Do you "track" what you eat?

[Arbee26]

On one raw food site, it talks about logging all of your food in an online calorie counter in the beginning, to make sure you are eating in the right ratios. Do any of you worry about that?

[SevenKindsOfCookie]

I don't log everything I eat, but I do look up the nutrient content of different foods and recipes every now and then.
I think it's good to know in rough numbers what things contain, and which foods are rich in or lacking certain nutrients. That's something I didn't know the first time I tried to eat raw 8 years ago, and it didn't go well.

I do keep track of my weight though since I don't want to loose more.

[coco]

I know that those tracking sites are useful and I keep thinking that I could/should use one but... I am reading the book In Defense Of Food right now and my mind is travelling in a different direction. I recommend giving it a little look through, it's fairly fantastic about examining and demystifying the modern focus on nutrients instead of real, whole foods.

[Veganforlife]

Nope I don't. I don't feel there is a need to. But that's me...

[margoss]

I don't log it but I keep a mental note. I have a tendency to lean toward fruit, cukes. I have to make sure I'm getting enough veggies. I do this mainly with the smoothies.

[rawrawks]

Nope...the freedom of raw. I eat what I want when I want...I dont track nothing nor count nothing..I love it!!!

[DopeRawAbundance]

Only go logging what you eat if that sounds fun to you. If its something to "worry about" skip it. As some people said, it can be cool to look at the nutritional analysis of things on websites like Nutrition Data, but I prefer not to get too caught up on manmade explanations of food properties.

[klomasius]

Erghh...

If I had to track my food consumption, I think I'd run screaming!

Calorie consumption, food logs, tracking are all words I tune out when I hear them. I like to enjoy my food.

[Revvell]

On one raw food site, it talks about logging all of your food in an online calorie counter in the beginning, to make sure you are eating in the right ratios. Do any of you worry about that?

Heck no! ... and, what does worrying solve? If one wants to do it, they could without adding the worry.

I have my students keep a food diary just so they get a view of when, where, why and how they eat so they can get an overview of emotional eating/overeating/cravings but no, no calorie counting, nutrient scoring or any of that. That's the freedom of raw as RawRawks said.

[Seedy]

I've been raw for about 3 months now, but have not lost any weight due to a very rich gourmet raw diet. Nothing wrong there. Alissa recommends lots of uncooking at first just to get into the pattern of a raw diet. But last week I was literally sick from all the fatty rich food. I've heard that one's body eventually will tell you when its ready for simpler fare and mine certainly did. So I decided to go with simple fruits salads, smoothies, salads and wraps. No fancy stuff for a while and see if I can lose 20 pounds. I did track my food yesterday just to double check that I would be getting enough calories. I had a large fruit salad sprinkled with sunflower seeds for breakfast, a large cole slaw for lunch (made from cabbage, carrots, apples, celery, walnuts and raisins), a large salad with 1/2 avocado for dinner, and a snack of cherries and almonds. I measured and tracked everything using the 'Lose It' app on my iPod Touch. The result: 1298 calories, 26% fat, 66% carbohydrate, 8% protein. Right at the goal the app calculated to lose 1.5 pounds per week.
Seedy

[T-Bird]

no - I don't bother with that, that's weight watchers, not RAW, IMHO.

Seedy - are you rich or talented to be eating rich gourmet all the time??? I am so jealous!!!

But - nothing I love better than a mixed bb greens salad with tom and cuke and avo. Da Bomb! There is no beating it.

Luckily - it's an excellent accompaniment to a rich gourmet meal, lol!!

If I were to count anything - it'd be cups of greens per day. Like to keep that high. Fruit is fast food. No worries about getting too little.

Anything else is restricted by cost or effort or both!

Went raw jan 11th, I am now within HS weight and sharing some T's with DD (13). Do want to get 1-2 sizes down, but my requirement to"rethink" and "make changes" is to go a calendar month without losing a pound. So far, hasn't happen.

So easy to just eat healthy and enjoy!

[Moretta]

Nope...the freedom of raw. I eat what I want when I want...I dont track nothing nor count nothing..I love it!!!

Exactly how I do it.

[Seedy]

[QUOTE=T-Bird;559454]
Seedy - are you rich or talented to be eating rich gourmet all the time??? I am so jealous!!!
QUOTE]

Ha! I wish (LOL). No, I've just been induging in recipes from Alissa's and Ani Pho's uncookbooks. Recipes made with lots of nuts, nutbutters, tahini and olive oil. For example, I loved Alissa's date nut tort. But the last time I made it I couldn't even finish a piece. My stomach said No! Too rich! The tort ended up going bad in the fridge. Last week I went a little fat crazy with guacamole-stuffed marinated mushrooms, olive oil massaged kale salad, nutty flax crackers, and a nut-crusted pie (all in one day), and my funky gall bladder finally rebelled. Two days of vomiting later and I decided to start paying attention to my body and start eating a lower-fat simpler diet. I don't intend to count calories everyday. It was just a spot check.
Seedy

[cara4art]

No, and you know, I never really did when I was eating more cooked food either. I see this "tracking" kind of stuff going on over on a fitness board where I hang out from time to time, and these poor girls(mostly younger ones I might add)just go crazy with calculating their macros(protein, fat, carbs)and calories that many just get obsessive about it. Then a lot of them still aren't losing much of the weight they need to lose anyway, or they're white-knuckling it through their diets.
With using common sense, you simply can't go wrong if you are eating fairly simple raw foods, and getting a serious move on. Granted, some people can handle more fats than others, and others still can handle more fruits, but what it boils down to is finding the balance that works for you.
To Seedy - I'll bet you had fun making all that stuff, but you were wise to back off from eating that all the time - it IS an awful lot of fat, even raw fat! Your gallbladder let you know, as our bodies WILL tell us one way or the other what's what, if we're paying attention, on the subtle levels, or in your case, it bumped you over the head with that gallbladder attack. Feel better soon - I know a woman who had gallbladder troubles and she finally had to have it removed. She's doing a lot better now though. Maybe limiting yourself to a gourmet treat once a week or something might work better. There are lots of wonderful simple things you can do raw that are tasty too. As one continues, one will gravitate more to simpler stuff anyway, and save the gourmet stuff for treats/guests/special occasions. Again, what works for YOUR body is what counts. Hope this all helps!

[HereAndThere]

I tracked when I first started out in raw so I could see if I was getting what I needed. And I am - I'm doing more than fine nutritionally. But do I track all the time? Not in the least. I'd rather eat my food, not count it. :p

[Arbee26]

Thanks so much for all the replies and input!! I didn't really want to track everything; I tried calorie counting a while back and thought it was a huge pain in the neck. But I don't want to do this the wrong way.... if there is a wrong way. :)

[rawrawks]

there is NO wrong way to eat raw. However and whatever works for you.

[T-Bird]

Seedy -

Still sounds like you're talented to me! I spent my entire Sunday making 7 veggie burgers. They taste a little odd to me, but are fairly satisfying. They taste like a "bad" veggie burger......but not particularly raw at all. They hold together nicely, would make good meatballs I think,

I am still exhausted from the effort - and 4 of the burgers are gone!

I have a an old kitchen with little counter space and no dishwasher - so that might be the thing, as well. I had to wash the food processor, juicer, and vitamix, plus bowls, etc. etc.

I'm so hungry - I want to make more complex, heavier foods. But I'm too tired/lazy to pull it off.

[Nymue]

I think the calorie tracking is more for those following the 80/10/10 raw food diet. They use the online calculators to make sure they are getting 80% carbs, 10% protein, and 10% fat.

But for the rest of us that allow more healthy fats in our diet, it's really not necessary. Echoing what others have said, our body will tell us if we are getting too much or too little of something.

[Katie P]

I don't count anything. I listen to my body....it changes alot so an awarence of what goes in your mouth is a good thing but I don't recommend counting. Like I'm learning that simple foods like fruit are better for me @ night rather than veggies or fats. Pay attention & that's all you gotta do!

[commoncents]

If I had to track what I ate, I'd be crazier than I am now.

Can barely remember my name most days (tee, hee).

[Care4raw]

I've done it. It was really enlightening. i think thats the point. Even 811's as mentioned, will do it only a limited time to get a realistic view of what cals and nutrients as well as fats they are consuming. i personally never had counted anything before and found it a healthy education. Its also a very cool webpage at Fitday (theres a few good sites)...with a little pie (not as in food pie:cool:) illustraion that visually shows in a day the % of protien, fats, etc as well as cals consumed.
I personally do not always listen to my body. Its more of a process of waking up to my body, 'cause even after years of this my body still says;" 'oooow i just want cooked pasta", etc :)
For me a little education actually went a long way.

[VeGenesis]

I would like to bump this thread. I am interested in what do people track? I understand where Dr. Doug's main push is - in sports and if I were a professional NBA player... Wait, maybe that was last night's dream...

The point is I am not an NBA player.

So for the people who do track, what do you track?

Fat? Protein? Carbs? Calories? Or do you track things like how much extracted food verses whole food? Or how about stuff like how much Iron or Calcium you are getting or how much B1 or B6 or C?

If I were a professional tennis star ... but I have a ruptured plantar tendon from my army days and cannot even run!

I think I would need something more along the lines of what my 7 year old son can remember! Not something that I would need a computer and a high speed internet connection to figure out each time I put something into my mouth!

I do think people who have a major illness, or who want optimum health, must consider more than some others. My near death with the liver flush / oil overload proved that to me. I really do not believe people with heart disease should do such things. They said on CureZone that 46-48% of people had improvement after a liver flush and 1-12% had some problems and included some people like me who regretted doing it. CureZone didn't say how many died, but that may be because dead people don't complain! :D

I have changed the way I eat, partly going back to the RAW118 I have done before, and partly looking a foods that I think do not belong in my diet due to some factors like immune response or inflammation. Or just new better information - like increasing the amount of greens will provide all the Omega 3 building blocks your body needs (I'm looking for ways to figure out how much is actually needed on a personal level - "one pound per person" doesn't seem correct when 3 years ago I lived in a bedroom with one 85 pound person and one 528 pound person!).

So for those that do keep track, what do you keep track of?

[RawHealthyBeauty]

Well, as far as the typical tracking of food goes for instance, like counting and all that is something that I don't agree with at all!!
However, since I've decided now that I want to keep track of my happy exercises which is what I call it! :) I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of what raw food and only raw food, (no counting allowed or any tracking of that other stuff for me) that I'm eating daily for future references. I always find that one of the first questions for those who are curious about raw food always ask exactly what do you eat from day to day.
From this standpoint of view, I just thought it would be a good idea as far as having proof that raw food does wonder sort of a thing! Alissa also points out in her book that it is good to keep a journel of what you're eating, how you feel, the results, and etc. Before I really didn't care for that idea very much, now I think it's a really great idea!!
Happy Raw Records!! :)

[Ripe Avocado]

I do not track it every day but sometimes I do just out of curiosity and wonder. It is really cool to me to see all the nutrients I am getting, I try to get all my levels at least over the 50% mark, if not 100%.

I used to obsess over calories and still sometimes do so for me NOT tracking helps me keep at peace with myself and true to raw foods, if this makes sense.