I got myself to enter my food into my food journal. That’s the victory for today. I wanted to just forget about it. It just didn’t interest me today. But, I did it and I looked at my history of results briefly. I’m doing pretty good eating the way I should.

There are some things that aren’t great yet. I could use more iron and still less sugar. I was thinking just now that it would be interesting to look at my eating habits from a few years ago and how my nutrition has changed. I took some of my typical foods from three or more years ago and created a fake day on my food tracker. I started with some frosted mini-wheats for breakfast, Jimmy John’s for lunch, and spaghetti with marina sauce for dinner. I then looked at sugars, carbs, and overall calories in comparison to my average today.

Calories were about 200-300 higher than what I would have on high calorie day today, up to 700 higher than some days. Back then a day like the one I described would give me about 340 grams of carbohydrates and 150 of sugar.

Now, I’m usually below 200 grams of carbohydrates. Sugars generally stay between 50 and 100 though I can definitely get below 50 grams sometimes.

That’s something really powerful for me to see. I made a major change in my life and have stuck with it. I can only imagine how obese and unhealthy I would be if I hadn’t taken that leap. Instead, my health has gotten much better and while I could still lose a few pounds I just hit the overweight category and am no longer medically considered obese. I can actually look at myself in the mirror and say “doing pretty good.”

I ate out today. I had a California burger with some sweet potato fries and orange pop. That’s not a particularly healthy meal at all, but I still feel okay about it. Most of the time I am eating right. I am building my body, getting my fruits and veggies. I look back at what I used to eat and so much came out of a box or bag or can. It wasn’t real. I feel good about being able to recognize my food as food.

That’s what I would encourage others to do too. Care for your body like it is precious because it is. Feed yourself the best, real food and treat yourself gently.