crunch
===========================================
Nutrition Summary for 08 March 2007
===========================================

General (89%)
===========================================
Energy | 1073.5 kcal 89%
Protein | 86.8 g 96%
Carbs | 128.1 g 107%
Fiber | 40.0 g 133%
Fat | 33.6 g 84%
Water | 1666.3 g 62%

Vitamins (95%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 35707.8 IU 1531%
Folate | 853.2 µg 213%
B1 (Thiamine) | 1.4 mg 127%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 3.9 mg 356%
B3 (Niacin) | 23.7 mg 169%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 10.0 mg 199%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 2.9 mg 226%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 1.1 µg 44%
Vitamin C | 286.7 mg 382%
Vitamin D | 476.0 IU 238%
Vitamin E | 19.6 mg 131%
Vitamin K | 1032.9 µg 1148%

Minerals (98%)
===========================================
Calcium | 1078.6 mg 108%
Copper | 3.1 mg 341%
Iron | 20.6 mg 114%
Magnesium | 573.2 mg 179%
Manganese | 6.8 mg 379%
Phosphorus | 1510.9 mg 216%
Potassium | 5315.3 mg 113%
Selenium | 128.6 µg 234%
Sodium | 1234.0 mg 82% <--- not as high as I was thought
Zinc | 15.3 mg 192%

Lipids (42%)
===========================================
Saturated | 3.5 g 17%
Omega-3 | 3.4 g 307%
Omega-6 | 5.8 g 49%
Cholesterol | 3.0 mg 1%

4 comments:

Robin said...

Sara,

Chill!
Think of it this way:
The prefix "milli" denotes "a thousand"; therefore, there are 1000 mg in a gram. So 0.4 g is 400 mg.

I see no need to freak out about sodium. You're well below the DRI and, after all, you do need *some* sodium in your diet. Do you have high blood pressure? If not, I see no reason to fret too much about sodium.

Too bad you hate brewer's yeast so much. Do you have Lewis Labs brewer's yeast? If not, you might try to get your hands on some. I find all other brands completely disgusting, but Lewis labs brewer's yeast isn't bad at all (at least, not to me).

-R

Sara said...

LOL; yes... some of that was supposed to be somewhat tongue in cheek, and exaggerated for effect. I guess it doesn't come across too well in print. Or not in the right way. :-)

It's the work, not the food, that is stressing me and it's easy to take it out on the blog and the CoM minutae!

Sodium is one of those things I think I shouldn't have much of, I guess. No high blood pressure. The opposite, actually.

And I do have the Lewis Labs, yes. It was okay in cereal, you're right, and I've made some nice(ish) soups with it as well. It just seems to me to be so high-cal for so little enjoyment, and so I'm really trying hard to get my B's in things I enjoy eating, and leave it for emergencies only. It's not something I'd want to eat every day at all.

Emi at Project Swatch said...

I'm quite inconsistent with entering herbs, spices, and vinegar myself. I tend not to log ordinary vinegar, or most spices. I do log cumin and cinnamon, because they have so much iron. I usually log balsamic vinegar, since it has some calories - but sometimes I don't.

I actually don't always log little bites here or there, especially if they'd be 10-15 calories, such as when I have a few bites of raw veggies when I'm cooking, without measuring. It just feels too obsessive to me, and as I'm not super-restricted, I'm not too fussed by the idea of being off by 50 calories at the end of the day.

I'm sorry you're having a difficult day.

Anonymous said...

If you're trying for Zone ratios, it works out as

1200 calories =
90g protein (360 kCal)
120g carbs (480 kCal)
40g fat (360 kCal)

Not including alcohol of course!

Re: sodium. As Mary has blogged about before, part of what's important about sodium and potassium are their ratios to each other, as much as the actual amounts. I agree with Robin, if you don't have high blood pressure - and especially if you take on exercise and in summertime - don't cut back on sodium too much. Switching to half-salt does the trick for me.