Tracking Your Food
Tracking your food used to mean something quite different than it does now.
It used to be donning clothing to help you blend in, carefully stalking your prey in utter silence to eventually plunge an arrow, spear or bullet into the side of your future dinner. Now it means searching a food database in your smartphone. Or measuring out portions, or counting your almonds.
What is tracking’s place in a healthy diet and lifestyle?
Tracking your food intake can be very effective in the short term to help you realize how much or how little you are eating and to learn the macronutrient profiles of your favorite foods. However, once this information is learned tracking can become tedious. Admittedly, this will likely take several months for most people who are unfamiliar with nutrition.
There are a few who will be quick learners and who eat very similarly from day to day who might have a good grasp on what they were eating without tracking even after a few weeks. And on the other end of the spectrum, there will be those who may need to track for a year before they get the hang of portion sizes and which foods are high fiber or protein or fat, etc.
Regardless, it must be emphasized that tracking is a means to an end, not the end itself. Long term, the goal is to understand the basic profiles of the foods you eat and understand appropriate portions and combinations of foods. Tracking your food was never meant to be something you do forever.
What is the next step if you’ve been tracking for awhile and feel you’ve mastered it?
Estimating portions based on your hand. Yes, based on your hand. But don’t take my word on it. Review the infographic below by Precision Nutrition.
If you are tracking now and don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, I hope you found this helpful. Master tracking, get your diet under control, then move on to hand based portion control.
