BFH: Counting Calories Drives Me Crazy

I tried tracking my food and calorie intake for about one week a couple of Decembers ago. It drove me nuts! I haven't done it since.

My method of keeping track of my diet (not depriving-myself diet, but general daily food intake) is to make sure I've eaten certain amounts of certain kinds of food. Specifically, I aim for at least three servings of fruit and at least one of vegetables, although I frequently have two servings of vegetables because I eat one-cup portions of everything, and one-half cup is a serving of vegetables. I also aim to eat mostly, if not all, whole grains and some sort of lean protein item, which is usually beans, yogurt, cheese (not lean, but delicious!), or nuts. I don't like to eat meat very often.

I find prioritizing the fruits and vegetables helps my diet to be healthy and full of fiber and vitamins. I also drink at least one giant metal bottle of water while I'm at work, along with multiple glasses of water and mugs of tea at home; staying hydrated helps me to not mistake thirst for hunger. I'm drinking a glass of water right now, actually, while typing this and listening to the thundershower hitting the roof. (It's lovely.)

For an example of what I generally eat, I'll tell you what I ate today.

Breakfast: mug of English breakfast tea with soy milk and honey, one serving of oatmeal dressed with a dab of peanut butter and a sprinkling of cranberries, a banana, a few tamari almonds

Post-breakfast, pre-class snack: one of those individual-sized packs of raisins and another cup of tea

Lunch: chicken sandwich (sliced poached chicken, Creole mustard, and spinach on 12-grain bread), about 1.5 cups of red grapes

Mid-grading, mid-afternoon snack: a Snickers bar (terrible, but I heard crinkling paper outside my office and it made me want a candy bar real bad, and also, grading)

Dinner: one half of an everything bagel smeared with Neufchatel and topped with smoked salmon and capers, a pear, a few more tamari almonds

I should have eaten more vegetables today, but I didn't want any carrots or celery, and those are the only other "can be eaten raw" vegetables in my fridge right now. It's too hot for hot vegetables. For the most part, I eat balanced meals and whole foods, except for those snacky-snack urges. I exercise and eat reasonably-sized portions; I figure it'll all work itself out.