My Day of Eating the Basic Seven

Have you ever said something, thinking you were absolutely right. Then later, you began to think, hmmm, maybe I should check that thing I said. Yesterday, I said I pretty much chose foods along the lines of the Basic Seven, thinking as the day went by what else I needed to eat. Well, later that evening I thought maybe I don't get something from each group each day. Maybe I should check this. So for today, I have been eating the Basic Seven, maybe not in the amounts of each, but trying to hit each group. I'll see where I fall short and need more work and where I'm pretty much okay in my diet.

My first obstacle was we were totally out of tangerines, orange juice, and fresh tomatoes, our usual Vitamin C rich foods. I thought about eating a bunch of fresh parsley, or a couple of bowls of raw cabbage. But neither of those ideas appealed to me. And it would not be something I'd ordinarily do. Since I had to go out and pick up 2 birthday cards today, I stopped at Walmart and bought another bag of tangerines, some fresh tomatoes, as well as a couple of other items we needed. Had I not gone out to pick up those foods, I would have missed the Vitamin C group.

The Basic Seven

Breakfast -- protein (soy and peanut butter powder)-vegetable-fruit smoothie (1/2 serving vegetables, 1 1/4 servings fruit, 8 grams protein)

Still hungry at 9:30 AM, so I began snacking. Obviously the smoothie wasn't enough nutrients for me to start the day. I also had some frustrations to begin the day, hence choosing a cookie as my first snack. Then I needed to take a vitamin, so I needed to eat something with that, another cookie.

Morning snack -- 2 oatmeal cookies, 2 turkey snack sticks (some grains, 7 grams protein)

Lunch -- salad of lettuce, green cabbage, carrot, cheese, chive blossoms with oil and vinegar dressing, tangerine, and peanut butter on bread, and you guessed it, an oatmeal cookie for dessert (1 serving grains, 1 Vitamin C, 1 to 2 green and yellow vegetables, 1 dairy, 1 fats, some meat alternative -- 15 grams protein)

Dinner -- chicken, vegetable, potato hash, salad of lettuce, tomato, grated carrot in creamy garlic dressing, pumpkin-applesauce for dessert (1 serving meat -- about 25 grams protein, 1 serving potato/other vegetables and fruit, 1 serving green and yellow veg, partial serving Vitamin C/tomato, 1 serving fats)

How'd I do?

Group 1 Green and Yellow Vegetables: yes
Group 2 Vitamin C Fruits/Vegetables: yes
Group 3 Potatoes and Other Fruits/Vegetables: yes
Group 4 Milk and Milk Products: yes
Group 5 Meat and Meat Alternatives: yes
Group 6 Grains: yes
Group 7 Butter/Other Fats: yes

I hit each group, but perhaps didn't have as much of every group as may have been recommended. Also, like I said above, I would not have had a Vitamin C fruit had I not gone to the store today. I simply would have skipped it. So that's one area I could focus on more, making sure we always have something I'm willing to eat on hand that is high in Vitamin C. My other thought about my eating -- I always have a smoothie for breakfast, but it often isn't enough and I end up snacking. Perhaps I need to add something on the side to the smoothie that will hold me over until lunch. I might eat far fewer cookies if I had more to eat at breakfast. At least those cookies were on the small side and homemade. I also know that I don't eat much milk or milk products. I have some cheese just about every day, but the milk I use in smoothies and cooking is a soy milk powder that is unfortified. The commercial liquid soy milk products have additives that give me tummy aches. 

I heard something in an interview the other day about longevity, health, genetics, and life choices. The conclusion was before age 50, genetics have the greatest influence on health outcomes. After age 50 environment and life choices influence longevity and good health more than genetics. I now feel especially motivated to check my daily diet periodically and make adjustments as I see need.