[jthomas1600]

Originally Posted by bobthecockroach

How do you gauge for yourself how well you are eating?

Lately, I've been watching calories on everything I eat, but I've also sort of come up with three categories into which I place foods:

1. Things you can eat as much of as you want (fresh fruits and vegetables).
2. Things you can eat in moderation (meat, dairy and grain products).
3. Things you can eat only in extreme moderation (anything fried, anything containing processed sugar, and anything oil-based).


Anyway, what about you? What sort of mental tools do you use for eating healthy?

Yep, I don't have everything sorted really strictly into three categories, but I have been having some success with my diet lately by focusing more on what I need to eat to be healthy and less on what I have to avoid. I'm trying to make sure I get several fruit servings and several vegetable servings every day and plenty of protein and fiber which helps me feel full and avoid the junk.

Also, how does every time their meals? I tried for the longest time to eat like Muscle and Fitness magazine told me to...fairly healthy breakfast and a snack every 2-3 hours. This might be best for most people, but I've found that no mater how healthy I eat throughout the day, I tend to blow it 2 out 3 nights....you know have too big of a snack before bed. So now I try to eat just enough in the first 6-8hours of the day to put a little fuel in the tank, but eat the bulk of my calories in the afternoon or evening. Not the best theoretical plan, but for me I'll eat less over all this way.

[Art]

I eat breakfast when I'm hungry for it, lunch when I'm hungry for it and dinner when it is ready. I snack when necessary.

[bread man]

I think I do a similar thing to bob's 3 categories but I've never had it organised like that before. I'll probably think of it that way from now on. I usually make breakfast by far the biggest meal of the day. Usually I'll have 3 eggs, a bit of bacon, and a large bowl of fruit with a bit of yoghurt. Then, most days I just have something small around lunch and then a reasonable but not huge dinner. It's hard to keep consistent because my days are so different from each other with classes and 90 minutes of travel each way (and I can't eat on the train).

[normajean777]

I live at school so its basically deep fried food every single day.

[Ted Logan]

I have a couple rules: Eat as much protein as I want, eat whole foods whenever possible, and limit empty calories.