When it was just Julie and me, figuring out meals was easy. We enjoy a broad variety of food, so most options worked. However, adding children really changed the process.
First, they have preferences, and those don’t necessarily match ours. Second, we have been more deliberate about meeting all of their nutritional needs to both grow and develop healthy eating habits. Of course, the first consideration about preferences can make the second consideration about nutrition more difficult.
However, I have not suddenly become a kids food blogger. This post is about a tangent that came off of this effort.
To be honest, I have never thought much about my own nutrition. Since my mom basically cooked all of our meals at home, we cook the vast majority of our meals at home, and with an eye towards keeping vegetables on the table, I figured we were probably doing okay.
With children, however, I have become more thoughtful about making sure that they are getting enough calories, the right calories, enough nutrients, and so forth. And that made me wonder if I doing it right myself.
After a cursory search online, I started logging my meals using MyFitnessPal. It’s free to use, and it has a massive collection of nutritional facts for food, which seemed necessary for convenience.
After tracking meals for about two months, I have come to a few conclusions.
Estimating food volume is hard
How many grams of cheese did I eat? Was that more like 1/2 cup of grapes or 1 cup? Is a handful of goldfish more like 10 or 20 pieces?
If there’s a recipe or known serving sizes, it’s much more straightforward to figure out how much I’m eating. I figure guessing is better than nothing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m regularly 30% off.
Oh, and restaurant food is basically impossible, especially when eating family-style.
Surprisingly close on total calories
When I started tracking, I figured I would be massively off my target calories. Having never thought about it before, it seemed unlikely that I had self-calibrated to this arbitrary standard.
Fortunately, I had. Some days are up and some are down, but without deliberately thinking about changing my diet, the total was reasonably close.
In retrospect, I guess the human metabolism and feelings of hunger do naturally self-regulate. Since I haven’t noticed significant weight changes over the years, I probably am somewhat in the ballpark.
Macros are way off
But I’m not patting myself on the back too much. I suspected I was carb-heavy, and I am very carb-heavy.
My first adjustment was being less concerned about fat. Fat, of course, comes in a varying quality, but it is important to keep in the loop.
My second adjustment was trying to find more protein, especially in snacks. Snacks tend to be empty carbs, so I have been going nuttier.
Getting fiber is hard
In two months, I haven’t yet hit my target fiber amount. Overall, I think I do alright. For most breakfasts, I eat steel-cut oatmeal with flax meal and fruit. Veggies make it in every meal. Except for the annoying thing where fruits make me nauseated, I try to find them at other times. And yet, it’s clearly not enough.
Iron and calcium, too
There are certainly very normal diets that get plenty of iron and calcium. That just isn’t how I eat.
Annoyingly, calcium also interferes with iron absorption, so I have become more deliberate around finding both of those separately.
Fruits are pretty free. Vegetables are totally free
I know a guy who went on a peach diet for awhile. He had to eat a lot of peaches.
In college, a friend once said he was just snacking on a bag of carrot sticks. Suddenly he realized he had eaten a pound of carrots.
I knew that fruits and vegetables are pretty healthy. What I didn’t quite realize is how few calories they have. A slice of bread has as many calories as two dozen carrot sticks.
So I guess the secret to fiber is just spend a long time eating a lot of veggies. I have tried to just double my intake by taking twice as much as I would have before.
However, my new rule of thumb is that I should just snack on fruit all of the time.
More beans
I don’t particularly like or dislike beans. However, the combination of protein and fiber (plus whatever other nutrients) make them the perfect addition to my diet overall. Eating a taco? Sure, it’s not a bean taco, but I can throw a handful in. Soup? Two cans instead of one.
And hummus all of the time.
Final thoughts
I wish I could say that I have noticed the benefits of these diet changes, but I really haven’t. I don’t feel better, but I also sleep like I have young children (because I do). My weight hasn’t changed much, but that has been stable for awhile.
The biggest change has been in how I look at food.
Previously, I just didn’t know much or pay much attention to the nutritional facts around food. Most of my eating decisions were based on general hunger or how appetizing the particular item was.
Now, I have a much better sense for how common foods fit into my nutrition, and if I don’t, I’m more likely to look at a nutrition label. I presume this has led me to better decisions overall.
Interestingly, it’s also changed how appetizing food looks to me. I try not to be snobby about food choices, but I’ll think twice when I’m looking for snacks, and more often than not, fruit wins.
I intend to continue to log my meals for at least a few more weeks. I want to monitor a long enough period to see whether the knowledge alone has nudged my habits enough to make a noticeable difference in my nutrition. And hopefully if it has, I won’t need to pay so much attention.