Recording Your Food Intake in a Diary

This one is for those who are really determined to lose weight, improve their eating behavior, and make changes in their eating pattern for good and for those who are working hard to find the culprit behind their lost battle of eating healthy and staying fit.

Keeping a record of what you eat during the day i.e. maintaining a food journal for a week would not only help you achieve a more precise account of the calorie intake but it will also assists you in finding out where you go wrong while following a diet. It is a well recognized fact that keeping a record of what and how much you eat in a day can actually help you do the right calculations and give you the power to control your diet in the best possible way. It also helps you see if you are eating too much or too less for your requirements.

There are many reasons that are convincing enough to start keeping a food diary:

• It highlights those little extra bites that one takes.
• Gives better control on calorie intake
• When maintained with sincerity, it can even depict the days or times when you are vulnerable to cheat.
• Provides better control over portions of food
• It can also reveal if you are caught in emotional eating.
• Helps in shifting habits
• Improves self-control
• Helps you see whether you are including all food groups or repeatedly stabbing on your favourite ones

Keeping a food journal requires little time and is quite simple to maintain. There are many ways to keep track of the foods that you eat.  You may use a cell phone application, save it on the computer or save it as a series of texts on the mobile; some people prefer the conventional scheme of writing down everything about each bite in a notebook. No matter how you plan to record your daily intake, the basic rules of maintaining a food journal are universal. Things to consider while keeping a food journal are:

• The time when the food was taken
• How much food was taken, in terms of portion size, volume, bites or number
• Where the food was taken, at office, home restraint or at a gathering
• What kind of food was taken, be specific and include everything from a small bite to a casual drink
• Record the activity you were doing while eating any food, like reading, watching television, working on the computer or talking with a friend
• Never forget to record the emotions you went through immediately before consuming the food. Note if you were happy, upset, angry, tired or relaxed before starting a meal or having a snack or a drink.

While these details are important, it is also suggested to have a clear understanding of the purpose of keeping the food record. The reasons for maintain a food journal may vary and with it varies the focus of recording the food intake.

• If your problem is about the portions, the focus should be on measuring the weight and size of the foods.
• Record the time and company you had while eating if you wish to correct habitual eating behaviour.
• Keep details about nutritional components if you are working towards improving the overall nutritional intake.
• Issues related to emotional eating are best dealt with when you have a log of your moods and associated eating.

The success of a food journal rests on the fact that you are required to be specific and sincere about what you eat. Accuracy is also important, no matter what means you follow to record your food intake, make sure that you note it down immediately or as soon as possible, while the information is still fresh. Another important thing is to keep the days and routine as normal as possible. Doing so would reveal your actual eating pattern and behavior that would help you make wise decisions for best results.