Low Calories Vs. Nutritional Balance

pdog - do the math on K. We're supposed to get 4,700mg of K per day. 100 gs of spinach has 500mg of K. 100g of spinach is more than 3 cups. That's 27-30 cups of spinach per day to get a full serving of K. Or am I doing the math wrong?

I eat a ton of foods on that list - beans, nuts, seeds, spinach - I get around 37% of my K unless I really push the stuff. When I really push the stuff I get 48%.

PS: beer has potassium!

Makes sense.

From your triglyceride thread some time ago, I know you run blood work quite regularly. What vitamin deficiencies, if any, did your blood work indicate? I'm asking because of one lesson I have learned from managing my diabetes: It's best to work backwards from the blood work, and only fix what's actually broken. Trying to stay on top of every single micronutrient will only drive you crazy.

Good point, Thomas. The only nutrient that seems to have a big discrepancy is potassium (so far). I have no idea if my blood work includes nutrient deficiencies.

The USDA PDF on potassium in foods..... tomato paste anyone?
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR16/wtrank/sr16w306.pdf

Just thought I'd welcome you to the neighborhood.

Ha! At least your not heading into menopause.

You can use tomato paste in cooking - as a base for any sauce, or I love it
on bread with a bit of salt and parsley or cilantro on top.
Make your own salad dressing with tomato paste, garlic, olive oil and vinegar...before you know it you've got more than 4.5 grams of potassium
per day.

Also, to speed up your metabolism, try to eat something every 2 hours.
This way your metabolism has no time to slow down. There are so many
100 calorie snacks out there, just put a few bags in your purse and snack
on it in between your meals.

Diet composition is difficult. Adding activity gives you a little more to work with your caloric accounting. I look forward to reading how you progress!

A
R
T

Mine did, and I didn't have to ask for it. Didn't they give you a printout of the results?


Tomato paste does suddenly seem a little less bland, doesn't it?

I suggest you read Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes. I think I'm a bit older than you and just starting menopause, but his advice has me keeping off some weight that seemed impossible to lose just a year ago. I'm an incredibly active person who grows a lot of her own food, so exercise and diet were not an issue for me. However, as I approached 50 the lbs. started to pack on. I especially gained weight when I tried to cut out more fat. Taubes advice had me cut carbs (including whole grains and fruit), replace with fats and I lost weight. I found it also helps to eat about 6 times a day with approx 4-6 oz of food per meal. Taubes convinced me of things I suspected for year about fats and carbs were true, and now that I'm following his advice I am finally feeling I have some control over my weight. I'm never going to be a slim, muscular 25 year old again, but at least I feel more confident in my food choices and that it's not totally hopeless.

The easiest thing for us to snack on here is fruit. We buy enough berries (we make smoothies all year 'round) that checkout people at the grocery often ask if I'm making pies. It is considerably better to grab a few blueberries than a few cookies.

No, but I've ridden in the sidecar during someone else's trip.
Bumpy ride.

CJ - making my own tomato paste seems like a really good idea! Thanks.

Greenwitch, I haven't been eating a lot of carbs, particularly. At least not on average. And I do eat a lot of olive oil and nuts anyway. I have to do something different than what I have been doing.

Jes - fruit = calories and carbs..... grrr.

My food balance always earns me As according to this site. I have a good balance of fats, carbs and protein (there are ranges for all three values). I wonder, however, about the accuracy of the info I am logging there. I started weighing everything and also entering the data on specific foods like my type of bread, for example.

Today I am very close to the 1400 mark (just a little over). I added a serving of sweet potato fries to dinner. I pureed spinach frozen in ice-cube sized blocks. One puree is mildly sweet, the other salty. They both have olive oil. I defrost a cube and make pasta sauce or, like I did tonight, spread it on sandwich bread.

Thomas, my blood work has all been about lipids, blood cells, hormones, etc. I haven't ever had any testing for nutritional deficiencies except for maybe iron if you count anemia tests.

It's possible, but I think the greatest unknown is your metabolic rate. It's likely to change as you enter menopause, and that's nothing your nutrition site could possibly catch. Even if the balance between you calories is perfect, you could still be eating too many of them, given your current metabolism.

I despise tomato paste..

smiles.

I see. Perhaps it makes sense to include them in the next one.

I actually checked a box indicating menopause. But, you're right that they can't know my metabolism. The site is very inaccurate for a few reasons. I am trying to use it as a ball park guideline. But the potassium vs. calories thing still has me stumped.

I'm not sure I get it, with respect, littlek - you are a vigorous woman who moves around and you are thinking of keeping yourself to 1400 calories? Who told you this is a good number? You are going to start weighing everything? Charting food data? Trying to get your basic needs down to low calories? Talk about repointing.. sorry, this is dumb ****.

I frown about fixation and I hope that is all I'll say about that.
Or maybe not, I'll say it's menopause worry warting, so stop it.
Don't make me bark at you.

I puffed up in menopause but it was also when I was awake eighteen to twenty hours a day for years for other reasons than that. Oh, and I had quit smoking, a famous difficulty.

Stop this stuff, littlek, or you'll be curling around very low calories as your standard.