You Are What You Eat

I track my food. I don't do it because I am on some wild diet fad; I do it because I am a number cruncher. I love spreadsheets and lists and comparing how one day or week or year compares to another. I like knowing if I am eating too much sodium or not enough vegetables. I think it's fun! I have been tracking my food pretty religiously for about a year and a half (before that it was only on and off) using Lose It and it has shown me some interesting things.

First of all, I don't eat out very often, but when I do, it makes it harder to track food. You have no idea what is being put into the dishes that you are eating. There is a reason their polenta tastes different (dare I say better?) than mine. That reason is...BUTTER. The same goes for things like pre-sweetened yogurt and pre-made tomato sauce and canned beans. There is salt and sugar and goodness only knows what in there. So, what my point was going toward was that tracking has made me more aware of how much better it is to eat a REAL piece of fruit rather than a canned one, or to make my own tomato sauce rather than dumping a jar in a pan.

So, back to the statistics. On Lose It, you can make some graphs and pull up some numbers and this is where it begins to get fun. For instance, I pulled up my most logged items for the past six months. Here is what items were on the top of the list.

Hearty oats is a mix of oats, chia, flax, almond milk and raisins. I got tired of entering each one separately, so I made it into a recipe. The same goes for cabbage salad, which includes the dressing. There are a few problems. For instance, it says I ate 48 peaches. This is actually 48 peaches. However, for strawberries, it is cups not actual berries. And bananas is actually one banana, not a cup of bananas. I wish that it were more standardized.

Or yogurt, for instance...The number 67 indicates the number of times that I HAD yogurt. I may have had a cup; I may have had a 1/4 cup. You never know. However, I do like that the top items are all real foods! I have to be honest with you though, coffee was actually my number one item, since I have it almost every day!

The other thing I found interesting was the breakdown of where my calories are coming from. Although now that I compare it with the above list, I am not really surprised.

Apparently I snack a lot. I do put fruit in the "snack" category a lot of the time, so you can see why snacking wins over meals pretty easily! Besides fruit, I often snack on yogurt (with fruit), nuts and Craisins (so the list on top is consistent with the graph below!). My carbs are also high, which is mostly due to the fruit, and the sugar that comes from my new favorite snack, the dried young coconut.

FYI: The American Heart Association recommends: less than 1500 mg sodium per day / 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 times a week / 4-5 cups of fruit and veggies per day / 200-300 mg cholesterol per day (or less). 

So, if the title of my post is correct, I guess I am a big blob of oatmeal. With little chicken legs.

Are you running the CIM? For tips, check out my guest post over at Terzah's!! And don't forget to stop by Jills for more Fitness (and food) related posts!

Do you track your food? Do you know how much sodium you are getting each day? What do you think your most eaten foods would be if you had a top 10 list?

Missed the Boat

Sometimes I find out about things a little late. I see them and think, "wow that's cool", and I go running to a friend and say, "have you heard about this!!?" and they say, "yeah, that's been around forever".

Oh.

But I don't care. I am still excited because it's new to me. Here are a few things I have recently found about about and like. You may have heard about them, maybe even months or years ago, but they are new to me!

NextBus: This is an app, or website, where you can see when the bus or train you want is arriving in real time. Often I use Google Maps, as it has transit information, but it only has the "scheduled" time, not the actual time, which can be VERY different! You can even set up auto alerts to warn you when you are about to miss your bus let you know when your bus is on it's way. This site works for several cities in the US and Canada. Maybe yours is on the list!

Safeway: If you have a Safeway card, you can either go online or download an app where you can add coupons straight to the card. No more clipping coupons; just add it to the card and when you get up front, put in your number or swipe your card and voila! A discount! Don't worry Mom, I already set your card up and loaded all the coupons! You can also make a shopping list, check the weekly ads and email them to  yourself.

(You can also print out coupons from the Target website and the Hyvee website; you can upload them to your card on the P&G website).

PayByPhone: If you live in the city, you know what a pain it is to have to feed the meter all the time. This app lets you park and then pay automatically with your phone. Here is an article with more info.

Nutritional Yeast: Yup, I finally tried it. The price ($30/lb) at my local store was off-putting, until I realized that a whole scoop only weighs practically nothing, so it's not as expensive as I thought. Plus I found it for a good price at the Berkeley Bowl's bulk aisle. I put it on popcorn last night with a little salt. It was delicious!

Couscous Salad: I have made Quinoa salad and pasta salad and bean salad and rice salad, but I never jumped on the couscous bandwagon. Yesterday I had some fresh veggies in the garden, so I used them to make a couscous salad with tomatoes, green beans, mint, basil, lemon, red bell pepper, olive oil, feta cheese and a bit of salt. I ate three servings of it in one go!

Kinvaras: I ran a race last weekend wearing the Kinvara 3 and it was good. My feet were a little sore since it was a trail race and the shoes don't have a lot of support, but other than that, they were great! I may add Saucony to my list of approved running shoes!

Next up: commando running! 

What is new to you that other people may have been using for a while!? What's a cool and useful thing that I should know about?

Eating For One

So I am living alone now. It's a little weird.

First I was on the road, where you barely stay in one place for more than a day or so. Your meal plan consists of whatever you can carry that won't melt or spoil OR eating out (if it's cheap). So, you eat a lot of tuna and crackers and top ramen.

Then I stayed with my parents. They make a (mostly) round meal at least once a day. Actually my Dad forces them on my mom at least once a day. She (and he too) would eat gorp all day if the other one wasn't around. But while I was there, we ate a real meal once or twice a day. With three food groups and all that good stuff.

When I am with my boyfriend, he is a meat eater. His family could eat MEAT and nothing else almost every day.

When I am living with someone else I love to cook. However, now that I am on my own, I don't really cook anything elaborate. AND I pretty much eat the same thing every day. All of these lovely ladies (and by the way, that bacon mac and cheese that Nora made looks YUMMY) have been talking about their meal planning and I thought I would give you a little taste of what I am eating.

FRUIT

FRUIT with Cottage Cheese

FRUIT with yogurt and granola

Plain Yogurt (with fruit!)

Yummy Salads

Have I told you I used to be a vegetarian? It's all coming back to me now. I have also been eating wraps, burritos and lots and lots of coffee!

Have you heard of Lose It? You can download it for your phone and then enter in what you eat and how much exercise you do. It's kind of like free Weight Watchers. Also it's good to know. You know? Just for kicks. Like THIS:

Coffee Creamer is going to be the Death of me!

Hey I even exercised a little this day!

 A Burrito a Day keeps the Dr Away

And there you have it. Eating: For Single Women.