How do you track food?

nancycola

I love straight balsamic vinegar on salad. I don't use any oil at all. Add your favorite herbs.

Really? Just straight up vinegar with herbs? I tried just balsamic once and it was so tart for me. It stung my mouth. But maybe I put in too much. Herbs would really add something. What do you add? Chopped basil? Parsley? Thyme? What a good idea.

I saw a Food & Wine issue that featured this new ingredients chefs are using to make vinaigrettes and other sauces. Was it agar? It's supposed to help prevent separation of ingredients. No cals! Anyone ever use this?

slkehl

I read labels on everything but when eating out and making complicated recipes, I guess. I probably overestimate, but I figure that's better than the other way around.

Pebble321

My long term strategy has been to get used to eating a regular sized portion, so I tend to weigh things every now and again to check then eyeball things most of the time. I know that I'm not going to carry a scale around with me every day of my life, so I need to get used to what a serving size looks like.

Re dressings: usually I'll make a dressing with about 1 tsp olive oil plus lemon juice or some kind of vinegar with herbs for flavour. That serves 2 and doesn't add too many cals.
Other suggestions: plain balsamic is great, but you might want to try different ones to get a good tasting one that stands alone.
I've also used 1 tsp low fat mayo mixed with red wine vinegar - it makes a nice pink creamy dressing with pretty low cals.
Low fat yoghurt mixed with lemon juice is pretty good too.

shaynak112

I estimate. But I eat a lot of fruits and veggies. "1 carrot" is simply 1 carrot. I don't eat meat so I don't need to weigh them.
I read what's on the labels of things.
If I'm estimating, I try to always put calories towards the higher end.

MelbourneBelle

The one that surprised me a little was the calorific content of dressings, mayo, ketchup, mustard etc. I now log those.

Good tip, thanks. Its the thing I usually let slide.