2569: Food Logging by Steve Pavlina on Food Tracking Tips & Mindful Eating

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[00:01:05] This is Optimal Health Daily, Episode 2569. Food Logging by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com.

[00:01:13] And I'm your host and narrator, Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there and thanks so much for joining me once

[00:01:18] again on Optimal Health Daily, the podcast where I read to you from some of the best blogs covering

[00:01:24] health, fitness, diet and nutrition, and so much more. And with that, let's keep this intro nice

[00:01:30] and short and get right to today's post and optimize your life. Food Logging by Steve Pavlina

[00:01:41] of stevepavlina.com. If you'd like to raise your awareness about what you're actually eating and

[00:01:48] how it affects you, food logging is a simple and effective way to do this. Six weeks ago, I decided

[00:01:54] to start keeping a log of everything I ate in a small notebook. I also keep track of calories.

[00:02:00] I wanted to raise my awareness of what I was eating and how calorically dense each meal was.

[00:02:07] Computing the calories is easy. I use a small kitchen scale to weigh quantities of foods

[00:02:12] and then I just ask a nearby smart device what the calories are. Usually Google or Alexa can

[00:02:17] give the correct response to a question like, how many calories are in 200 grams of strawberries?

[00:02:23] And if not, then I can just look it up online. Once I've already figured out the calories for a given

[00:02:29] meal, I don't have to recalculate it so this gets easier over time. I know that some people use apps

[00:02:35] for this purpose. I prefer to use the small notebook and a pen. I also don't worry about

[00:02:40] perfection so sometimes I just guesstimate calories, especially for water-rich veggies

[00:02:46] which don't have many calories anyway. If I'm off by plus or minus 50 calories at the end of the day,

[00:02:53] that isn't a big deal. I want to keep the tracking simple. In the six weeks that I've been logging,

[00:02:59] I lost 8.2 pounds without really trying, so about 1.4 pounds per week. I felt no deprivation,

[00:03:08] didn't skip meals, and always ate when I was hungry. I could tell that I was eating less food

[00:03:14] and making slightly different choices though. The daily logging helped me see how satisfying

[00:03:19] each meal was relative to its calories. While calories alone aren't a perfect measure,

[00:03:25] they're a useful data point. Just seeing the calories connected to each meal and reflecting

[00:03:30] on my satisfaction after eating helped me make some simple changes. I learned that large green

[00:03:37] smoothies don't give me much enduring satisfaction. They're tasty and I enjoy them, but the satiety

[00:03:43] doesn't last long. It's easy to make a 500 calorie or more smoothie, drink it, and feel hungry an hour

[00:03:51] later. I might feel equally satisfied by eating two large peaches which would only be 140 calories

[00:03:58] total. Or I'll make a simple shake with a banana, 10 grams of walnuts, some maca powder, ice, and water

[00:04:06] for about 200 calories. Similarly, I learned that I can easily make a 700 calorie salad, but I might

[00:04:13] actually be more satisfied with a bowl of brown rice and steamed broccoli for half the calories.

[00:04:19] I've been averaging far fewer bananas lately, probably just one per day on average. I'm eating

[00:04:24] a lot more peaches, strawberries, blueberries, apricots, and clementines. A couple of apricots

[00:04:30] makes a nice little snack for only 50 calories. Peaches have been one of my favorite foods lately.

[00:04:36] A ripe peach or two is so delicious and satisfying relative to its calories. I've eaten as many as

[00:04:43] five in a day which is still only 350 calories. I also love combinations like a bowl of sliced peach

[00:04:50] with strawberries or blueberries. Steel-cut oats with peaches, blueberries, or strawberries is my

[00:04:56] most common breakfast these days. I've also learned to be very conservative with oils and other fats

[00:05:01] which can be nice for extra satiety by slowing the digestion of a meal. Adding four to six grams

[00:05:07] of coconut oil to a bowl of oatmeal adds 35 to 55 calories but makes the meal feel more satisfying.

[00:05:15] Same goes for adding one teaspoon of hemp seeds or six to ten grams of walnuts to a modest smoothie

[00:05:21] or shake. A little bit of added fat here and there can be a nice addition, but it's really easy to

[00:05:27] add extra fat to a meal and not make it any more satisfying. I still eat salads often, but I greatly

[00:05:35] limit the sources of added fat like avocados and olive oil. In the past, I would often have

[00:05:41] half of an avocado on a salad and now I just have a quarter or skip the avocado entirely.

[00:05:47] The tracking is super easy and doesn't feel tedious at all. Actually, I enjoy doing it because

[00:05:53] it's an interesting learning experience. Doing this is a simple habit now so I'll continue doing this

[00:05:59] for the weeks ahead as I keep learning how different trade-offs affect me. Another thing

[00:06:05] I've learned from this is that I usually get hungrier on days when I don't exercise. I go for a morning

[00:06:11] run five to six days per week which burns seven to eight hundred calories before breakfast according

[00:06:16] to my apple watch. On those days, I'll typically eat around 2,100 calories but when I don't exercise,

[00:06:24] I'm more likely to eat 23 to 2400 calories. Again, I'm not trying to hold back on food intake

[00:06:31] so I eat when I'm hungry. I just found it interesting that running in the morning

[00:06:36] doesn't make me want or need more food. I actually feel satisfied with less on those days.

[00:06:42] I've also learned that if I come in relatively low on calories one day, I'll naturally want to

[00:06:47] eat more the next day. Having a lower calorie day will especially make me feel hungrier the

[00:06:52] next morning so I haven't seen any value in deliberately trying to cut calories by eating

[00:06:58] less. Overall, this experiment is helping me see that more food doesn't necessarily mean more

[00:07:04] satiety. I actually feel more satisfied with my daily meals now than I did before this experiment,

[00:07:11] perhaps because I'm paying more attention to satisfaction and thinking about that when I

[00:07:16] prepare meals. I've also removed any potential justification for not eating when I'm hungry.

[00:07:22] I've done a lot of different diet experiments over the years, including those involving

[00:07:26] raw foods, juicing, intermittent fasting, and water fasting, and this has to be the easiest

[00:07:33] one I've ever done. It would be no sweat to keep doing this for several months since it only takes

[00:07:38] a few extra minutes per day and doesn't involve any kind of deprivation or sacrifice. I'd recommend

[00:07:44] trying this for yourself for several weeks if you'd like to raise your awareness in this area

[00:07:49] and especially if you'd like to lose some weight with relative ease.

[00:07:54] Lately I've heard people saying that they've been gaining weight against their wishes while

[00:07:58] spending more time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. This may be an easy way to counter that

[00:08:04] effect while also learning more about your body's responses. You just listened to the post titled

[00:08:14] Food Logging by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:09:28] Need to hire? You need Indeed. Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:09:34] Here's why there's so much power behind keeping a food log. And in fact, Steve said it perfectly.

[00:09:40] It raises your awareness. You start paying more attention to what you're putting in your body and

[00:09:48] how satisfied or unsatisfied you feel afterwards. It basically makes you think twice before you eat

[00:09:54] anything. Here's what usually happens when someone keeps a food log. They're about to say devour some

[00:10:00] of that leftover pie from Thanksgiving. They open their refrigerator and reach for it, but before

[00:10:06] they go any further, they remember that if they eat this pie, they're going to have to record it

[00:10:12] in their food log. That thought alone may be enough to stop the eating behavior. So notice how keeping

[00:10:20] a food log automatically raises your awareness. And sure enough, when we look at actual studies,

[00:10:26] they find that taking note of what you eat and how much you eat is a very powerful tool when it comes

[00:10:31] to weight management. In fact, anytime a person starts to plateau or is no longer meeting their

[00:10:37] goals, one of the best ways to break through it is to keep a food log. It works almost every time.

[00:10:45] Alright, that'll do it for the Tuesday episode. I hope you have a great rest of your day,

[00:10:50] and I'll be back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.