![]() Eating rice that is not fortified, but entering fortified rice in your software, will screw up your totals. You may not notice, but many foods have added iron, folic acid (listed as folate on these programs), b-vitamins or iodine in them. Good to know: Keep an eye out when entering foods that are fortified. This is obvious when you look at packaged foods, as they aren’t required by law to test and list every single nutrient on food labels, so you may only notice some key nutrients listed, like sodium, fiber, potassium and vitamin C. Info: While the databases in these programs are usually kept up to date, they don’t always contain complete nutritional information for every single food item. The nice thing about using something like Cron-o-Meter to track water, is that it includes water you’ve already consumed from food, which is often overlooked when you only track fluids you drink. You can also track water consumption if that’s something you like to keep on top of. Nutritional targets will vary greatly from person to person, and factors like post-surgical diets will change the targets you’ll be setting up.Īssuming that I don’t have any special requirements related to my current health status, I adjust my RDA’s (recommended dietary allowance) based on the bioavailability from certain nutrients in plants.Ĭlick to zoom in: An example of a custom smoothie entry. When I was recovering from my surgeries, I used a protein powder to give my diet a boost. Some patients, however, will be told to increase their protein intake while in recovery. Your protein intake will be important if you’re recovering from surgery, so make sure that you’re at least hitting the recommended targets for your age, sex, and activity level, to allow your body to heal faster.Īs a general rule, if you’re eating enough whole foods to cover your caloric requirements, you’ll be getting more than enough protein – even on plant-based diets. I’ve read stories of so many people with IBD who have lost weight and can’t seem to put any on (I was one of those people), but most of the time, the solution might simply be to increase the calories consumed. You’d be surprised how many or how few calories you consume until you start tracking them. Keeping track of calories is usually something you’d need to do if you’re on a diet and are trying to lose weight, however, if you’re underweight because of an illness, it’s crucial to make sure that you are at least getting in adequate calories. Most food tracking software will give you at least basic targets like calories, fat, carbohydrates and protein, although I highly recommend one that can track vitamins and minerals (a.k.a. You might also want to see if any of the medication you take interferes with nutrient absorption.ĭoing this will make sure that you’ll be able to adjust your RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) to compensate for any deficiencies. I strongly suggest speaking with your doctor to see if your lab work looks good. I decided to track my nutrient intake to make sure that my diet is balanced, but also because I knew that Crohn’s disease would likely lead to deficiencies that I wanted to keep on top of.Įven after many years, I still track my intake on occasion (usually to see what the values are for certain meals), and this was something I did quite often while recovering from my surgeries.Ĭlick to zoom: The main screen on Cron-o-meter gives you your targets, food entry list, and more. ![]() I’ve used both the web and Android version, but I favor the website on a large screen. ![]() I started using their Windows version (which is still available to download), but it became way more convenient to use after they launched a web version and mobile apps to go with it. Some of them have mobile companion apps for your phone or tablet, so find one that suits your lifestyle best.Īlso, keep in mind that some offer paid options that give you extra features.Īlternatively, and more preferably, you should look for privacy-focused food trackers and open-source food trackers since most of the major sites will sell or use your personal data.ĭon’t remember when I started using Cron-o-meter, but I’m willing to bet that it was around 2009. Here are a few that come highly recommended. I’ll be showing you how I use this specific website, but you can apply these tips to just about any nutrient tracker that has advanced options like adjustable nutrient targets or custom food entries. One of the tools I use to keep track of what I eat is Cron-o-meter, although there are other websites and apps that do the same thing. You might have noticed, in several of my “ What I Ate” posts, that I include a screenshot of what my nutrient totals looked like for that meal.
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