Tag Archive for: course-NRS_420

For this week’s assignment we were required to pick a day and evaluate what we eat, focusing on the fat and sodium intake. Since I can remember what I ate yesterday, the following is the breakdown. [Fat (g) / Sodium (mg)]

Breakfast:

Iced coffee [ 4g / 50mg]
Sesame Bagel toasted with butter [5g / 600mg]
Fuji apple [0.4g /2mg]

Mid-morning snack:

Pluot [0g / 1mg]
Fuji apple [0.4g / 2mg]

Lunch:

Water (16 oz)
Luna Chocolate Peppermint Stick bar [5g / 125mg]

Dinner:

Trader Joe’s Beef Tamale [13g / 670mg]
Homemade pico de gallo (heirloom tomato and 1/2 red onion with fresh ground pepper) [0g / 3g]
Trader Joe’s sweet potato chips [ 10.5g / 0mg]
Water (12 oz)

Evening Snack:

Dilmah Ceylon Black Tea (w/ milk and sugar) [ 2g / 29mg]
Slice of Marie Calendars corn bread with honey butter [26g / 555mg]

Total fat:     66.3g                  Total sodium:        2,034mg

Imagine you were restricted of salt and fat intake – could you easily adjust ? According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the recommended fat intake is as follows:

Saturated fats should be less than 7% of daily calories (less than 16 grams in 2,000 calorie diet).
Transfats should be limited to less than 1% of your daily calorie intake (or less than 2 grams in a 2,000 calorie diet).

The AHA also recommends a heart healthy sodium intake will range from 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams each day.

When I compare my daily intake to the AHA’s recommendations, my sodium intake seems to be within the healthy range. I can not say for sure how my fat intake compares to the recommended range because I did not differentiate between monosaturated, transfats,  and saturated fats when I collected my data. I would like to think however, that since the majority of what I eat on a day to day basis is fresh fruits and vegetables it could be considered “heart healthy.”

I have been looking forward to this class ever since my rotation in the ER this summer! Being in the ER was a whirlwind of learning combined with a HUGE dose of action-packed nursing care. My last patient had fallen into respiratory failure and needed to be revived, which was (again) an amazing learning experience. It gave me a taste of critical care and what I may encounter…

I am both thrilled and suffering from wonder and anticipation about this semester…I only hope there is enough time to learn everything I need to know !

I am excited to build on the foundations that we have been creating in our last year and a half of studies and learn about caring for more complex patients. I am also looking forward to our clinical rotations and working on different floors with different kinds of patients. I always worry about how overwhelming the semester will get, but we always find away to cope and get through it!

Well, this is something new! I am being generous when I say that I am not a technologically savvy person. While I do believe that using technology creatively will enhance my learning experience and challenge me in ways that facilitate growth, I am also intimidated. My main concern is that I will spend too much time trying to succeed at the technological aspect of the course and will lose time studying the context required for the care of the complex client. I will say, my husband is a teacher and loves incorporating new ways to use technology in the classroom. He is thrilled that I am being pushed outside my comfort zone.