Internet Nutrition

eaTracker

Your tax dollars at work.. eaTracker was developed with money from the BC Ministry of Health and is brought to all us surfers by Dieticians of Canada.  The new version is far easier to search and find foods to enter, previously a punishingly tedious process.

Also improved is the food database.  The previous versions didn't have popular health foods like chia seeds and quinoa, this one has it all.

Here's a screen shot of the nutrient breakdown of one my favorite quick meals:



100 grams of quinoa
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 Cup vanilla yogurt
15 almonds (not roasted or salted)
1 Grapefruit

I usually put 1/2 a cup of blueberries in there too.  If you're wondering, I eat the grapefruit separately, it's not added to the yogurt mix, but all the other ingredients are.  The grapefruit is a great vitamin C source.  Quinoa is high in iron, but it's non-heme iron (plant sourced iron) and non-heme iron is not absorbed very well. Vitamin C helps all iron absorption, be it heme iron (animal sourced) or non-heme.

The old saying "there's a method to my madness" almost applies here in that I've purposefully added a vitamin C source to this meal so my body can use the iron in the quinoa (noted for its high iron content).  I say almost because there's nothing "mad" about purposeful healthy eating.  It's all good; good tasting, good for you, as well as being smart and practical.  Can't beat that combo!

The site will help you figure out how many calories you need in a day, meeting your daily nutrient requirements, and teaching you what you are really putting in mouth.

To get a quick and very detailed breakdown of any single food  NutritionData is my favorite.

Screen shot from NutritionData:



If you're wonder what chia seeds are, yes, they are the same seeds used in the infamous Chiapet.


They're also one of the best sources of ALA Omega-3 fatty acids, have a complete protein profile, and are high in calcium.

A note on those Omega-3's from chia seeds.. plant sourced Omega-3's are high in ALA, but lack DHA and EPA, which are abundant in sources like salmon, or fish oil pills.  We need more research but for now the push is on to get more of the population consuming DHA and EPA Omega-3's more so than ALA.

Interesting info on Omega-3 from Wikipedia