How do you stay on track with your food intake

Reneetaylor84

I have been trying to keep track of what I eat which is the reason why I got this app to start with. It’s a lot of foods out that are good for me but I don’t like them. How do you keep yourself focused and just eating what you know is good even if you don’t really like it

xbowhunter

I eat 90% whole foods, and I actually like them so can't really help you there. Find whole foods you don't mind eating and keep them at your calorie goal and you will be well on your way to the best version of you.

neanderthin

Are you complaining that your normal diet of mostly processed foods is tastier than whole food that you've changed to in hopes of getting healthier and losing weight and your not too excited about that transition. Is that what your saying? curious.

Lietchi

Can't you find a way to eat (mostly) healthy AND tasty foods?
In some cases, it may be necessary to 're-educate' the taste buds a bit (for example, many people who lower their sugar intake find that after a while they no longer like the overly sweet foods they were used to), but overall I don't think eating foods you don't like is a very good strategy long-term.

jeri30

You could look into cookbooks for picky kid eaters, where they suggest combining the foods so they don't really taste the food they don't want to eat.

It can take a certain number of exposures to a food before you like it (6? 10? I don't remember the number exactly).

Also, your taste buds renew themselves about every 2 weeks, so if you start lowering the amount of sugar/salt you eat (tough it out for a few weeks or just decrease by a little until you get there), you'll get a point where fruit and veggies are tastier because now you can taste them as they're designed to be tasted rather than having the high amount of sweetness you're accustomed to eating from eating overly processed food with high amounts of sugar & salt in them interfere with the taste. When I did this, fruit tasted so much sweeter to me (the stuff like candy bars just tasted like I was eating out of the sugar bag now--bleh) and, before, I'd always roll my eyes at the thought bread tasted sweet, but it actually does!

Also, if you do these things & you just hate it (carrots, bleh--no matter what just taste like dirt to me, not sweet at all), then don't eat it. There was a study showing that if you don't find what you're eating tasty/pleasurable, you won't absorb as much nutrients as if you do find it tasty.

I like this article for explaining why it's good to eat what you find tasty:

https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2018-09-04/enjoy-your-food-its-good-for-your-health

Blueberries59

Good job. You already loggin. Stick with it and your palate will change and learn to like new and different food choices. Start cooking - Check out Eating Well, Kitchn, SkinnyTaste, Downshiftogy websites for recipe ideas. There are 1000's of other healthy sites. Commit to eating real, unprocessed foods most or all of the time. Increase your fiber intake from food. Aim to get 5 servings of fruits and veggies daily, by hook or crook. Hide veggies in chili or soup. Disguise veggies with other foods and sauces. Someone told me once that if I didn't like vegetables, I simply hadn't had them cooked properly. Check out Indian and Asian recipes. Make it a game to grow a bit every week. Give it a chance. Good luck.

AnnPT77

I generally agree with the advice above.

I'd add this: I don't think it's helpful to divide the world into "healthy foods" and "unhealthy foods". Yes, absolutely, some foods are more calorie dense or nutrition dense than others, and that matters when we plan our eating. But most foods contain some nutrition.

What matters more IMO is how the totality of our eating adds up, not just calorically but also nutritionally. The big deal is getting enough protein, enough healthy fats, a good lot of micronutrients and fiber, ideally from food, and most of it from so-called whole foods. But IMO it doesn't need to be a religious thing, with some foods marked out as bad (sinful, always and forever to be avoided), and others as good (superfoods that must be eaten).

It's not deadly to have some fast food in the mix, or treats. What matters is the context of overall reasonably good nutrition at appropriate calories, on average. It's also not required to eat any particular so-called superfoods. Life is possible without kale, or chia seeds, or whatever, if a person truly hates those.

IMO, life is definitely too short to eat disgusting things, but I may feel that way partly because I think there are quite a few tasty, nutrient-dense foods that aren't crazy-high in calories. I eat the veggies I like, the fruits I like, the protein and fat sources I like. I do try new things, and try to give them a fair shot, like cooking them in various ways to see if I like them better one way vs. another. During weight loss, I discovered some new foods that I really like a lot, doing that. There were some that I definitely noped out on, though!

I know myself. If I don't like what I'm eating - at least the majority of it - I won't stick to it. I'm willing to experiment, willing to try the "retrain tastes" kinds of things, willing to experiment with cooking, etc. I try to keep an open mind. But after what I figure is a fair trial of something, if I don't like it, I don't eat it.

SafariGalNYC

I keep myself on track by remembering all friends and the people in my family who died, or are in nursing homes because didn’t take care of themselves or make healthier choices. Pass me the kale.