HELP - I logged my food for the first time...

For the first time I logged my food for the day. I did my best to estimate given my options at the dining hall. Anyway, my stats came out pretty well - 24% fat, 34% carbs, 38% protein. My breakfast was oatmeal and 6 egg whites mixed with hummus. Lunch was 2 grilled chicken breasts, side of taboule, and a small spinach salad with onions and hummus. My dinner was the exact same as my lunch except they had precut and sliced turkey at the salad bar so I put (an estimated) 2 slices in my salad. The problem is I looked and according to CC I had 3500 milligrams of sodium!!! The chicken has 330 mg per piece, so there's about 1300 right there, but come on: oatmeal, egg whites, spinach, hummus??? How was my sodium count so high? The turkey definitely contributed somewhat - I rarely ever have that though. Since this was the first time logging my food should I continue to log and see what my sodium is each day or should I really be concerned about this? I drink a lot of water and whenever I feel bloated it's due to intestinal gas from the spinach and not from water weight. How bad is this?

The typical amount of salt consumed per day by a Westerner is about 10g (or 6000mg sodium).  If someone does that for 30 or 40 years that's when they end up with long-term health problems.  One day at 3500mg isn't going to do you much damage.  I'd be more concerned about eating such a lot of protein and therefore not enough vegetables and grains.  It's more normal to have 50-65% carbohydrate and 15-25% protein.  Then you're more likely to get enough fibre... 25g+

The first day logging your food is always the worst.  Now you know what to look out for.  It gets to be fun watching your nutrition improve by leaps and bounds once you're keeping track.

I would also say be very careful with portion size.  With the chicken breasts, often what they serve in dining halls is a full breast fillet, whereas CC lists the serving as 1/2 a breast.  Also, be careful with the hummus!

Hummus for one has a lot of salt (and calories), so that may be a place to cut back a little bit.  Also, when you've got poor quality oatmeal (which I imagine it is in dining halls), it can also be pretty high in sodium.

deli meats of any kind are LOADED with sodium.  Commercially prepared taboule can also have a lot.  If you only eat it once in a while, don't worry about it

Your diet seems fine to me.  I wouldn't listen to the poster who say you're eating too much protein and not enough grain.  Most people think healthy eating is high carb, low fat, and that's why they will be unhealthy their entire lives. 

Original Post by tonyrocks922:

deli meats of any kind are LOADED with sodium.  Commercially prepared taboule can also have a lot.  If you only eat it once in a while, don't worry about it

Your diet seems fine to me.  I wouldn't listen to the poster who say you're eating too much protein and not enough grain.  Most people think healthy eating is high carb, low fat, and that's why they will be unhealthy their entire lives. 

Please list your source for that last sentence.....

The only way I've found to control the sodium is to log what I plan to eat in advance.  That way I can spot the high sodium foods and make changes before I eat.

However, that might not be possible with your situation.  If you are healthy and don't have a problem with high blood pressure, then some extra salt isn't going to affect you that much, except for possibly retaining fluid.  If you see a sudden weight gain, don't panic - it is most likely excess salt and will correct itself in a few days.

You did a pretty good job!  Good Luck!

Original Post by tonyrocks922:

 I wouldn't listen to the poster who say you're eating too much protein and not enough grain.  Most people think healthy eating is high carb, low fat, and that's why they will be unhealthy their entire lives. 

 Where did I suggest they ate 'high carb low fat' exactly?....  And, for the record, I'm not at all unhealthy!!! About to turn 44 and in mint condition.

Thanks everyone for the replies. The grilled chicken that I entered I made custom from what is actually listed at the dining hall. It's not a "whole breast" but rather just a very small piece of grilled chicken that you'd find on a sandwich or something - 100 calories a pop. I do tend to eat on most days a lot more vegetables, but yesterday was an exception just because there were no vegetables at the salad bar and the dining hall had the typical "steak fries" and "buttered noodles" as sides as opposed to what they may have on other occasions like broccoli, carrots, zuchinni, etc. I'm going under the assumption that the sodium was just a mishap for that one day - I know for a fact that I don't consume that much sodium daily. When I had my daily check up at the doctor's this past summer my cholesterol was 118 and my blood pressure was "exceptional" according to the doctor and since high sodium raises blood pressure, I can't be doing this normally. I'll keep logging and see where it takes me. However, I am fairly content with my ratios. Someone mentioned that I should want more carbs instead of protein. The thing is (I know this sounds vain) I really want to get a six pack/abs and unfortunately the way that I've been told to do that is to make sure you up your protein and cut back on carbs. I will still continue to eat vegetables and oatmeal (which is regular plain oatmeal made with water from the packets - not prepared by my dining hall) but other than that I don't eat pasta, potatoes (even though I will definitely have them for thanksgiving!) and bread. Hopefully everything will be in order when I log today.

What is "Poor quality oatmeal?"  Is their a rating somewhere that will tell  me?

Maybe it's listed under 'gruel'.... mmm.... very Oliver Twist!