Food Diary Observations

Since January 3rd, I decided to keep a food diary.  I wanted to get an idea of what I was eating and when, in the hope that I can make some changes if I need to.  While I've only been keeping it for about a week, I've noticed a few patterns already (some of these I was already aware of before now, but I was seeing them this week too):

• I eat when I'm tired.  I need to make sure I get a good night's sleep so I'm not mindlessly munching, especially later at night.
• I eat when I'm bored, particularly in the evenings.  I found a few times I had already eaten a snack, but I still went and ate something more anyway because I wasn't sure what else to do with myself.
• I like to munch on things when I'm watching stuff in the evening (I don't normally watch stuff at any other time of day).
• If I see something, I want it.  If I leave a bag of chips on my counter, I'm inevitably going to eat some.  This is doubly a problem if the bag is already open.

So evenings are a definite problem time for me with food.  I need to make sure I get a good night's sleep, I need to keep unhealthy foods out of sight (or better yet, out of my house!) And I think I'm going to need to find something to do to occupy my hands while watching stuff so I'm not automatically reaching for something to munch on.