Keeping a diary of the foods you eat can help provide insight into your daily eating habits and patterns. Do you tend to eat the bulk of your calories in the evening after a stressful day at work? Are you only getting two servings of fruit and vegetables per day? Perhaps you never realized how many carbohydrates were in your favorite pasta meal. Did you eat that pint of ice-cream unconsciously while watching your favorite show? Tracking food improves awareness because everything that is consumed is logged into an app or recorded on paper.
What should be included in a food journal?
The most obvious one is the food item. It is important to record everything, even if it is an unhealthy choice. Also, do not forget to track beverages that contain calories. Try to select the closest food in the database to the one you consumed and consider the method of preparation as well. Choose the correct portion size based on what you consumed. This might require you to use measuring cups or dive deeper into label reading. Recording the time and the type of meal you consumed is helpful in identifying patterns. To help with accuracy, enter in the food information right as you consume it. Some apps allow you to create a database or food menu of the foods you most commonly eat in order to save you time. It is also helpful to jot down or track how you are feeling to see if there is a connection between what you are eating and your feelings. Also, pay attention to your body and your internal hunger cues. Once you identify patterns, you can focus on making adjustments and improvements. Food tracking can be burdensome and tedious so if recording your food sounds overwhelming, just start small and you can always adjust accordingly.
Does keeping a food diary help with weight loss?
Tracking your food is an excellent tool for weight loss too. Many studies have shown that people that track their food lose more weight. Why is this the case? Seeing the calories in front of you can give you an entirely new perspective of how much you are eating. If calories are limited to a certain daily amount, tracking your food allows you to see this and identify when to scale back. Knowing you have to track your food may discourage you from choosing unhealthy options. It also gives you an opportunity to switch to healthier food alternatives. With improved mindfulness and understanding through self-monitoring, people can make better food choices in the future.
Why keep a food diary? – Harvard Health
Log Often, Lose More: Electronic Dietary Self-Monitoring for Weight Loss – PubMed (nih.gov)
Self-monitoring in weight loss: a systematic review of the literature – PubMed (nih.gov)
Keeping a Daily Food Diary Improves Weight Loss (healthline.com)
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