Am I eating real, whole, healthy foods that are good for me?

The appearance of 10 mystery pounds over the last few months led me to take a close look at the food I have been eating. I discovered a few enlightening, but not surprising, realizations:

• In March, on our college tour trip of the Pacific Northwest, the quest for the perfect bacon donut didn’t help.
• In April, a girls weekend involving wine and bourbon didn’t help either.
• In May my bacon birthday bash (which was absolutely fabulous by the way) led to a lot of bacon-laden leftovers for the week following the party. Not so good either.
• In June, I had McKinley’s graduation (a lot of celebrating), the county fair (tons of fried food and other “not so good for you” treats) and a week of camp (with cocktail hour each night, plus tons of food, even if it did involve a salad bar twice a day, and an occasional “Lair Burger”).
• In July, we had several celebrations and BBQs – for July 4th, and a couple of birthdays… cake, BBQ, chips & dip, potlucks, what can go wrong…

You can see why this isn’t such a mystery any longer… In looking closer at what I was eating, I also discovered a few other bad patterns:
• I was eating on the run a lot, which meant more carbs and less healthy, good, whole food.
• I had stopped planning out my meals for the week and my food for each day, which led to too much time in between meals. This time lag led to an “eat whatever is handy” mentality, which also meant carbs.
• I was hanging out and meeting friends for a glass of wine, which led to a lot of unnecessary calories.

So, what to can I do to get back on track? Meal planning also helps keep me on track. Packing leftovers and bringing them to lunch the next day at work helps a lot. Finally, being mindful and paying attention is what helps me the most to get (and stay) on track for healthy eating! Unfortunately, this one is easier said than done for me!