Has anyone else been noticing that my food diary posts have been a little too close to perfect? I could always use more vegetables and fruit in my diet, but my fat intake has been low, protein high, fiber good, etc. I’m pleased to tell you that this tracking day I did not do well at all. It is very weird to feel pleased about a bad day, I know, but I wanted these posts to be about my real diet, and in my real diet I don’t eat really well all the time.

This was definitely a day full of bad choices.

{Click to Enlarge}

I started out well, with my favorite Kashi cereal.

When we got home from church I had a snack. Do you know about Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips and Laughing Cow Light Swiss wedges? I buy both in bulk at Costco. Be careful when you reach for those pita chips though, it’s easy to eat way more than one or two servings! This photo was taken on a salad plate, not a dinner plate, so the portion is quite small.

This dish should not have been that bad, but I used way too much Parmesan cheese when I made it. I invested in the higher priced 98% fat free ground beef to keep the fat content low, and then I went crazy with the cheese! Rookie mistake. This photo was also taken on a salad plate.

Another huge mistake. I didn’t roll out the pastry dough like I should have, so the portion of dough was much larger than was directed. I knew that pastry dough wouldn’t be healthy, but I didn’t realize it would be so awful, and I was so stuck on the idea of making this recipe that I ignored the nutrition stats on the package until after I made the dish. Big mistake.

The spinach and chicken borek wasn’t nearly filling enough for me that day, so I finished things off with an apple. Have I talked about Pacific Rose apples before? They are my favorite.

I really like showing this day to you because I think it shows that you really have to pay attention to what you are eating. The casserole and the borek don’t seem that bad, the meat was 98% fat free, the casserole was topped with healthy chicken, spinach, and reduced fat feta, but I wasn’t being really careful with all of my ingredients, and I definitely paid for that.

So painful to look at these stats!

I had double the fat, 3 times the sat fat, and 600 more calories than I would like to have on a daily basis yesterday. Yes, I’m a little bummed, but I 100% believe in the principle that it isn’t what you eat in one day that matters, it’s what you eat over time. The old fat Jenna would have had ice cream and oreos for days after looking at nutrition stats like this (actually the fat Jenna wouldn’t even have realized how many calories she had!), but the new Jenna knows that I can make up for this by learning from my mistakes.

Also:

• That Food Diary
• Conductor, I’d Like To Switch Trains Please
• Guest Post: Fitday.com