I’ve finally got off my chuff and am doing something about my eating habits.  Enter a 35 cent notebook which is going to be my food diary.

I’m not a poor eater, on the whole I’m very healthy.  I just tend to nibble here and there, and I’m sure it all adds up.  If I commit to documenting every morsel that enters my gob, I’m sure I’ll be so much more disciplined.  Some of the things I know I do are…

• I drink two bottles of water in the 6-7 hours I’m at work each day, but at weekends and after hours, I tend to ‘forget’.  I’ve been better lately, and have had a topped-up bottle sitting around the house.  I’m getting good at swigging away at it whenever I see it.
• When I get home from work at around 3pm, I tend to have a bowl of steamed rice.  I LOVE steamed rice.  I normally have a stash prepared in the fridge which I just reheat.  Lately I’ve been cooking up 50% white/50% brown rice to try and increase the nutritional value, but I’m still not sure I could go 100% brown – just a bit too stodgey for my liking.  So while rice is pretty bland, it’s all starchy carbs.  It’s definitely a habit rather than a need, as I went for a swim after work on Monday which meant I didn’t get that ’snack’.  I lasted through until teatime instead.
• I also tend to have a bowl of rice around 8.30pm-9.00pm at night.  I think that’s more boredom than anything,and Graham is always telling me off for doing it!!  I put this down to having an early tea some nights, which means I get hungry again. 
• My portion sizes at tea time are far too big.  Having said that, half my plate is always salad so I’m happy about that, but once I add a few carbs (normally rice) and meat (normally lean chicken), the plate looks humungous.
• When I bake or do any cooking, I pick as I cook.  Little bits of cheese, a couple of chocolate chips here and there…  While I very rarely sample the finished product, again, it’s all the nibbling that goes on.  If I thought I had to document those tidbits, I’d never eat them.  But if I do, I’ll be able to reflect back by reading the notebook and see just how much it all adds up.

21 days to form  new habit.  Let’s see how the next three weeks go!