Daily Food Diary – Day 107 of 365

It has been 107 Days since I started tracking and posting my Daily Food Diary.  I have learned a lot about my consumption habits and have made a few necessary changes. 🙂

This month my focus has been on processed sugar and sodium. 

Becoming aware of where to find processed sugar in the foods that I eat, has helped me to eliminate the bulk of it.  

Some things, like the matrimonial squares and candy coated Easter eggs, were obviously an issue.    Things like premade pie crust or back bacon have been  more surprising.  It is only one gram here, one gram there… but it adds up,  if you are unaware of it.   

The thing with processed sugar, beyond the many unhealthy things it does to our bodies,  are the things it does to our relationship with food as a whole.  While sugar ramps up our energy in the short term, our appetite comes back with a vengeance and particularly our craving  for MORE processed sugar. 

I have known forever how processed sugar affects my daily diet.   Since keeping this daily diary, it has been interesting to see how MUCH processed sugar affects my daily diet.  This is particularly true if I start my day with sugar packed cereals, store bought muffins  or breakfast bars, pancakes or  waffles with syrup, or the like.   That opens my entire day to bad food choices.

Since starting my Daily Food Diary, I have been relatively shocked by how much sodium I ingest.  I knew there was a LOT of sodium in things like potato chips, condiments,  oriental sauces, canned gravy, bacon, ham, and more.  There have been surprises –  like the high sodium content in Paratha and back bacon!

I am gradually making changes to how I manage my sodium intake.  Cooked vegetables get (salted butter) and pepper – no added salt.  Eggs, raw vegetables, soups or stews, etc.  get a pinch of salt that I can control – NOT straight out of the shaker or grinder hits that I cannot.   Pan frying is done with olive oil rather than buttered salt.   My husband, who does our shopping, has been bringing home  low sodium or lightly salted options. It all helps!

With sodium it is a process, but one that is progressing with the help of my Daily Food Diary.    The changes I have made are  slight and gradual – but that will help me to make them sustainable in the long run. 😊

Daily Food Diary – Day 107

Breakfast:

(1) c coffee (2) (4.7 mg)

(2) slices back bacon (35) (500 mg) (1 g)

(2) eggs (160) (140 mg)

(5) asparagus spears (16) (10.5 mg)

(1/4) c green onions (10)

(1/4)  c red bell peppers (13) (1.5 mg)

(1/8) tsp salt (291 mg)

Snacks:

(1) c licorice tea

(48) oz water

(20) Doritos (255) (382 mg)

(1/2) c sunflower seeds w/shell (265) (225 mg)

Supper:

(4) oz roast beef (219) (61.2 mg)

(6) tbsp beef gravy (30) (480 mg)

(15) tater tots (233) (333 mg)

(15) asparagus spears (49) (31.5 mg)

(1) tsp butter (34) (31.7 mg)

Total net calories: 1216

Net calorie goal: 1259 – 1216 = 43 under 👍

Total Processed sugar:  1 gram

Processed sugar goal: < 25 grams 👍

Total Sodium:   2492.1 mg

Sodium goal: 1500 to 2300 mg 👎

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 🌞💞