Another nutritional question from me!

I went to a Dietician today, basically to find out what, if anything, I am lacking in and should be eating in my diet with regards to how much exercise I do.

Unfortunately I had to take DD2 who was an absolute horror :doh: she took all the food I brought for her and threw it all over the ground (millions of sultanas). And moaned and whined and cried the whole time :cool:.

The dietician gave me some good advice but now I keep thinking of all the questions I should have asked. My Iron levels are low so she said to eat more red meat...but how much? I know you shouldn't eat too much red meat because of cholesterol.

She told me that I shouldn't eat too much food as 2 hours a day of exercise isn't that much and I could get fat :o She's also got me on Iron and Zinc tablets. She said that I should eat Carbs approx one hour before exercise and a banana and then Carbs within 20 mins of finishing exercise and protein within 2 hours.

So how many nights a week should I be having red meat? I'm also going to work more fish into our diets. She said to stay away from pasta at night except the one night a week I go to the gym then thats ok. How is this for a weekly meal plan (dinners)

Mon - chicken, rice and vegies
Tues - red meat pasta (spag bol) and salad
Weds - Fish, potatoes and veggies
Thurs - red meat, ptatoes/rice and veggies
Fri - Fish somehow???

I'm only planning for 5 nights as I don't cook every night.

How do you think this looks? Can anyone make any suggestions? Should I be having red meat 3 times a week?

If anyones interested i'll put up the whole plan for the day.

TIA :)

With the iron, vitamin C helps you absorb it better. So lots of fruit and veg are good, and ideally have something high in vitamin C with, or soon after, the red meat. Chick peas are also high in iron. I know these things as I have high iron and have to avoid them LOL!

Wouldn't it depend on the portion size of the red meat? And the type of red meat?
I eat red meat most days, but have very small portion sizes (120-130g steak MAX)
Lamb is higher in fat than beef, and if you get the heart smart cuts, they are fairly low in fat and cholesterol too. If you're concerned, I would have it 2-3 times per week.
I agree with MR, that you need to have Vit C to absorb the iron properly.

Omg if 2hrs of exercise a day isn't much I'm stuffed!! :rofl:

Ok, do you think I would get enough Vit C from my multi vit? Also the iron tablets have 165mg of ascorbic acid (vit c) so would that be enough?

ETA - I know Sarajane, thats what I thought!

I just took my iron tablet - it's HUGE and it tastes like bleugh!

I know I am biased being vege but that seems like a lot of meat.
I am surprised she hasn't offered you other iron options as well instead of going for the gold ol' red meat line. There are other sources of iron including tofu, soy milk, most green vegs, molasses (surprisingly!). I would think your dietitian would be able to write you out a detailed plan? With the vit c you need to consume it at the same time. Some greens eg. kale have vit c and iron so are a good choice. Otherwise you can have juice etc while having dinner.

Hmmm, she didn't write anything out in detail for me. Infact, it wasn't what I was expecting at all. And she was a bit grumpy with DD2. Not grumpy, but when I kept apologising she didn't say anything!

Ok, so Vit C at the same time as the Iron, got it :)

Rachel I have read your post a few times now and every time I read it I think the dietician sounds shonkier and shonkier.

For starters, every time I've seen a new dietician, they take a full history and then make numerous recommendations, usually in writing, including specifics such as quantities, frequency, as well as general guidelines.

As for 2 hours of exercise not being much, what a crock! I'm assuming you mean you do 2 hours of dedicated aerobic/cardio/musclebuilding exercise on top of your usual daily activity - that is quite a lot (compared to the average Aussie) so I'd be questioning her statement. Agreed that you don't want to overconsume, but a little more in the way of guidelines is called for.

Where did you find this dietician? Is she actually a clinical dietician or does she just have a nutrition qualification? Did anyone specifically recommend her? Just watch out, there are plenty of dieticians out there who are only in the business on account of their own thinly veiled eating disorders. It sounds as if you didn't find the session very useful - have you scheduled a follow-up? Would you consider seeing someone else for a follow-up?

I was going to say the same Marydean! I went to a dietitian a few years back and she took a complete history of everything I ate on a daily basis and looked at blood test results etc. She provided a complete eating plan for me including portion sizes and all the rest in a folder.

And as for 2hrs a day not being much - did she think you said 2hrs a WEEK? 2 hrs a day is a fair bit in most books.

She knows I meant 2 hours a day as she knows i'm training etc.

I was reffered to her by my Dr who gave her all my blood test results. She didn't read the letter though till I pointed it out for a second time :( She didn't tell me I needed a follow up app either which I suppose is good. She did tell me that what I was eating is pretty good and just gave me some guidelines for mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

All the info she gave me is hand written on the back of a list of foods and their nutrtional values hmmm.

I think a lot of it might have been to do with DD, as I said she was full on and I didn't have the pram. I think she might have been trying to get us out of there as soon as possible.

I'm a bit ****ed off now :(

Rachel, if I were you, I'd be phoning/emailing her with your specific questions. Just say something along the lines of "I was a bit distracted and I didn't get all my questions answered, I missed whether you said how much xxx I should be having" and then ask whatever specific questions you need. Any good dietician should respond to that. Often it might only take a couple of points of clarification for everything else to make sense, kwim?

Good luck, I'd hate for you to feel like you'd wasted time or money.

Yeah I agree with Marydean.... I've been to a nutritionist for DD & I've been getting heaps of help with myself due to vitamin & mineral deficiecies (sp?) Everytime they have worked through what is right for me, and what I am eating. Actually when I've booked in my appointment, I was asked to keep a food diary for the week before visiting to have an accurate history. I think I would phone with questions as to be its not acceptable to spend the $$ and get questionable advice.