Over at Weight of the Evidence, Regina has posted a guide to low-carb menu planning made easy.

We clearly have different definitions of easy :).

There’s a reason I came up with what I call the lazy person’s guide to managing carbs…I just don’t have the mental fortitude it takes to do all that counting and planning on a daily basis! (This is one reason I’ve avoided Weight Watchers like the plague.)

Regina also had a link to a great site for those who want to track what they eat daily, or those, like me, who can only summon the energy to occasionally check what we’re doing to see what’s up. It’s called FitDay.com and there’s either a free online version or a for-a-price version you can buy and run on your computer.

As I’ve said before, I’ve referred to what I do as SuperFoods Rx meets Volumetrics meets Rachael Ray. I learned the value of a volume approach the first time I checked out what I eat on a daily basis (on another great site, NutritionData.com; see Pantry tab).

Even though I knew I was mostly loading up on veggies and fruits during the day, I’ve often felt I was eating too much–especially when you consider the “your stomach is the size of your fist” theory. I was surpried to see that the actual number of calories I consume on a typical day was well under 2,000; yesterday it was under 1,600. When you consider that eating this way leaves me mostly hunger free and craving free (or at least able to comfortably manage my hunger and cravings), you can see why I’m pretty happy with it.

The image at right shows my FitDay breakdown for yesterday. As you can see, I’m not a traditional low-carber; I call what I do managed carbs. For those so inclined, I’ve uploaded a full-screen version of the FitDay page that shows a detailed breakdown of yesterday.

The FitDay site has a slightly easier interface to use; being able to browse categories means you can generally find a food in fewer clicks (rather than being presented with hundreds of links of every food in the database that contains “oatmeal”). Also, FitDay keeps track of what you eat on their servers, so you can update it from any computer, and you can keep track over time.

The NutritionData site is great too though. The advantages it has include the “pantry” concept and detailed micronutrient info. There are all sorts of spiffy graphs. I don’t think there’s a version for your PC; their online version is free.

The image at right (click on it for a larger version) is the summary based on another typical day, similar to the one I entered into FitDay. Note that it shows that I get more salt than I should (based on 2,000 calories) and that I seem to eat around 200 grams of carbs (800 calories) on an average day.

The pantry uses cookies to keep track of foods you eat regularly so that you don’t have to go searching for them every time, but this means that you can only really use NutritionData from the computer with the cookie on it. However, they do offer a way to “export” the cookie so that you can take your pantry from one computer to the next.

You cannot use NutritionData to keep track over time, but as they point out, it’s a good way to figure out the nutrition info for recipes. And if you’re into a Volumetrics-type diet, they provide a way of rating foods based on how filling they are.

Both tools allow you to enter your own foods.

So, if you’re so inclined to check out what you’re eating, you may want to try both, and see if one of these work for you!