My Personal Diet Modification

I consider my diet to be pretty healthy.  I do not like to eat out or away from home.  Sometimes that is impossible, especially being a military family and having to move as much as we do.   When we do move, I try to limit our fast food and if we do have to eat fast food, then I try to order a salad or eat at Subway if it is available.   With my family, I try to limit our processed foods when going grocery shopping.  The issue I have with being a part of a military family and our diet, is when we do move to get back into old habits when settling into new places. For example, when we were in Japan, I would have a food journal and got in the habit of getting fresh local foods off base.  When coming back to the states, I got out of the habit of the food journal and some of the fresh foods I picked up in Japan are not available or easily accessible in the United States.   Also another issue I have with my diet, that I didn't have in Japan is my water intake.  Being in Japan and how hot and humid it would get there, I had no problem drinking my recommended amount of water.  Moving to North Dakota , on the other hand, I find it hard to drink water here especially during the winter when the weather is -20. 

 

 

My strengths in my diet are I eat plenty of protein by eating egg whites, chicken, fish, turkey, and edamame.   I eat carbohydrates that consist of whole grains, oats, fruit and vegetables.  I also limit my fat intake and do not like to use butter or margin.  When cooking I prefer to use olive oil  and try to use avocados in place for my healthy fats.   I eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner.   I try and space my meals apart every three to four hours.  Between breakfast and lunch I eat a snack after my workout.  
As much as I try to eat clean, I still have my weaknesses.   For one, I need to drink more water, need to eat more of a variety of vegetables instead of  salad, broccoli and asparaguses.  I also have issues with M&M's.  If I don't buy them I am good but when I do buy them, I have a hard time with portion control.  
I need to get back in the habit of keeping track of what I eat so that I can see where and what part of the day I have the hardest time with my diet.  When I was keeping track of my diet in a journal, I noticed that my hardest part of the day to eat healthy came in the afternoon around 3pm when my energy slump would hit.   Keeping track of it made me aware and I could plan my snacks accordingly   I started to use almonds and dark chocolate chips to replace the M&M's when the craving hit.   I found by doing this, I still got my chocolate fix and I did not over do it like I do with M&M's.  Another bad habit that I need to change is my zero calorie monster drinks that I drink first thing and in the afternoon.  
The biggest challenge in my diet will be the happening in the next few weeks. When my family moves from North Dakota to Georgia.  The hardest part of the whole move is eating healthy during the three to four day drive.  We will not be going to restaurants because we are moving with our two Malamutes and the snacks and food we will be brining with us have to fit in the cooler or they do not have to be refrigerated.  This is when planning ahead of time will help me make healthier food choices by brining nuts, apples, bananas, baby carrots  in the cooler to stay fresh for snacks.  An interactive website that helps you to determine if you are getting the correct amounts of macro nutrients and eating a well balance meal is Choose my Plate .  This web site has a Super Tracker.  "SuperTracker can help you plan, analyze, and track your diet and physical activity. Find out what and how much to eat; track foods, physical activities, and weight; and personalize with goal setting, virtual coaching, and journaling" (SuperTracker, n.d).


Reference

SuperTracker. (n.d.). SuperTracker. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/supertracker-tools/supertracker.html