I've started tracking food, which is weird for me because I am generally awful at tracking what I eat. It turns out the magic is in using excel (or google sheets) because I just love a color coded sheet. I don't track my food particularly well (as in, calories, or portion sizes, or macros, or what "some sandwich and snacky bits" even means)
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7 things I have learned from tracking my food for a few weeks:
I love cakes and biscuits and I don't care. A cup of tea and a biscuit is a great note on my time log
I have to remember to eat fruit. But also, I eat much better in a day if I eat fruit. I don't naturally reach for fruit when I'm hungry but I should.
My ideal eating pattern would be morning coffee, 10am meal (like, spaghetti bolognaise or chili or an actual meal), 3pm meal, 6pm snack. This is not a normal or socially acceptable way to eat, but I bet it would work well for my energy levels.
When I forget to eat breakfast by 11am everything goes downhill. On Thursday I started work early and only had coffee, I was in calls from 9am to 11am and then went straight to a school meeting. I had a banana on the way but when I finished the meeting I was so hungry that I didn't want to wait for the babies to finish lunch so I could eat (the babies get upset if I'm around right before nap, so it's easier to stay away). So Andy and I went to a cafe for lunch, which was nice and delicious but also I missed a Peloton workout I had scheduled with a friend. If I had eaten food at 10am I would have been able to think better at 12 and probably do my workout then get my lunch at 1.
Meals with lots of vegetables make me feel better and able to go through life better. Meals that are made of cheese and bread are my go-to but I would like to be better about having a fridge of tasty veggie options rather than scavenging food.
If I do exercise I want to eat more nutritious food. If I eat more nutritious food I want to exercise more. If I am hungry I don't want to exercise at all.
Blue cheese gives me weird dreams. I still eat cheese before bed.
Have you ever tracked your food? Did you learn anything? Do you get cheese dreams?
Where I live now most people eat their main meal at lunch time. My kids also eat their main meal at lunchtime so this means in the evening we can all have something small/easy to prepare. I grew up in uk so I know sandwiches/ something small is standard at lunchtime. And presumably similar for your kids. But maybe an idea if you want to shuffle your schedule a little while still eating appropriate food at the appropriate time!
ReplyDeleteGimmesomeoven has a great recipe for granola that will keep you full til lunchtime or whenever suits!
Main meal at lunch sounds great! Especially not having to think of a big dinner to cook for the kids. We do tend to eat big lunches but usually sandwich based. I've been having pasta more for lunch lately which has been good. It would be nice to make lunch food for dinner, sandwiches and salads are so easy and yum and we do it sometimes but dinner is typically a hot meal.
Deletehave never found granola filling so that might be a good recipe for me to try. thanks!
I don't track my food, but I think your findings are interesting. Like how your day just goes better if you eat fruits and veggies. I should probably track my food but I don't want to put 'ate an entire sharing size bag of kettle chips over the course of the day' in writing.
ReplyDeleteI think I've gotten to a "no shame" point in my tracking. Yes, I did eat a brownie for snack and a brownie with lunch and a brownie for dessert. I used to not want to put it on paper but now I find it a bit interesting how weird my diet can be.
DeleteAlso, you shared your kettle chips with you. Good share!
I have tracked my food a lot, and I find myself eating way better and usually healthier and I am slimmer when I do it. However, lately I have not been doing it. However, while traveling, it is often easier to just eat two meals, so I tend to have one around 10 or 11 and then one around 3 or 4 or 5 depending on the day and then I am set. This goes against what I have always done (I was a staunch breakfast eater before going to work!) but it is working for now! Of course, the French mess that up by having lunch at 12-2 and dinner from 7-9 but I just eat their lunch and not their dinner if I go out!
ReplyDeleteI can't deal with a 7-9 dinner! So late!
DeleteI definitely ate fewer meals when traveling in europe. I think your schedule sounds great. When I go to countries where food is cheaper (ie, asia) I found I ate a lot but that's because it was all soo tasty. Not because I was hungry.
I track my food occasionally, in the past for calories and lately to make sure I'm getting "enough" protein (whatever that means). It's interesting but I find myself getting obsessed with tracking or with food and then it's time to stop.
ReplyDeleteYour observations are fascinating. I think my ideal eating pattern is similar to yours, although maybe moved an hour earlier. (I have been eating a bowl of soup at around nine every day this week.)
What you say about the connection between nutritious food, exercise, and hunger is SO accurate to my own behavior. And I also wish I could turn to veggies more often. I go through phases and am not really sure what happens when I stop eating lots of veggies because I enjoy them when I do eat them.
I so relate on the phases of veggies! I will go through a "salad every day" phase and then suddenly not eat salads anymore for weeks. It's like I forget that they are tasty as well as making me feel better.
DeleteI love the idea of soup at nine! I'm definitely a fan of "pasta at 10am". I bet soup is a good option for late breakfast too.
Yes, I've tracked food before and it has been helpful. Usually I write down what I've eaten at the end of the day, instead of in real time. I've used both paper and Excel - different things have worked at different times for me. Sometimes I've done it to help me lose weight, and sometimes I've done it to track variety in meals.
ReplyDeleteI'm exactly like you in that the times that it would be best for me to eat do not line up with society's acceptable meal times. In a perfect world I'd have breakfast at 9, lunch at noon, and dinner at 3! I work out in the mornings, so I feel like I need most of my food during the day instead of at night.
Oooh that's a very intermittent fasting type schedule - all food in 6 hours. Would you eat normal sized meals or smaller ones? Would you still do classic breakfast/lunch/dinner food or split it differently?
DeleteI've been tracking my food for years now.... not obsessively and I haven't really analyzed it and eat mostly intuitively (meaning, I eat when I am hungry and I eat what I want). A few things to note: I do like to eat breakfast, but almost always work out fastened ( I tried to change that during marathon training because 2+ hour runs on an empty stomach are not advisable). I love eating veggies and they fill me up and make me feel good. Life without cheese is not worth living.
ReplyDelete