Recently, Rocky and myself decided to count the amount of sodium that we took in for 1 day… Actually it turned into counting everything that I felt was relevant yet, simple to keep track of:
| Fat (Grams) | Sugar (Grams) | Salt (milligrams) | Calories | |
| Peanuts | 14 | 0 | 190 | 170 |
| Candy | 0 | 36 | 0 | 70 |
| Ramen Noodles | 14 | 2 | 790 | 280 |
| Soda | 0 | 96 | 165 | 360 |
| Pretzels | 1 | 0 | 300 | 110 |
| Candy | 0 | 36 | 0 | 70 |
| Coffee | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Coffee | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Coffee | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Alfredo Sauce | 6 | 0 | 430 | 70 |
| Spaghetti | 1 | 0 | 0 | 210 |
| Garlic Bread | 6 | 0 | 240 | 160 |
| Turkey Sausage | 8 | 0 | 80 | 160 |
| Coffee | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| French Fries | 24 | 0 | 700 | 590 |
| Chocolate Shake | 11 | 0 | 0 | 430 |
| Coffee | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Totals | 105 | 170 | 2895 | 2880 |
I was surprised at 1). How much I ate during the day. 2). How much salt McDonand’s (or, was it Burger King?) french fries had. 3). That my caloric intake, despite the amount of food I ate that day, wasn’t really that bad, nor was the fat and sugar levels. The sodium level, however was a little high but, manageable.
All in all, there is hope for me, I suppose with some discipline.
Regardless, I still find it exceedingly difficult to not partake in what I’ve always referred to as the “Five Food Groups:”
Caffeine, Nicotine, Sugar, Salt, and Grease.
So, really it’s only three: Sugar, Salt, and Grease. Those are the things in our diets that make us happy and send us to an untimely dietetic demise. We worship sugar, type 2 diabetes is among the fastest growing diseases. Some think that it’s actually getting into the gene pool… making each generation of us more likely to have it.
Salt, we later learned, may not be the killer we thought, however these things often change.
Fat, however… (hang on… mmmmmm…. fat) …we all know, in excess is bad. But, I often think of Julia Child saying that the reason Americans are fat, is because we are afraid of fat in our diets. We began eating very low fat foods and increasing our carbohydrates and compensate by over eating. We large portions, we snack between meals, and vegetables are a pariah in our diets. Meanwhile, we think we are doing better because we are lowering our fat intake. Which is a mistake, she went on to say that we need fat to tell our brains that we are not simply full but, satisfied as well.
So, I’m taking in smaller portions, watching the calories, embracing the fat that my body needs and most importantly, forgetting about how I look and trying to think of the longer term of my life and how I feel. Now that I’ve turned 40, I don’t want to die in 15 years of poor nutrition but, having the body of a 25 year old… though I’d look fabulous in the casket.