Day: April 23, 2013

Mary11 Comments

How much sugar do I eat in a day?

Monday’s Healthy sELF challenge was to track the amount of sugar eaten throughout the day.  Here are my approximate trackings on my meals…These are approximate as I didn’t weigh any of my food and all sugar content details came from the Tesco website.

BREAKFAST:

One portion of Tesco Special Flakes with Red Berries (6g sugar), two tablespoons of low-fat yoghurt (7.2g sugar) and a splash of pineapple and raspberry juice (4g)

TOTAL: 17.2g sugarIMG_7136

SNACKS:

One granny smith apple (16g sugar)

 

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LUNCH:

A carrot (5.9g sugar), lettuce (2g sugar), one tomato (2.5g sugar), 12 grapes (12g sugar), one matchbox size piece of mild cheddar (0.1g sugar), half an orange pepper (3.1g sugar) and half a pot of houmous (0.6g sugar) One slice of chocolate fudge cake (23g sugar)

TOTAL: 49.2g sugar

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DINNER:

One half of a french stick (9g sugar) with Utterly Butterly (minimal sugar) and two sausages (0.3g sugar) with a squirt of tomato ketchup (4g sugar)

TOTAL: 13.3g sugar

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TOTAL SUGAR FOR THE DAY: 95.7g sugar

FINDINGS:
I found it quite interesting how much sugar there actually is in the fruit and vegetables I eat.  The apple I ate as a snack contained sixteen grams of sugar!  I had cake in the middle of the day which isn’t a frequent occurance but I was amazed to see that this contained 23g of sugar, not a huge amount more than the apple I consumed!  Stupidly I was surprised by how little sugar was contained in my sources of protein – both the cheese at lunchtime and the sausages for my dinner had hardly any sugar content, although they would have been high on the fat and protein had I been tracking either of these food types and it would be interesting to do this on another day in the future.

I found it difficult to find an exact guideline of sugar which I should be consuming per day.  The Tesco nutrition labels worked on a percentage to 100 grams of sugar but I found several varying guideline amounts on different websites.  This website panicked me a little when it started off by saying “40 grams is the maximum amount recommended…” Although on further reading, it was referring to added sugar and later on in the article also suggested that up to 100 grams a day was an appropriate amount, as long as no more than 40 grams came from added sugar.

WHAT NOW?:
I’m not going to change my eating habits as I feel that I do not consume excess sugar in my diet currently.  This was really interesting to look at though and I would also like to track the amount of protein/fat in my daily diet at some point and return to my sugar in about a years time to see if anything has changed.

Has anyone else tracked their sugar content before?  Were you surprised at the findings?…

Mary11 Comments
Mary2 Comments

Peripheral Vascular Disease

Apparently I have this!

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I went to the doctors this afternoon and sat in the waiting room for two hours!  I was not very happy or filled with conversation by this point.  The doctors have changed my appointment numerous times over the past few weeks and I have actually been trying to get an appointment now for six weeks to see the doctor!  I ended up leaving work early so that I could get to my appointment for 4:30 and finally be seen, but I didn’t leave until 6:40pm!I could have left work on time!

I told the doctor about the recent numbness in my left hand and about three of my fingers turning completely purpley/blue a couple of weeks ago.  He took my blood pressure and checked my heart, made me do a few things with my hands and felt my feet.  (Should have worn non-holey socks!  Whoops!)  He thinks that I have something called Peripheral Vascular Disease which would basically mean unless it gets severe (in which case there are tablets I can take to help) I need to ensure I wear gloves a lot of the time!  I have to go back on Thursday morning for a blood test though.  The doctor has marked me down for abobut 8 different tests, basically to check to see if my cholesterol is too high as this can put added pressure on my veins. I don’t think it should be.  I feel I eat reasonably healthy and exercise six or more times a week, often running more than 35 miles in a week.  I did ask if it would affect my running/upcoming long races but he seemed to think not.  Rather that I should just wear gloves (Although I know this will make my hands way too hot so will actually be impossible to do).

Anyway, I was rather annoyed about the long wait.  By the time I got home it was nearly 7pm and I had planned on being home no later than 5, much earlier than I would normally return home from work, and having time to catch up with some housework.

So what did I do for tea?…In my sulk and growing hunger…The unhealthy option of two sausages in a baguette with ketchup!

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Lunch had been reasonably healthy though…I had an apple at breaktime…

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And a salad of lettuce, half an orange pepper, one carrot, some grapes, a tomato and a block of cheddar cheese with some houmous.  (Although I ate rather too much houmous and felt rather full by the end of school!)

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And at lunchtime, sat in the upstairs staffroom, this cake went round…this gooey, chocolately fudge cake which I couldn’t resist.  It was very nice but now that I’ve tried it I felt no need to have any more on another day this week (that’s if other people were able to resist it!)

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Mary2 Comments