Examining What I Eat

I am getting re-committed to keeping a food journal like I did for about a year in order to lose some extra pounds that marathon training (And then resting from the marathon/burn-out) has brought. I think I definitely overcompensated for calories needed while running long miles at times, and so I want to focus now on getting back to healthy eating and doing more strength training, along with my love of running.

I decided yesterday to take a picture of everything I ate to see what I noticed needed to be changed. I did pick out all of my daytime meals and snacks with the intent of being low-calorie. Let’s take a look:

Breakfast: Two packets of Instant Quaker Oatmeal mixed together with almond milk and a 1/2 tbsp peanut butter (in my awesome 2009 $1 Christmas bowl from Target), along with a cup of Community tea (with two packets Equal)

Morning snacks: String cheese, a pear, and another cup of tea (2 packets Equal)

Lunch: Lean Pocket, 100-calorie cheese nips, and water

Afternoon snack: 80-calorie yogurt, Sugar-free French Vanilla cappuccino

Looking at all of this, the things that stand out to me:

1) Almost everything is packaged and processed.

2) Most things are not high in good nutrients.

3) It really doesn’t seem like a lot of food to me, but I added up these daytime calories to equal about 1100.

4) I mostly eat at my desk.

For dinner, it was Valentine’s Day and we headed to an Indian restaurant to celebrate. This was not a typical representation of my dinner so I just took pictures because everything looked so good:

Not pictured – tomato soup to start, kheer for dessert (Rice pudding)

We shared a combination dinner that included chicken curry, lamb curry, tandoori chicken, and naan. Delicious!

Hunter enjoying his kheer

So my goals in planning and preparing food, even snacks, is to find options that are less processed, more high in nutrients and healthy.

Ideas:

Breakfast – non-instant oatmeal with added fresh fruit, nuts, almond milk, pb; bagel thins with pb and banana; Green Monster smoothie

Lunch – avocado and tomato sandwich with sprouts and hummus; leftovers of homecooked meals

Snacks –  sliced bell peppers, celery, carrots, etc. to dip in hummus; almonds, raisins, dry cereal, pumpkin seeds, greek yogurt with honey and granola; fresh fruit smoothies

I’m going to make a shopping list and try to stock up on some fresher and healthier items!