Why You Should Keep a Food Diary

Dear Diary,

Today I ate…

That might be how you start keeping a food diary. It’s the first step in figuring out the rest of your diet. It’s also key to long-term weight management. Don’t lie though. A study showed that women can tend to have some “inaccuracies” when keeping a food record being short by about 1,000 calories. But why go to the trouble of keeping a diary if you aren’t going to be honest? Nobody is going to see it but you.

Include:

• What you ate
• How much you ate
• When you ate it
• Your cravings
• How much water you drink

If you don’t want to track fat and calories that’s fine. Just writing down how much you eat over the course of the day. You may find that you’re overeating and don’t know it. After a few days, go back and read your diary to see where you might want to change your habits or reduce calories. Remember you should also make sure you’re eating something every four hours. It keeps your body from slowing your metabolism.

TODAY: WALK, WALK, WALK!

Yellow Means Caution

Okay, here’s a question you probably haven’t been asked lately. What color is your pee? The reason I ask is that it’s the best indicator of how much water you need to drink. If you have light yellow pee you are drinking enough water. The darker the color of yellow, the more water you need. That’s a caution indicator as well.

So why is it yellow? Your kidneys do a couple of things that show up in your pee. They keep the salt content of the blood constant, and they filter waste out of your blood. So pee is water, salt, ammonia cell waste converted by the liver to urea and pigments from bilirubin, the waste from blood, is degraded to urobilins. Salt, water, and urea are all colorless, but urobilins are yellow. If you get dehydrated, your urine will contain less water and be darker yellow.

Now you know why I nag about drinking your water. If the stuff is concentrated it’s hard on your kidneys and bad for you.

TODAY: SEE HOW LIGHT YELLOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR PEE.

Deal Your Meal A Deck At A Time

Remember that “deal a meal” diet plan? Well I’m going to make it even more simple. You don’t need a deck of cards, you just need to remember how big a deck of cards is. For the most part you can use that as a gauge for how large a portion you serve yourself. You don’t have to deny yourself the food you like, just eat a reasonable amount. Keep the portions of protein and starches the size of a deck of cards and savor what you eat. Of course salads and veggies can be larger. Half the plate of salad paired with your protein will give you a full house … er… stomach and keep your weight in check without a raise.

Of course after you eat make sure you shuffle… out the door for a walk. (I know, I’m a joker.)

TODAY: CUT YOUR HIGH CALORIE PORTIONS DOWN TO A DECK OF CARDS.

Membership In The Clean Plate Club Is Growing

Unfortunately it’s the waistline that’s growing. We were introduced to it when we were kids. The club is so prevalent in American society that it has resulted in 67% of us eating everything on our plate, no matter how much is on it! That figure came from the American Institute fo Cancer Research. Now combine that with the way portions have grown in the US and you begin to understand why we have gained weight. Burgers are bigger, drinks are bigger than we can gulp, value meals are valued for quantity and “all you can eat” is much more than we should.

The habit that can cut the most calories faster and let you literally lose weight by doing nothing is to simply eat single servings. Cut back to just single servings. Eat favorite foods, just eat less of them instead of the huge amount of calories you decided was “normal”.

Go ahead and maintain your life membership in The Clean Plate Club… just use a smaller plate.

TODAY: EAT ONLY SINGLE SERVINGS. DON’T FORGET TO WALK.

Which $3 Fast Food Low Carb Meal Is Best?

I’ve mentioned having two $1 double cheeseburgers and a $1 side salad from McDonald’s as a quick low cost, low carb meal. It’s quite a value, they add lettuce instead of buns and put them in a container. Years ago when the Atkins diet was first on the scene I ordered the burgers without a bun and they actually did them with all the condiments and wrapped them in paper like a regular burger.

The other day I tried Burger King to see what the same money would buy. They have Whopper Juniors for $1 but no inexpensive salad. But since the Whopper comes with lettuce and tomato I decided to order three without the buns. Well instead of the 4 patties at McDonald’s I only had three. Though they put all the salad stuff in a container it was a bit smaller in total size.

Though the char grilled flavor of the meat was a nice change, but the $3 meal at Burger King was far less filling. Because we sometimes need a quick meal on the go, the challenge will continue to other fast food establishments.

TODAY: TRY A DIFFERENT LOW COST, LOW CARB, LO CALORIE MEAL PLACE.

One More Bite Less

We’re working our way down to smaller portions this week, one less bite per meal per day. You’ll start to see a portion size that will satisfy you. In the meantime view every bite left behind as a small victory. Those are calories that aren’t getting in. Feel good about it.

TODAY: EAT ANOTHER BITE LESS AT EACH MEAL.

Subtract Another Bite

As we ease into smaller portions this week. Let’s make all your meals one bite smaller.

TODAY: LEAVE FOUR BITES ON YOUR PLATE AT EVERY MEAL.