Monday, 20 June 2011

Reflections - Why is my suggested one-dish meal healthy?


As stated in my previous post, Healthy One-Dish Meal, the meal has to contain nutrients required in a person's diet. Comparing the Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe Analysis and the Recommended Daily Dietary Allowances (divided by 3), I can determine if my one-dish meal is healthy.

*Note: All RDDA references refer to the figures after dividing the daily intake into 3.
Energy:
The dish contains 87% of the *RDDA of 620kcal. I think this is fine as it is only slightly less than recommended.

Carbohydrates:
The dish contains 86% of the RDDA of 93g. This should be a healthy amount as it is still relatively close to the recommended.

Protein:
The dish contains 116% of the RDDA of 19g. Although this is slightly more than recommended, it should be healthy as the excess is a very small amount.

Total Fat:
The dish contains 81% of the RDDA of 21g. Although it is harmful to have too little fat in the diet, this amount is only slightly less than the recommended. It should not cause any problems that can be caused by very low fat diets.

Cholesterol:
The dish contains 19% of the RDDA of 62mg. It is difficult to arrive at a conclusion as it is not specified in the recipe analysis whether the cholesterol in the dish refers to good or bad cholesterol.

Calcium:
The dish contains 29% of the RDDA of 333mg. This is rather low, but it not at the extreme yet.

Dietary Fibre:
The dish contains 181% of the RDDA of 6.2g. I feel that this is alright, as I tend not to include much vegetables or fruits in my meals. Thus, although this dish contains a lot of dietary fibre, overall, there should not be too much excess dietary fibre in my daily diet.

Sodium:
The dish contains 97% of the RDDA of 413.5mg. This is good as it is very close to the recommended.

Iron:
The dish contains 127% of the RDDA of 6mg. In my opinion, this is acceptable as despite the relatively high percentage, the dish contains only 1.6mg more then the recommended.

Vitamin A:
The dish contains 123% of the RDDA of 242mcg. This is slightly more than the recommended and should not cause harm.

OVERALL:
This dish is healthy, as it contains almost all necessary nutrients, and is mostly close to the RDDA. Although there are some components that are slightly below or above the RDDA, it is to a small extent and should not cause any problems. Therefore, spaghetti bolognese is a healthy one-dish meal.

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