HW 6 - Food Diary

Dear Diary,

This morning I woke up to my mother barging in and asking if I wanted a smoothie for breakfast. If I am not reminded to eat breakfast or given a suggestion for what I should have, I won't eat. I am not hungry at 6:30 or 7 in the morning, I need to move around before I have the desire to eat. Oddly enough smoothies wake me up just as caffeine would. I walked out still half asleep to my kitchen and drank my smoothie while my mother talked to me about things that I didn't feel like listening to at that hour. Thankfully though an advantage to a thick smoothie is loud slurping, so I was able to muffle her talking. It seemed like this smoothie ritual was becoming a routine considering I had been having it for breakfast since school started. Another advantage to a smoothie for breakfast is that I can drink it as I get ready for school and don't have to worry about crumbs. It is both convenient and healthy. Within my smoothie was stony field organic yogurt which has about 80 calories, a splash of stony field organic milk which probably added another 30 calories, give or take half a cup of raspberries which added another 32 calories, blueberries which added about another 30 calories and ice. So my breakfast smoothie was 172 calories in total.

For lunch I brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread, carrots and an apple. My friends wanted to go to the Mexican Restaurant for lunch and I knew if I decided not to bring lunch I would have been very tempted to have guacamole nachos. Although their food smelled better than mine I felt very satisfied after I finished eating. I didn't feel stuffed but I didn't feel hungry anymore. My sandwich was filled with organic strawberry jam (40 calories), organic creamy peanut butter (200 calories) and two pieces of whole wheat bread (100 calories). My carrots had about 60 calories. And I ended up giving my apple to my friend. In total my lunch had 400 calories.

For dinner we ordered from a place called Healthalicious, I had a Tofu Too which was a whole wheat wrap (167 calories) with crisp nappa cabbage (22 calories) , romaine lettuce (4 calories), julienne carrots (20 calories) and fresh grilled tofu (78 calories) , dressed with a light hoisan sauce (50 calories). My dinner was 341 calories. For the entire day I only consumed 913 calories which doesn't seem like a lot but I don't feel hungry going to bed...

Dear Diary,

Today I woke up and had the same breakfast as yesterday. I sat at my dining room table slurping away at my smoothie, my mother talking away. The smoothie was thick it had a sweet taste but it didn't seem artificial. The natural sugar from it though was certainly affecting me just like coffee again. It seemed like I was splashing water on my face but really I was just sipping my breakfast to start my daily routine of school. And by 7:15 I had already had 172 calories of my daily amount.

Since it was thursday today, I went home and decided to make a big salad for myself. I also created my own dressing. Surprisingly it only took me 10 minutes. I washed the romaine lettuce (20 calories) , chopped it, then used the salad spinner to dry off the lettuce. Then I washed my tomato (25 calories) , cut it in half, and put the other half back in the fridge. Then I got my ingredients out for the dressing: olive oil (100 calories) , Dijon mustard (10 calories) and a lemon (22 calories). I cut the lemon in half and used the juice maker to get all the lemon juice out, added a little bit of olive oil and a little bit of mustard. I added the tomatoes to the salad and decided I wanted some muenster cheese (103 calories) to finish it off. Then I dressed the salad and sat down to eat. Either the lettuce wasn't fully dry or there was too much dressing but it seemed very wet. The lemon in the dressing was making my taste buds tingle. The cheese was a good combination with the rest of the ingredients. I felt satisfied and accomplished. However I decided I wanted something sweet, so I grabbed a low fat little container of ice cream (150 calories). My lunch came out in total to be 430 calories.

After I went to the gym since I had burned off some of those calories I had a snack of pecans (100 calories) and a peach (61). The pecans had a odd texture to them, I had never noticed what a funny shape that had. They didn't have salt on them so the taste was dull and not very exciting. The peach was too soft for me and there was a large bruise that I had to work around but it tasted fine. My snack was 161 calories.

For dinner I had left over udon noodles (220 calories) from a couple nights before. All of the vegetables were quite tasty probably because they were soaking in whatever was in the broth. The noodles were quite soft and had a pleasant taste. Personally I love udon noodles so I was very satisfied with my dinner. Again I am going to bed not hungry after only consuming 983 calories today.

Although I do eat very healthy I don't know if it is bad that I am eating so much less than the normal daily amount. Since I have to pay attention to how much protein I am getting it makes me very aware of what I am eating at every meal. My mom is convinced that I am anaemic since I don't eat red meat. I am suppose to take iron supplements but I usually forget to. I am definitely eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. I am eating a good amount of carbs to help fuel my body.

What I eat daily isn't always very interesting. It is pretty routine, I have a very limited amount of things to choose from. I do allow myself to eat unhealthy things every once and a while but for the most part I try to stay away from food that isn't beneficial. I feel better about myself when I eat better but the effect of eating better is more of a permanent state. However when I eat a piece of cake it gives me a momentary good feeling but after I usually regret it.

I mainly picked the food I ate over the past 48 hours because I wanted this food diary to be accurate as to how I usually eat. Normally there is some fish in my diet but my mom is also convinced that I am going to end up getting Mercury poisoning if I don't lay off the sushi. I felt good about the choices I made as to what I should eat and didn't feel like I was over eating or under eating. Eating this way puts your mind in a better state of being and allows you to think more positively about yourself and who you are.