Well, it is the end of March and I am happy to report that I am well on my way to being fat. Since March 1st I have lost nine pounds. As of breakfast I have 134 pictures in my photo food journal. From the pictures I can see that 72% of my meals were prepared at home and 28% of my meals were prepared in a commercial setting. I can see that I had pizza for dinner (or breakfast) eleven times and I had five cheeseburgers during the month. I think that the pictures have really helped me quickly evaluate my diet and it also makes me more conscious of my eating since I take a picture of every little snack, which lately has caused me to skip the bad snacks altogether.
Leo Babauta at zenhabits.net posted a habit change cheatsheet; a few of the tips include: 1) Do just one habit at a time, 2) Start small and 3) Do a 30-day Challenge. I spent a month working to stop biting my fingernails, now two months later my fingernails are photo-ready. I spent a month working on keeping track of my meals through photos, now I am much more aware of my meals and as I said I am slightly slimmer. For April I think I am going to focus on establishing a better exercise routine (which in all honesty “better” would be spending ten minutes a day doing any physical activity).
I read two books on food this month, Food Matters by Mark Bittman and The Eat Clean Diet for Family and Kids by Tosca Reno. They both had their good points. I think I like Bittman’s 80/20 approach better than Reno’s 100% approach to clean eating. I also was less interested in the environmental concerns expressed in Bittman’s book than I am about the impact of food on my body directly. Both were helpful in advancing my knowledge on the subject. (DISCLAIMER: The links are not affiliate links, I haven’t gotten around to setting anything like that up yet.)
