Chronometer
Hi, friends. If you aren’t already aware of this resource, I wanted to introduce you to Chronometer. It can help ensure that your diet is meeting all of your nutritional needs, and it is free online or at the App store. It allows you to type in what you eat for the day, and it will then give you a ton of helpful information about vitamins, minerals, amino acids and protein, and even omega fat levels. If you are transitioning to a more plant-centered eating style, or you just want to check in to see how your current diet is stacking up, this is a helpful tool to guarantee that all your nutrient needs are being met.
As an example, I wanted to show what kinds of information can be gleaned from Chronometer by tracking a typical day of my own eating. I added in all my foods and beverages for one day, as well as a few important vitamin supplements (B12 and D3).
Breakfast was black coffee and overnight oats with blueberries, flax seeds, and a little maple syrup.
Lunch was a burrito bowl with tempeh and potato "taco meat," a mix of beans, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro crema made from tofu.
For my mid-afternoon snack, I had a mango and a Brazil nut for selenium.
Dinner was a Moroccan inspired sweet potato and millet bowl with garbanzos, apricots, raisins, and golden curry pecan sauce.
Chronometer allows you to set your own dietary goals, and as you can see from the chart below, with this day of eating, I met all of my macronutrient goals. In terms of protein, I need approximately 55 grams. I set my goal at 60 to ensure I am getting all that I need. My day of eating clocked in at 87.5 grams of protein! If you'd like a refresher on how to calculate your own protein needs, take a look at this post: www.thewell-nourishedbrain.com/blog/but-where-do-you-get-your-protein
If you hover over the individual categories, it will show you your percentages of fat, carbs, or protein consumed, and exactly which foods have contributed to these numbers. For example, my fat percentage for the day was 23%, and my fats were mostly from tempeh and nuts. This surprised me, as I never think of tempeh as being a high fat food.
The next second section is the one that I find to be particularly interesting. It shows all your vitamin and mineral needs, highlights nutrients of import, and flags which areas might be lacking. You can see that I am hitting all my needs for protein and essential amino acids, as well as for omega fats.
The next chart shows that I'm doing a good job with all my vitamins, except for vitamin E. I’m not worried about being low on this for one day, though, as I generally eat a ton of foods containing vitamin E, like almonds, peanuts, spinach, bell pepper, mango, and avocado. My vitamin D appears to be high, but I’ve had this tested and I am always low, so I supplement at a high level. I am also hitting all of my mineral needs, except for calcium. I may need to consider supplementing this or eating more broccoli. It also looks like I could ease up on the salt, as my sodium is high.
Overall, I have found chronometer to be very useful in tweaking my diet to ensure that all of my nutritional needs are being met. Even if you aren't plant-based, it is interesting to see how your current diet is doing in terms of meeting your nutritional needs. This is not something I do daily, as it is a bit time consuming, but I used this a great deal when I was transitioning to plant-based eating and found it to be super helpful. I encourage you to plug in your food for a few days and see how you are doing.
Wishing you all abundant good health!
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