Post: #1

This is Day 5 of Live a Healthier Life in 21 Days Challenge. Subscribe to the free newsletter for lifetime access of personal development articles and future challenge announcements like this one.



Hello guys! Today is Day 5 of our 21-day challenge to live our healthiest life ever!

Just now, I finally got down to write my calories list and plan out my ideal meal plan. Boy was I glad that I did that! Since I'm currently on a high raw vegan diet of fruits, vegetables and nuts, one may think that my diet is currently very healthy and all (which it largely is vs. the average diet).

But low and behold after I worked out my calories list - I was shocked when I saw how much I overeating (both in calories and fat content)! The funny thing is I ALREADY knew that high fat on a raw vegan diet is a watch-out due to all the nuts (and dressings), and I was *already* consciously reducing them! Just shows that it's a whole different thing altogether when you mentally know vs. when you track them for real! I've been reading many of your journals and #21DHL tweets, and it seems that many of you had the same discovery/a-ha yourself too regarding your own diets!

Now with my calorie list, I know what to eat to meet my nutritional needs.



Here's sharing my calories list of my most commonly consumed foods



Here, I wrote my typical daily consumption of the food stuff. I wrote higher numbers for the food items as I wanted to see how my calorie count would be like on a day where I go freeflow and just eat whatever I want, whenever I want to. Like I said, I was really surprised at the high calorie and high fat percentages! The fat percentage was 50%, which is extremely high! (geez!) -_-'



My ideal meal plan Eating lower than 1400 as I'm working on losing weight. For fat %, while it's 27% (vs. my target 20%), I figure it's cause my total calories consumed is already a low base (when divided by 1400 calories it's about 22%), so I'm not going to be too concerned about it other than ensure that it remains below 30%.

Sharing Your Journals With Others

Remember that you can share your 21DHL journals with others to let them see your healthy living journey! Simply click on the tweet/share buttons beside the "New Reply" button on the top right side of the page.

Day 5 - Go Grocery Shopping!

Today is Day 5, and we're going grocery shopping!!



Yesterday we had a test run of our ideal meal plan. While some of us may have carried it out with good success, sustaining our ideal diets in the long run requires us to do some shopping and preparation.

After I began doing my grocery shopping and preparing my meals with the start of 21DHL, I'm experiencing the joys and benefits of the whole exercise. For one, I get to control everything that I eat. No more subjecting myself to sub-standard, low nutritional food in my house. Two, no more trying to search for restaurants/eateries for things that I want to eat. (For a while last year, I had to keep hunting for salad bars because the salads sold in normal restaurants are not all that great.) Three, it has made it SO easy to follow my ideal meal plan. While previously I easily go off track within the 1st, 2nd days of trying to maintain a healthy diet, right now I'm on Day 5 and going stronger and ever. Absolutely enjoying my meals every minute of the day right now.

Now, let's get started!

Step 1: Write out your standard grocery list

Think about how your ideal meals are like (you can refer to Day 3 too). What food items do you need to purchase for these meals? Write them down.

For me, since my ideal meal is a raw vegan meal, my key food items can be categorized into 4 segments - Veg, Fruits, Dressings and Nuts.



(It's a preliminary list which I'm adding on as I continue on in my raw journey and discover new recipes and delicious food items )

Step 2: Highlight the items which you need to purchase today

Some of the food items may already be present in your house, while some may not. Highlight the items which you need to purchase.

For me, the key items which I need to stock up on today are:

- Button mushrooms
- Bean sprouts (they perish very quickly, so I need to replenish every 3 days or so)
- Lettuce (only have 1 lettuce head left for my salad later)

The rest are good as I just did my grocery shopping 2 days ago.

Update: I'm also going to buy a slicer to slice my carrots so that's going into my list too

Step 3: Go shopping!

Today, take some time to shop at the grocery shop or the supermarket. If you're working, drop by the supermarket during lunch or after work. Take this list with you as you do that, and get the items you've highlighted in Step 2! At the same time, keep your eyes open for any healthy food items, and get them if they complement your ideal healthy diet! (For example, I never thought of having bean sprouts in my ideal meal plan until I saw them at the supermarket during my grocery shopping this week! I realized that sprouts would be a great addition, hence bought them and am loving them in my salads nowadays!)

Day 5 of Your 21-Day Action Plan

What are your 21DHL tasks listed for today? Do them with excellence and report them in your 21DHL Journal! Also, read your group mates' 21DHL journals and cheer them along! Pick a few members' journals and make it a point to post meaningful replies there.

Remember, if you feel a particular member is doing a great job in helping others/you, give him/her a reputation point! Click to his/her profile page, look under reputation, and click "Rate". Then, select +1 and type the reason you're giving this rating to him/her.

Share Your Progress on Day 5!

How's your progress on following your ideal meal plan today? Share with everyone! Let's all kick Day 5 into high gear guys!

In the meanwhile, stay tuned for Day 6's task!

"If you want to get something you have never gotten before, you've to do something you've never done before."
Personal Excellence - For people passionate about achieving excellence in life

Post: #2

I'm guessing this would be your personal favourite task so far Celes? Especially with all the supermarket photos!

Also, is the slicer you're planning to buy like the one I use? That one is called a strip slicer. Similar to a mandoline, but creates much finer strands and is safer to use. I use it all the time I have another one that was a Christmas present. That one is from Thailand and is what they use for the decorative edges on a vegetables such as carrots and cucumber, but isn't as simple to use as the strip slicer.

Glenn Thomas - Sydney, Australia
Avene Website | Personal Website | Facebook Page | Twitter

Post: #3

("No more subjecting myself to sub-standard, low nutritional food in my house. Two, no more trying to search for restaurants/eateries for things that I want to eat. (For a while last year, I had to keep hunting for salad bars because the salads sold in normal restaurants are not all that great.)")

I totally agree with you on what you said here. Once you start putting thought into what you eat you see that what's out there commercially is pretty bad (even the so called healthy menus & salads) :-p When I'm on my own it's great just planning and preparing my own food, but where I get into trouble is with the social interaction / pressure to share a meal that someone else has prepared or planned for an office event or family time.

Post: #4

Hi Celes,
I'm really looking forward to start 21DHL. I'm on vacation thus I'll start on Monday, but I have a look a the new tasks regularly and I can't wait to start. ^^

I got a bit confused how you used "BMR".
The BMR is the amount of energy your body needs when you do absolutely nothing (ie lying down). As soon as move, you need more energy. This means when you just live your life, you lose weight when you eat your BMR.

Post: #5

Hi Celes,

I'm a bit worried about eating less calories than the BMR. BMR is basal metabolic rate, and is what you use just by sitting still all day. Surely when you are exercising you need a lot more (I think for me the difference is 600)? I feel like it should be the actual rate at which you burn (BMR plus calories burned in activity) minus up to 500 if you want to lose weight or plus up to 500 if you want to gain weight. I'm no expert though

Cheers,
spiral

Post: #6

Glenn Wrote:Also, is the slicer you're planning to buy like the one I use? That one is called a strip slicer. Similar to a mandoline, but creates much finer strands and is safer to use. I use it all the time I have another one that was a Christmas present. That one is from Thailand and is what they use for the decorative edges on a vegetables such as carrots and cucumber, but isn't as simple to use as the strip slicer.

It'll really depend on what's available at the shops here! I hope to get the strip slicer from how you're describing it. I'm not sure what's available at the supermart here - I'll take some pictures later and share them in my journal!

(01-05-2011 06:53 PM)see_the_sun Wrote:  I got a bit confused how you used "BMR".
The BMR is the amount of energy your body needs when you do absolutely nothing (ie lying down). As soon as move, you need more energy. This means when you just live your life, you lose weight when you eat your BMR.

(01-05-2011 07:24 PM)spiral Wrote:  BMR is basal metabolic rate, and is what you use just by sitting still all day. Surely when you are exercising you need a lot more (I think for me the difference is 600)? I feel like it should be the actual rate at which you burn (BMR plus calories burned in activity) minus up to 500 if you want to lose weight or plus up to 500 if you want to gain weight. I'm no expert though

Hey guys! You're absolutely right. I was using BMR loosely as the energy expenditure for the day - Sorry for the confusion. You're right in that our total energy expenditure is our BMR + Calories burned from our activity rate for the day. When we eat lesser than that, we'll be losing weight.

"If you want to get something you have never gotten before, you've to do something you've never done before."
Personal Excellence - For people passionate about achieving excellence in life

Post: #7

(01-05-2011 07:41 PM)Celes Wrote:  It'll really depend on what's available at the shops here! I hope to get the strip slicer from how you're describing it. I'm not sure what's available at the supermart here - I'll take some pictures later and share them in my journal!

I just discovered that it's an Australian product. Here's the website. I'm not sure if ours is the 1.5 or 2.5mm. 1.5mm I think? We also have the ergo mandoline at the bottom of that page which does larger slices. It's good for carrot and celery sticks to eat with dips.

Glenn Thomas - Sydney, Australia
Avene Website | Personal Website | Facebook Page | Twitter

Post: #8

Thanks for sharing your list...I'm stuggling a little in writing everything down..But, I agree it's the act of thinking about what you are eating is important... I'm not just cramming in my stomach what I can find in the offices to eat...Oh my gosh, I do have some bad habits in which in have
I have gotten into over the years..

Post: #9

What a coincidence - I was only thinking yesterday that I should buy one of those strip slicers if only to cut down on the hassle of using the food processor which is a devil to clean. I should warn folk that when using a strip slicer is is very easy to end up slicing the flesh off your fingers so be sure to use the vegetable grip when slicing or grating or just don't slice right down to the end of the vegetable!

Thank you Celes for today's task - I like this one

Post: #10

Today’s task is a nonissue for me. My usual grocery days are Monday and Thursday, so I’ll be doing this tomorrow.

I don’t have a problem with making a list of healthy foods. My problem that I[‘m trying to eliminate is taking the time to follow my plan! I get too hungry to wait until I can fix something fresh, and I’ll just gobble up whatever’s easy: usually slices of cheddar cheese.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

~The Summer Day, Mary Oliver

Post: #11

Glenn Wrote:I just discovered that it's an Australian product. Here's the website. I'm not sure if ours is the 1.5 or 2.5mm. 1.5mm I think? We also have the ergo mandoline at the bottom of that page which does larger slices. It's good for carrot and celery sticks to eat with dips.

I use one of those orange-coloured slicer sets shown in your link. It's real quick and easy to make salad with carrots, cucumbers, zuchhini etc. But have to be real careful with fingers

Post: #12

Done... sent my niece who was just hanging out to get some groceries for me! Piece of cake! What's next?

Post: #13

(01-06-2011 04:20 AM)Ish Wrote:  I use one of those orange-coloured slicer sets shown in your link. It's real quick and easy to make salad with carrots, cucumbers, zuchhini etc. But have to be real careful with fingers

Yes, the mandoline type can be dangerous! Best to always use the holder with that one as the blades stick out, and are similar to razor blades. The strip slicer isn't so bad, more like a grater, although I did cut myself with it once.

Glenn Thomas - Sydney, Australia
Avene Website | Personal Website | Facebook Page | Twitter

Post: #14

Hi Celes ~

How do you calculate how much fat/calories you need to consume in a day? I managed to calculate the calories I need to consume but it's very difficult to estimate the exact number of calories I am consuming. How do you caluclate the calories from the calorie counter site for the portions that you are consuming. It seems more general to me.

when you wrote

My ideal meal plan Eating lower than 1400 as I'm working on losing weight. For fat %, while it's 27% (vs. my target 20%), I figure it's cause my total calories consumed is already a low base (when divided by 1400 calories it's about 22%), so I'm not going to be too concerned about it other than ensure that it remains below 30%.

How did you calculate the fat%. Im hopeless at numbers and calculations so all these figures are really mind boggling for me

Would appreciate your advise. Thanks Celes!

Post: #15

Thanks Celestine for sharing those lists - they're really helpful and it's great to get some ideas. Can anyone recommend a good book on raw vegan/vegetarian food?

Post: #16

Glenn Wrote:Yes, the mandoline type can be dangerous! Best to always use the holder with that one as the blades stick out, and are similar to razor blades. The strip slicer isn't so bad, more like a grater, although I did cut myself with it once.

Went to the supermart and 2 appliance stores today but they don't sell any slicer for carrots/vegetables Will check out other stores tomorrow.

cygnet Wrote:I managed to calculate the calories I need to consume but it's very difficult to estimate the exact number of calories I am consuming.

1) It's the easiest when you have the exact nutritional labels for the product, because you can use the servings size on the packet as a guide. Next time you visit the supermart, pay attention to the different calories listed on different food items. For example meat in general have lesser calories, candy/cakes/biscuits are laden with a lot of calories and fruits and especially vegetables have very few calories. Hence when you're faced with the same type of food in the future, you can make a good estimation of the calorie count.

2) Having a mini-weighing scale really helps a lot in getting a feel of quantities of food (you can check out my mini-weighing scale picture in my journal and in Day 7's post - I got it for a few dollars off yahoo auctions 3 years ago, and it should be easy to buy one either online or at a local store). Getting a scale is really to get a sense of quantities - once you use it for a while, you can easily estimate sizes / calories you consume, without needing to weigh anymore. I only use my scale when I'm adding a new food item to my list - info of existing food items I consume are already in my calories list

3) Last but not least, the calorie counters have very exact information on how much food amount to how much calories (they have options in X number of grams, to even different sizes of fruits up to the diameters, etc). Use the ones that are most appropriate for you.

I think the biggest challenge you're facing is probably knowing what's the exact quantity/amount you're consuming, in which case, #1 and #2 will be most helpful.

cygnet Wrote:How do you calculate how much fat/calories you need to consume in a day? How did you calculate the
fat%.

I recommend you check out Step 4 in Day 2's task! The information is there Let us know if you're still unclear on how to go about doing it!

"If you want to get something you have never gotten before, you've to do something you've never done before."
Personal Excellence - For people passionate about achieving excellence in life

Post: #17

Let's go, go! I'm doing my healthy grocery shopping. Thank you Celes for the guide you provided in this task. I feel really good doing it straight away today.
Hmm..I'm done with my choice of vegetables, heading to fruits section.

Happy, yay!