Nutrition, or something like that

I started keeping a diet journal this year. Not because I am actually on a diet, but because I wanted to be more aware of what I'm eating. Additionally, I thought it might be nice to see if any patterns emerged in terms of weight loss/gain, sleep patterns, overall health, etc. Simultaneously, I started a 365 project that involved taking a picture of something yummy everyday. I've definitely noticed that as we've entered farmer's market season, my idea of yummy has drastically changed. Gone are the pictures of restaurant food. Now yummy centers around fresh vegetables and the things we are making with them at home.

I've pretty much nailed down a couple of perfect breakfasts and learned that I could eat a spinach salad just about everyday for lunch. Over the past month, I've replaced my daily Diet Coke with a La Croix sparkling water. That alone has been a major feat. I'm finding that since I will allow myself to have a Diet Coke as a treat, I've been going to the movies a lot so, as a treat, I can sip a giant beverage in the dark. But I still feel like I am making progress. It's pretty similar to the way I quit smoking ten years ago, but allow myself to have an occasional one (or two...or three) when I'm enjoying an adult beverage with other adults.

Anyways, the point of this post is that I am trying to eat better, mostly for health reasons. Not being a trained dietician or having a personal nutritionist on staff has left me to try and figure everything out on my own. I've been using the Fooducate App, which is awesome. (So awesome, that I wrote about it this week.) I can definitely credit it for changing some of my shopping habits. At the very least it has made me feel extra guilty when I eat something verified as crap.

I've done a lot of reading and studying and talking and observing and I'm still not sure I've got it all figured out. Portion sizes are tough, and I still find myself "cleaning up" after the kids when they waste food, and snacking on some of the crap that they bring home or convince me to buy them. I think once I get myself under control I'm going to have to really crack down on their eating habits.

OK, if you are still with me...I present to you what I ate today, mostly in pictures. Is it too much? Too little? What am I missing?

I got up early to go swimming, and when I came home I ate a large banana. I showered, then had a giant iced coffee while I made my lunch. By huge, I mean CBBQ cup sized. I used a big splash of coconut milk creamer today, but usually it's the chocolatey or French Vanilla Coffee Mate.

This is my usual breakfast, which I eat when I get to work around 8:30. (Siggi's has about 14g of protein.)



I vary it. Sometimes I cut up half a banana and throw in some cashews, sometimes I eat the blueberry flavor and just add nuts, and sometimes I eat plain with strawberries and bananas and no nuts. In the winter, I replace the yogurt with steel cut oats.



I like to eat lunch around 11:30 so there is no morning snack. Lunch, if I have my way, is spinach (& arugula if I have it) salad with carrots, tomato, peppers, onion, feta cheese, some kind of nuts (walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, etc.) , and some form of meat (steak, chicken, pork, shrimp, etc.). Today I didn't have any meat, so I had some quinoa and brown rice salad that Warren made.



Here's a typical meat salad:



I don't usually go crazy on the salad dressing. Since I quit the Diet Coke, I have been nibbling on one square of chocolate after lunch. (I have a few Olive & Sinclair bars stashed in my desk drawer.)

My afternoon snack is something like carrots and hummus, an apple with peanut butter, frozen grapes, or a grapefruit. Today it was a grapefruit. A ate a whole one, like you would an orange. It was a mess. I'll probably go back to the civilized way with a spoon.



When I left work, I met a friend at Otherland's. I really wanted another iced coffee, but I resisted since my sleep pattern has been severely messed up for the past two weeks. When I got home, I was starving. Warren stayed late at work, so I attacked the leftovers. I had some shrimp and peach ceviche I made the other night with the crumbs of some Las Delicias chips.



I was still hungry, so I ate a small bowl of Pirate Booty (!!) while I heated up some leftover Tom Yum soup that Warren made the other night with tofu, mushrooms, and some chicken. I only realized it had chicken in it after I added 5 leftover grilled shrimp.



I was full before I finished, but then I finished anyway.

I thought I'd have a cucumber lemonade popsicle that I made for dessert, but then Jiro gave me a few sips of the chocolate shake my mom got him at Sonic earlier, so I skipped it.

So there you have it. I'd say that today was fairly typical. As you can see, I have a sweet tooth, and am easily tempted by carbs. My mom was here this morning while I was making my lunch and she marveled that I didn't pack crackers or bread. Should I?

Besides the iced coffee and La Croix, I only drank water today. A good amount, I'd say. I usually drink two La Croix, but I never got around to the second one.