Laura Rainbow Dragon
Moderator
After Getting My Diet Back on Track in December 2025, I'm ready to launch into the new year with a long-term, sustainable healthy eating plan. I'm calling this one "Mostly Homemade" because eating homemade, when possible, is helpful for me, but only homemade is neither realistic nor sustainable.
I don't have any hard and fast rules on which non-homemade items I will allow myself. For the most part I will be avoiding fast food and store-bought desserts, salty snacks, and freezer dinners. I will not be avoiding store-bought bread. Not even remotely! My body and wheat breads get along extremely well. When I eat a lot of sandwiches (including sometimes two and even three times a day) I find it easy to maintain my body weight where I want it, I always have the energy I need to complete my workouts, and I never feel unable to workout due to having too much or too-difficult-to-process food in my gut. Also: sandwiches are so quick and easy to make, they are a scheduling necessity if I am to maintain a mostly homemade diet long-term.
I can and sometimes do make my own bread. But it would be too burdensome on my time to try to eat exclusively homemade bread. And I have access to store bought breads which I like and which have excellent nutritional profiles. So there's no benefit to be gained in my avoiding eating them.
Other commercially prepared things I eat regularly include: Greek-style yogourt, nut milks, pickles, hot sauces, mayonnaise, and--of course--my beloved cheeses. I can make all of these things myself sometimes, but not all the time. And again: the nutritional profile of the commercially prepared items is generally pretty good. (The pickles and sauces can be pretty high in salt. But I have no need to eat a low salt diet. And if I avoid fast food, freezer dinners, and potato chips, my daily salt intake is well within health guidelines for a healthy adult human.) Occasional commercially prepared items include: butter, sausages, breaded fish, and cold cuts. I also still have an emergency supply of canned soup, and a couple of freezer dinners in stock.
The other primary aspect of my healthy eating plan is "Mindful Eating". That's where this log comes in. I'm not going to restrict myself to only three meals a day or to minimum fasting periods between meals. But logging what I eat does help me to refrain from mindless grazing, and knowing that I'll need to post my diet publicly helps me to say no to the Portuguese custard tarts and the latest spicy flavour of potato chips that my reptilian brain is 100% convinced are calling my name every time I set food in a grocery store.
Onward!
I don't have any hard and fast rules on which non-homemade items I will allow myself. For the most part I will be avoiding fast food and store-bought desserts, salty snacks, and freezer dinners. I will not be avoiding store-bought bread. Not even remotely! My body and wheat breads get along extremely well. When I eat a lot of sandwiches (including sometimes two and even three times a day) I find it easy to maintain my body weight where I want it, I always have the energy I need to complete my workouts, and I never feel unable to workout due to having too much or too-difficult-to-process food in my gut. Also: sandwiches are so quick and easy to make, they are a scheduling necessity if I am to maintain a mostly homemade diet long-term.
I can and sometimes do make my own bread. But it would be too burdensome on my time to try to eat exclusively homemade bread. And I have access to store bought breads which I like and which have excellent nutritional profiles. So there's no benefit to be gained in my avoiding eating them.
Other commercially prepared things I eat regularly include: Greek-style yogourt, nut milks, pickles, hot sauces, mayonnaise, and--of course--my beloved cheeses. I can make all of these things myself sometimes, but not all the time. And again: the nutritional profile of the commercially prepared items is generally pretty good. (The pickles and sauces can be pretty high in salt. But I have no need to eat a low salt diet. And if I avoid fast food, freezer dinners, and potato chips, my daily salt intake is well within health guidelines for a healthy adult human.) Occasional commercially prepared items include: butter, sausages, breaded fish, and cold cuts. I also still have an emergency supply of canned soup, and a couple of freezer dinners in stock.
The other primary aspect of my healthy eating plan is "Mindful Eating". That's where this log comes in. I'm not going to restrict myself to only three meals a day or to minimum fasting periods between meals. But logging what I eat does help me to refrain from mindless grazing, and knowing that I'll need to post my diet publicly helps me to say no to the Portuguese custard tarts and the latest spicy flavour of potato chips that my reptilian brain is 100% convinced are calling my name every time I set food in a grocery store.
Onward!
All the food was homemade. Just not by me.
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