Counting Advice when I'm not sure what I'm eating...
...I know, I know...I should always know what I'm eating...HOWEVER...I have sort of a unique situation in regards to my job. I only work three days a week, but those days are my biggest challege.
I work in a nursing home where I am constantly surrounded by food. It's Jewish, so unlike most nursing homes and hospitals where the meals are delivered on seperate trays, we actually have a mini-kitchen where big pans of food are brought up and then served in a dining room. I work day shift, so I am there for 3 meals a day. After the residents are served, we are free to help ourselves to the leftover food.
Now sometimes it's easy to count calories, like for breakfast I always eat 2 boiled eggs and a little box of cereal with the nutrition on the label for me. But, a lot of time it's not - for instance today, I had a small bowl of spit pea soup and tuna salad for lunch, and then for dinner a scoop of beef BBQ and mixed veggies. I have no idea how many calories I ate and don't know how to find out. I don't think they have nutritional information available to me and wouldn't take the time to give me recipes either.
My question is, how should I handle this? Should I just count calories strickly on the 4 days I have off and guess on the 3 I work? Or should I stop eating the food at work and just bring my own, unless I know exactly how many calories are in it? Or any other tips?
Traditional Ashke**** Jewish food can be quite high in starches/fat/calories.
I think probably the best option would be to bring your own food from home and if you really enjoy eating the food, maybe have 1 meal a week at work.
Another option is to ask whoever cooks it how the things like veggies are prepared...if it is without added fats, maybe stick to those and watch portion size on higher calorie things.
Even though you only eat there 3 days a week, 2 meals out of those days is a lot, IMO, even if you are counting strictly the other days at home. I would talk to the chef or just bring from home unless you stick to salads/steamed veggies/lean chicken.
Sometimes I find myself in those situations and I guess. I use fitday.com and I can easily put in "pea soup" and get that listing and put in a cup or however much I think I had.
It's not going to be perfect, for sure.... but if it's not getting in the way of your weight loss (you're still losing, right??) then I wouldn't worry about it as much...
But if it is affecting your weight loss, then I would start bringing in my own lunch... yeah it's convenient an free to at work, but your health/weight loss has to be first too!!!
Wildflower: I got a laugh out of that particular instance of censorship.
kimmirue, I estimate the best I can, but I only have to estimate maybe once or twice a week--as often as you have to do it, differences could really add up. I agree with Wildflower that traditional Jewish food tends to be fairly calorie-dense, so maybe you could try bringing one meal with you each day.
One thing I sometimes do when I'm in the supermarket is try to estimate calorie values for random frozen meals (even if I have no intention of buying them). It's good practice.
I would just bring in your own prepared food. That way you have no question. I prepare my food the night before, so I am not tempted to skip bringing my lunch and going somewhere to eat it.
If you find yourself having lunch there, is there a way for you to look up the information? Can you access the internet on your lunch, and look up the calories from the numerous calorie counting sites (or if you use one yourself?). Do you have an app on your phone?
Also, if they tend to serve similar foods, maybe go look those up on your free time, and go in knowing what you can have and the approximate totals for those foods.
As the others said, ask how the food is prepared. I don't eat tuna or chicken salad from anywhere other then my own kitchen. They could be using full on fat mayonnaise, and although some is good, it can add calories!! You can eliminate some calories by not eating it on bread, also.
They might have the nutritional info available somewhere for you, in case they need it for their regulatory requirements to show what nutrition the residents are getting. Or you could use something generic by fitday. I think the key will be watching your serving sizes, using measuring cups or a scale if you have access and figuring out whether there are heavy oils, etc.
Thanks for the advice, it's all very helpful. Well, as far as the food goes - some of it is tradional Jewish food, but mostly it's just plain american stuff....like for instance tonight was choice of fried chicken or spagetti, with sides of mashed potatoes and collard greens. The soup was gumbo. I like to call it soul food night! My favorite! LOL But, I resisted and only ate the greens. Amen to that.
I think I will bring a menu home from work and look up calories on foods I eat the most. I can plan my meals ahead of time and pack my lunch on days I know I can't eat their food. Good idea. I asked the dietian if she had the nutrional values for a few things and she acted like I asked for a kidney. Sooo...
I would think they would have to have the dietary information, but since the cook acts like it is too much of an effort, I guess that option is out. Do none of the residents have special dietary needs that the cooks have to allow for? If so, perhaps eat the leftovers of that. Having the menu ahead of time is very helpful. Sounds like a good plan to review it ahead of time and decide which days you plan to bring your own meals. Could you eat breakfast before you leave and dinner when you get home, leaving only lunch to deal with, or is it a 12-hour shift?
I think bringing the menu home is good idea and then bring your own food when the choices are less than desirable.
My only other suggestion is portions. You already don't know "for sure" what's in the food, but if it's split pea soup and you look up split pea soup, you are on the right track. But how much did you have? The best tool would be a food scale. Put your bowl/plate on the scale, zero it out and then add the food and measure again. Then you'll know how much you had. It is so easy to miscalculate on portions! I suggest a scale with grams.
Hehehehe Wildflower...we all need a good laugh...and yeah, the dietian is stuck up, especially since I'm fat....she gave me the "what do you care about nutrition" look as she rolled her eyes....lol
Yeah Aimee, it is a 12 hr shift...breakfast is easy...lunch is the hard part...and I can save dinner for when I get home. I'm starting to figure it out. We do have carb control residents, however that just means a low sugar desert which is usually nasty. And then just low-salt, mechanical soft, and puree which doesn't help my case.
But Sandi they do have measured scoops for everything which helps a lot. For instance they serve the oatmeal in the morning with a 6oz scoop..bam! easy....and all the other foods too, like veggies. The meat however is a little tricky - but if 3oz is the size of a deck of playing cards, I can guesstimate. Although I do need to get a scale though for home. I was just thinking about that today.
Counting Advice when I'm not sure what I'm eating...
