What I Really Eat: A Food Journal
A while back someone asked what I really eat since I can not eat grains, sugar, fruit, etc. So I spent a few days this week journaling everything I eat in a day. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but I only got Monday, Wednesday, and Friday’s food recorded.
Monday
- Breakfast: 2 eggs, scrambled in butter + cheese. decaf coffee + 2 T cream + stevia.
- Lunch: 1.5 (~6 oz) leftover lamb burgers, 2 large raw carrots + ~3 T coconut oil-almond butter spread. unsweetened iced tea.
- Snack: 1 square of 85% dark chocolate
- Dinner: roasted chicken + roasted, buttered cabbage
Wednesday
- Breakfast: 2 eggs, scrambled in butter + pastured sausage + cheese. tea + cream + stevia
- Lunch: leftover chicken curry, cucumber raita, 2 pieces grain-free bread + butter + celtic sea salt
- Snack: chai tea + 2 T cream + stevia
- Dinner: fiesta cabbage: cabbage, beef, onions, spices with sour cream and cheese, 1/3 cup cortido.
Friday
- Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled in butter, tea + cream + stevia.
- Snack: small bite of homemade chocolate: unsweetened chocolate + coconut oil. homemade kombucha
- Lunch: large salad of romaine and onions with a dollop of homemade creme fraiche, homemade salad dressing, and a few strips of bacon. 1 large roasted sweet potato + butter + celtic sea salt.
- Dinner: vegetable-beef minestrone: grass-fed ground beef, homemade stock, home-canned tomatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, swiss chard, herbs with dollop of homemade creme fraiche.
Please note that this is not exactly what my family eats. They eat potatoes, some grains, fruit, and raw honey. I also am noticing that I am not eating enough raw dairy. It is not as though I can’t tolerate, so I need to make a point of getting more in. That might explain why I am craving cheese today.
These are fairly typical days for me, so I took one and plugged it into Fit Day to see the nutritional breakdown.
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Notice that the highest percentage of my caloric intake comes from fat. I credit that fact for not getting hungry between meals and being able to resist those foods that I need to avoid. I also think that what I eat changes seasonally. For example right now I am eating hearty end of the winter foods, but in a couple of months there will most likely be a lot of greens, salads, and fresh, cooler foods.
It was interesting to stop and record my daily food intake to see what I am missing and what needs changing.
Have you ever kept a food journal?
What are you eating these days?
Thank you for sharing. It is a pleasure to see how others eat. Could you share your sources for healthy olive oil you mentioned?
Philis – This is tough. I usually buy an organic cold pressed EVOO from Trader Joes. Chaffin Family Orchards makes great olive oil, but unfortunately they have sold out this year.
Looks great to me. Where do you find such dark chocolate? Also, what’s your recipe for the almond butter-coconut oil carrot dip?
~M – I buy unsweetened dark chocolate and then melt it down and mix it 50/50 with melted coconut oil. Add sweetener and sea salt to taste and then pour it into a pan and refrigerate. Yum.
~M – The almond butter-coconut oil was just something I threw together. I had about 1 T of almond butter left in the bottom of a jar and added 2 T melted coconut oil, a dash of stevia and a dash of almond extract and sea salt. It was so good that I will be coming up with more complete recipe.
The soups you make sound soo good. 🙂
That looks pretty great to me! I’ve been thinking of doing this myself – I get that question all the time, “What do you eat?”
I’ve been eating a lot more fat recently and having the same experience – less hungry and fewer cravings.
I have written down (almost) everything I’ve eaten for the past 207 weeks. I lost 70 pounds, went through a terribly stressful time (and got lax) and re-gained 40. Now, no matter what I do, I cannot lose it. I just ordered a treadmill and am hoping that will help but aside from that…am totally stuck. We eat tons of veggies, free range/roaming grass-fed meats, raw milk, raw cheeses…any tips???
andrea – I can say that I empathize with your situation. I have been stalled for quite sometime now on weight loss. All I know is that keeping carbs low is the only thing that at least keeps me from gaining. I do think it is hormonal. Have you had your thyroid levels checked?
I recorded my diet strictly for 30 days once (at the advice of my naturopath) and noticed that I was eating way too many grain-based foods. I eliminated grains almost completely, and added a lot more raw dairy. I am much healthier, and my blood sugar and energy level is stable all day.
Its amazing what just writing it down can really do to make you so much more conscience and aware of what you’re eating. It really helped me with balance. I wouldn’t have guessed that i was ingesting so many carbs, until i made myself look at it on paper.
I made homemade chocolate to taste by melting a Dagoba unsweetened organic fair trade baking chocolate block, a bit of coconut oil and a tiny bit of honey in a glass bowl over a pot of gently simmering water just until melted and blended. You can add more honey to taste until it tastes right to you. You can shape it into candy molds or just pour onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets and cool in the fridge until solid. It’s so easy to do, and you can use that to make your own candy, chocolate dipped fruit etc.
It’s wonderful!
We’ve been on the GAPS diet for 2 years and two days. We eat LOTS of vegetables, pastured meats, eggs, goat milk kefir, goat milk yogurt, lots of bone broth soups,
fish, fruits, ghee and LOTS of coconut- oil, milk and flour. I substitute celery root or turnips for potatoes in almost all recipes, and also use a lot of winter squash in place of potato/starch in our diet. I make a huge crockpot of bean soup at least once a week- black bean, navy, split pea or lentil, all soaked overnight per NT’s direction.
I also make pumpkin or butternut squash soups,
some chili etc.
We’ve recently added in some seeds- soaked and dried sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
My husband and I also eat some soaked/dried tree nuts, but the children are still allergic to that as well.
We don’t eat cow’s milk yet- dairy allergies still,
and don’t eat any grains, potatoes, sugar, bread etc. We have a great diet- my kids have hot breakfasts every day and carry their lunch to school daily. I usually have the hot soup in the crock pot Sunday so it’s ready to ladle into the thermos on Monday morning- our crazy back to school day.
T-
How do you use the coconut oil so much? I’m on the SCD (specific carb diet) and am trying to get more fats into my diet. I try to eat 1/2 an avocado each day. And I use butter. But I’d like to add more coconut oil and don’t know how. Just as a sidenote, I was reading through the Eating for Your Bloodtype book and it said that no blood type should eat coconut. Odd.
Michelle
Michelle – I recently purchased unflavored coconut oil (expeller pressed) and that is the only way I can do it. I cook eggs with it. I roast vegetables in it. I add some to tea. You can make chocolate by adding melted coconut oil, melted unsweetened chocolate (or cocoa powder) and honey. I have never read the eat for your bloodtype book.
I forgot to say that on the SCD one eats a lot of bone soups veggies and meat. I just need to add fats. I do make breads and pancakes out of almond flour.
michelle
Do you have a recipe for the grain-free bread that you mention?
Nicole – I am working on the recipe and it still needs a couple of ingredient tweaks. I will share when it is ready :).
andrea, try apple cider vinegar with warm water, 1 tablespoon per cup. I lost 20 lbs. the first month when weight loss was at a stall. Make sure its real cider, Not synthesized from a main line grocer. Oh with each meal.
I am a celiac and get the same rediculous question from people, “What DO you eat!” I have been living just fine without wheat, barley, rye and no dairy. Have finally started feeling better after eating wrong for 62 years. I found a celiac support group and that has really helped I am NOT alone. I eat tons of organic veggies, grass fed beef, organic fruit and gluten free grains. We have a share in an organic CSA and that has been a huge blessing.
I forgot to add that I am a lifetime member of Weight Watchers and the only way I can keep my weight where it belongs is to write everything that I put in my mouth on a list EVERY day without fail. Write it before you bite it. Cute rhyme, but it works. And eat as close to nature as possible. Fresh everything.
I have been on a similar diet for about a month also. The foods fill me up, and I have very few cravings. Having eaten whole foods for years has definitely helped the transition!
It’s funny, I told my naturopath last week how nice it would be to see a log other people on this diet. Thank you Catherine for sending me the link!
I did want to ask what your nograin bread consisted of. I can have sprouted bread in moderation, and berries or green apples. I enjoy a bowl of cut berries, nuts and seeds, raw cream and stevia for breakfast if I don’t eat eggs.
The one thing I noticed about your diet was not a lot of raw food. Do you do more raw on other days? I know you mentioned more salad in the warmer weather. Can you eat any fruit?
Maris
Maris – Yes, not a lot of raw foods available towards the end of winter. I do eat a lot of sprouts, though very little fruit. Like you I can do berries and green apples very occasionally but that is it.
I forgot to mention I am on this diet to help with lifelong excema issues. I am losing weight although that isn’t the goal. Anyone beat excema? It’s been such a battle.
Maris – I have not suffered with eczema personally, but have heard that dairy and grain free diets help as well as something called the GAPS diet.
Maris,
My children have horrible excema due mainly to food allergies. Their skin cleared up as soon as we eliminated their allergens, and being on GAPS/SCD has helped maintain their beautiful skin.
Shannon, you eat like we eat. I always LOL @ people in my family who say “oh, well what do you eat?” Duh, meat, veggies, dairy, same as you, only not from a box and no grains.
Hi Shannon. I was just at the Chaffin Family Orchards website, and they have some late harvest olive oil in stock now. I just ran out of the gallon I purchased last year, so I’m really happy they still have some available. I thought I’d let you know, since you mentioned above that you thought they were sold out for the year.
Very interesting post. I could only get 70% of my calories from fat is if I drank oil from the bottle. Which I know extreme endurance athletes do. Even when I mistakenly believed eggs were necessary for weight lifting I didn’t get that much fat.
P.S. Your site map is 404 not found and your copyright is for 2007.
Greg – That’s kind of funny. The only reason that I get that much from fat is because I am not eating grains or starches. I think I do eat a fair amount of produce, fermented and non, but good fats are just more nutrient and calorie dense.