I wanted to reduce both general food intake. In particular, I wanted to track my diet without purposefully attempting to change it. More so I kept note of the foods I would partake in without internalized pressure from reminders about the food I was eating. This ensured an organic day where my food choices occurred as they regularly would. This went as expected! I often didn’t catch myself when picking what to eat! What did occur is that after grabbing my food and sitting down it would occur to me that it was a convenient time to log what I grabbed to eat, and in the cases where I forgot, by the end of the day I would be reminded to log the meals I forgot to log. On many nights where I did end up staying up later than expected, and I ended up snacking, I would likely end up writing it in my log the morning after.
With regard to my logging journeys outcomes recalling time, context, and food intake allowed me to recognize when I ate more than average and why. The later my meals, the higher my food intake to compensate for an increased intensity of hunger. If I ended up in a context where I was up late either with friends or stressed doing work I would eat more or snack more either because I would be hungrier, as a result of time between dinner and late night, or because I was around friends where I often have a more relaxed and playful state of mind in which I don’t consciously think about my caloric intake.
The process was informative, while a stressed state of mind and a playful one that results from good company have negative and positive effects respectively, the uniting component in both cases was a heightened degree of mindlessness or inattention to myself and my actions. If I’m stressed my mind is caught up with the activity at hand, if I’m having a good time with a friend I’m occupied with thoughts about our interactions. The food becomes a background aspect of my experience, the fact that I’m technically satisfied doesn’t really process and instead, I’m happy to eat that extra piece of food or to snack on something whether I need to or not.
If I could go back to the days of each series of meals/snacks I would attempt to log more about my state of mind at each meal, I believe there is potential to extrapolate more about the extrinsic and intrinsic factors at play with a more focused lens centered around mindfulness/mindlessness and the impact on how I approach the foods I eat.
## January 10th
– Lunch @11am – Panda Express Plate (Half Chow Mein Half Super Green + Teriyaki Chicken + Orange Chicken + Water)
– Dinner @6:15pm – Wilbur Dining (Noodles, Soy Sauce Cabbage, Fish)
– Snacks @10pm – Pound Cake w friends + Wine at secret santa
– Balanced meals with an above average nightly snack intake
## January 11th
– Brunch @ 1:00pm – Crepe (Blueberry, Bananas, Chocolate Drizzle), Eggs w ham, Hashbrowns. Sausage patties, some mashed potato
– Higher caloric intake than average
– Dinner @ 7:00pm – Burrito bar (Carnitas, cheese, beans)
– Snacks @ 10:00pm – Takis, Gummies during movie night + chips while playing games with friends
– More significant meals both for Brunch and Dinner with an above average snack intake. Slept very very late
## January 12th
– Brunch @1:15pm – Sausage, Eggs, Tater Tots, Ravioli + Chia and Oatmeal
– Dinner @6:30pm – Burger and Fries + Ketchup
– Carb heavy meals and no snacks! Slept early
## January 13th
– Lunch @ 11:30pm – Pork, Egg thingy, Pizza, Rice, Tea
– Dinner @ 6:30pm – Steak, Chicken, Fried Rice, A singular Crouton, Pasta
– Snacks @ 9:00pm – Like 4 cookies and chocolate milk omg aaaa friends also grabbed cookies
– Balanced meals, up late with friends doing work and snacking
