Is this a good example of a healthy varied dinner? Want to make sure I am on track.

lilharumaki
lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Update for those who saw my post yesterday: I decided to get serious and try my hand at eating more vegetables!! Here’s my dinner for tonight:

- One 5 inch sweet potato with some earth balance spread (1 tbsp)
- Couscous Salad (3 tbsp)
- 8 dried apricot pieces
- Kale Greens Mix
- 2 tbsp smoked whitefish salad

Is this a good meal?? I want to make sure I am on the right track. Any suggestions to make it better? Thanks to everyone for your advice so far.

Replies

  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    o6g4l619ncpi.jpeg
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I have a bunch of questions - it would be easier if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I have a bunch of questions - it would be easier if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    Okay, I did!! If you look back from today I was not doing very well tbh...
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,496 Member
    ALZ14 wrote: »
    Personally that would not be filling enough. Where is your protein?

    That's what I was going to ask. Minimal protein on any day.
  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    Should I in the future make a small salmon fillet to go with it? I mainly eat fish and very rarely eat chicken. Other than that I don’t eat much meat. Sweet potato tends to fill me well.
  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Your first three comments agreed - not enough protein :)

    Yes, eat larger portions of fish. You can make a big salmon fillet so you can have the leftovers at another meal.

    Will do! Thank you!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Sounds delicious but I was also going to ask about the protein. I try to focus on getting enough protein and veggies, then the other macros and calories tend to balance out ok.
  • fstrickl
    fstrickl Posts: 883 Member
    You could try swapping the couscous for quinoa. It’s got more protein although it’s a different taste too.
  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Thanks! I'll just look at today :)

    As I suspect, your dinner is very low on protein. So is your day overall - you only got 39 grams total.

    Ok, I did look back, but just to see if you eat other proteins than fish and see you eat chicken as well. I suggest you have larger portions of fish and chicken. If it is plainer, you'll get more protein per serving.

    Your diary says you had 2 C of the kale salad, which is a good amount, but your picture looks like a MUCH smaller quantity.

    I see a weight for the apricots but nothing else (with the possible exception of the nori sheet.) I suggest you weigh EVERYTHING. I'm sure someone will be along to post examples of how when we don't weigh we eat a lot more calories than we think we are.

    Greens are not calorie dense but I weigh them to make sure I get more of them - I'm eating at least 1/3 more now that I do that.

    If you don't have a medical reason to track sugar or sodium, I suggest you swap one of those out for fiber, and work towards hitting your fiber goal every day. I gave you some tips for that on your other thread:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/45320315/#Comment_45320315

    Thank you for your insight, I appreciate it!! I admit that I just eyeballed the salad and didn’t exactly measure it out, but I did eat some of the kale pieces out of the box so I tried to estimate how much that would be. I’ll definitely try to work in more protein- thanks so much!
  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    fstrickl wrote: »
    You could try swapping the couscous for quinoa. It’s got more protein although it’s a different taste too.

    I can try that, I also like quinoa! Thanks!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    If you're short on protein, what about eggs? (I don't see any dairy in your diary, so I'm assuming you might be intolerant, but otherwise that would be an option, too).

    Keep in mind that there are also good plant-based sources of protein such as tofu, tempeh, edamame, other soy products, other types of beans/legumes, seitan, and more. In some places, certainly in most of the US, one can also get soy or chickpea pastas that are quite good protein sources, including chickpea "rice" (really more like orzo). The chickpea "rice" may be another potential alternative to couscous, with even better protein/calorie ratio than quinoa.

    If you want to get more protein, the spreadsheet linked in the thread below will be helpful - just find things you like on the list, eat more of those, less of something that you're now eating that has a relatively big calorie "cost" but isn't as important to you for satiation, happiness, other nutrition.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

    On the "using your food scale" front, I think you'll learn that efficiently using your scale is less fiddling and fussing than cups/spoons, as well as much more accurate than eyeballing. Ignore the joke/clickbait title, and consider this thread, which in reality is about tips for using a food scale efficiently:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive

    For clarity: This is not a "why to use a scale" thread like kshama suggested, it's a "how to use a food scale" thread.

    The one below is more of the "why", showing why non-weighed estimates can mislead:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    Seems like a slightly odd mix of food to put on a single plate, to me, anyway. I’m wondering if it’s actually just a bunch of things you have some idea are ‘healthy’?

    Is the smoked whitefish salad just plain smoked fish or is it more of a mayonnaise based mixture of stuff with some smoked fish included?

    Are they the sorts of foods you like to eat, normally? I’m not sure I’ll be plonking a handful of dried apricots on my dinner plate anytime soon! Are they there because they appeared on a list of food contains iron, perhaps?
  • lilharumaki
    lilharumaki Posts: 112 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    If you're short on protein, what about eggs? (I don't see any dairy in your diary, so I'm assuming you might be intolerant, but otherwise that would be an option, too).

    Keep in mind that there are also good plant-based sources of protein such as tofu, tempeh, edamame, other soy products, other types of beans/legumes, seitan, and more. In some places, certainly in most of the US, one can also get soy or chickpea pastas that are quite good protein sources, including chickpea "rice" (really more like orzo). The chickpea "rice" may be another potential alternative to couscous, with even better protein/calorie ratio than quinoa.

    If you want to get more protein, the spreadsheet linked in the thread below will be helpful - just find things you like on the list, eat more of those, less of something that you're now eating that has a relatively big calorie "cost" but isn't as important to you for satiation, happiness, other nutrition.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

    On the "using your food scale" front, I think you'll learn that efficiently using your scale is less fiddling and fussing than cups/spoons, as well as much more accurate than eyeballing. Ignore the joke/clickbait title, and consider this thread, which in reality is about tips for using a food scale efficiently:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive

    For clarity: This is not a "why to use a scale" thread like kshama suggested, it's a "how to use a food scale" thread.

    The one below is more of the "why", showing why non-weighed estimates can mislead:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    Seems like a slightly odd mix of food to put on a single plate, to me, anyway. I’m wondering if it’s actually just a bunch of things you have some idea are ‘healthy’?

    Is the smoked whitefish salad just plain smoked fish or is it more of a mayonnaise based mixture of stuff with some smoked fish included?

    Are they the sorts of foods you like to eat, normally? I’m not sure I’ll be plonking a handful of dried apricots on my dinner plate anytime soon! Are they there because they appeared on a list of food contains iron, perhaps?

    Thank you guys for your input!! It maybe have seemed like an odd mix, in honesty, it was just a bunch of food that I liked! The whitefish salad has mayonnaise in it, yes! I like dried fruit because it helps me be more regular if you know what I mean! 😂

    And thank you for the link, Ann! I definitely will try incorporating more eggs, I do like them! 🥚
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    - One 5 inch sweet potato with some earth balance spread (1 tbsp) — you don’t really need the earth balance. When we have sweet potato we just coat it in olive oil and roast it in the oven or bbq
    -
    - Couscous Salad (3 tbsp) - what’s in the salad? Nothing wrong with couscous once in awhile , you can get whole wheat couscous. With the sweet potato already in the meal, you really don’t need this carb. Other choices to consider are quinoa and brown rice
    -
    - 8 dried apricot pieces — are these considered dessert? There is a lot of sugar in dried fruit. I’d consider switching this out for fresh fruit and maybe cut that fruit up and add Greek yoghurt. The yoghurt will add protein to the meal
    -
    - Kale Greens Mix — eat as much of this as you can eat. This is the only vegetable in this meal. I eat a garden salad with dinner pretty near every day. Add tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, radishes, cabbage, carrots, etc you get the idea ... more vegetables
    -
    - 2 tbsp smoked whitefish salad — seems like a small portion size. What’s in the salad?

    For additional food guidance I really like Canada’s new food guide. Gone are the “four basic food groups” https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/
    The new canada food guide was developed without food marketing boards ‘at the table’ or influencing the guidelines.

    Take care

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    all seems random and low on protein but if you like it....

    pretty sure my diary is open, it used to be anyways. I go in stages of logging and not, but this past week ive been pretty decent about it. breakfast and lunch dont typically vary too much but for dinner we eat a variety of stuff, usually dependent on how hot it is and my mood and how much work i feel like putting into dinner. LOL

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