The food diary helps you to have an accurate picture of what you eat every day. This is a great way to gain more control over your diet, because if you don't keep track of what you eat, you will hardly be able to calculate the amount of calories you are adding. If you have indigestion or any other health problem, your food diary will help you identify the ingredient that makes you feel bad. Read on to learn how to write and analyze a food diary.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Take Note of What You Eat and Drink
Step 1. Organize your diary
The easiest way to mark the list of what you eat or drink is to use a laptop or electronic device that you can easily carry with you. You will need to write down the day, time, place, type of food you ate, quantities, and any extra comments. Organize your agenda in such a way that there is a column for each data to be entered, so it will be easier for you to fill it in at each meal.
- If you prefer to write by hand, use a notebook or daily planner that has enough space to write down all the meals for the day.
- You can take advantage of any online app or service if that's more convenient for you. Food journals have become so popular that you have a wide variety of applications to choose from.
Step 2. Write down everything you eat and drink
Be specific, and break down processed foods into ingredients. For example, instead of writing "turkey sandwich", write down the quantities of bread, turkey and toppings as separate entries. Do the same thing with stews or milkshakes.
- Be very specific, and break down complex foods into their elements. For example, instead of writing "turkey sandwich", write the amount of bread, turkey and toppings as separate entries. Treat other mixed foods, such as casseroles and smoothies, in a similar way - it will help you remember what's in the dishes you eat or the total amount of calories.
- Don't forget to also note the snacks and any snacks, even a biscuit they offered you at work.
- Don't leave out anything even about what you drink, including water. Keeping track of the water you drink will tell you if you need to consume more during the day to stay properly hydrated.
Step 3. Write the exact quantities
If you are interested in knowing how many calories you put in, it is essential that you include the quantities in the data collected. For greater accuracy, you may want to purchase a kitchen scale. This way you can weigh all the ingredients and record the exact quantities of the food you swallow.
- Before making any changes to how much you eat, start by measuring the food you would normally eat at each meal. If your portions are too large or too small, make the necessary adjustments.
- Continue measuring foods using cups, bowls, or other containers that have a specific size. This will contribute to the accuracy of your diary. Estimating "by eye" is not accurate, and generally leads to underestimating food and total calorie intake.
- If you eat at a restaurant or buy food that you are unlikely to weigh, you will probably need to estimate the quantities. If you are a customer of a restaurant chain, check the internet for nutritional information on the doses served.
- Along with the doses, you may also write down the calorie content. If you search online for the nutritional information of a specific food, you will find websites that will tell you the exact calorie content by quantity.
- Start by counting how many calories you normally consume in a day, then make the necessary changes.
- Removing or adding 500 calories per day will result in a weight change of approximately 500g.
Step 4. Carefully mark the day, time and place you ate
This is a process that will help you identify the behavioral patterns of your diet.
- Write the detailed time, rather than "afternoon snack" or "midnight snack".
- If you want to be even more specific, add a note describing where in the house you ate your snack. Were you in front of the TV? At your desk?
Step 5. Record what sensations you felt from eating each product
Whether you're keeping a food diary to lose weight, or to track down the source of a possible food allergy, your mood matters! Use the notes column or create a new column to collect details of how the food you eat makes you feel.
- After eating, wait 10 to 20 minutes before becoming aware of your sensations, you will give food time to have an effect on your body.
- Code your annotations using keywords followed by short descriptions. For example, after writing about an afternoon snack with coffee and a cookie, you might add "Anxious: agitated for 15 minutes after eating." It will be easier to notice any behavioral patterns.
- Also keep track of your appetite levels before and after meals. If you starve before a meal, you may notice that you will eat larger portions.
- Don't forget to include any physical symptoms or side effects you feel after eating. For example, you may feel nauseous and have an upset stomach after eating dairy products.
Part 2 of 3: Data Analysis
Step 1. Look for patterns in your meals
After spending a few weeks writing down everything you eat and drink, you will likely see behavior patterns emerge in your diet. Some will be obvious, like always eating the same thing for breakfast, while others will be really enlightening. Take a look at your diary and ask yourself these questions:
- Do these patterns relate to how food affects mood?
- Which meals leave me hungry, and which ones satisfy me the most?
- When do I tend to eat more?
Step 2. Evaluate your habits
Many people are surprised when they realize how many snacks they consume in a single day. A handful of almonds here, a cookie or two there and a bag of chips in the evening in front of the TV really make a difference at the end of the day. Use your food diary to figure out if you need to adjust the number of snacks.
- Do you usually choose healthy snacks or grab everything you have on hand? If you're always on the go and don't have time to prepare anything when you feel like a snack, be foresight: bring something fresh to eat when you're hungry, rather than heading to a vending machine.
- Do your snacks leave you satisfied or are you even hungrier after eating them? Check in your comments that chocolate and coffee are really good to cheer you up in the afternoon and don't make you sleepy anymore.
Step 3. Notice if you have different habits on your days off
School and work greatly influence the eating habits of many people. You may find it difficult to cook on working days, but on your free days you spend more time in the kitchen. Check that there are no patterns affecting your eating habits.
- Do you tend to eat more on some days rather than others? If you find that you buy takeaway food four times a week because you frequent evening classes on those days, this is important information to keep in mind.
- Use this information to better plan your meals. If you already know that you won't want to cook on a particular night, make sure you have something healthy ready in the fridge instead of just ordering pizza again.
Step 4. Look at the link between what you eat and what you feel
Try to find out what conditions may have influenced your food choices on a particular day or week. You may find that you tend to overeat when you are most stressed. Maybe you don't sleep well and are more used to snacking at night, or you fill your belly to feel better. Getting to know yourself will be of great use to you in planning a diet.
- Try to understand if you tend to overeat when you are angry. If that's the case for you, find another outlet other than food for when you're under stress.
- On the other hand, if you find that some substances seem to give you unpleasant sensations, try giving them up and see what happens. For example, drinking too much coffee can make you more stressed or irritable.
Step 5. Notice if certain ingredients seem to have a bad effect on your physique
Look for any coincidences in how food affects your body. You may never realize that you have trouble digesting popcorn until you realize you've had a stomach ache the last four times you've eaten them.
- Look for foods that make you feel bloated, give you flatulence, headaches, nausea, or just make you feel too full.
- Celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome and other pathological conditions can greatly benefit from eliminating certain substances from the diet. If you suspect that food may make you feel worse, show your diary to a doctor and discuss any dietary changes with him.
Part 3 of 3: Track Additional Useful Details
Step 1. Consider journaling your physical activity
If you've started writing a food diary to track your calorie counts and get in shape, it makes sense to keep track of your physical activity as well, so you can compare the calories you've consumed versus those you've burned.
- Write down the type of activity and the time you spent on it.
- Observe how the intensity of exercise affects your sense of hunger and food choice.
Step 2. Mark the nutritional information
If you need a food diary to make sure you are getting adequate amounts of a particular nutrient, rewrite the nutritional information for each food. Thanks to the web you can find the nutritional information of all foods, just search for the name of the food + "nutritional information" to find out how many vitamins and minerals it contains, and its share of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Examples of nutrients to keep track of are:
- Fibers.
- Proteins.
- Carbohydrates.
- Iron.
- Vitamin D.
Step 3. Check your progress towards a goal
The food diary can be a motivational tool when you have a food goal to achieve. Whether you want to lose weight or eat more fruits and vegetables, tracking your progress will inspire you to persevere and help you understand where there is still a need to improve. Here are some suggestions for compiling:
- Mark your weight. Write it down at the end of each week so you can observe any fluctuations.
- Highlight the milestones of your journey. If you successfully eliminated gluten from your diet a month ago, write it down in your diary.
- Mark how much exercise you can do. For example, your improvements in running 5km.
Step 4. Use the diary to track how much you spend on grocery shopping
Since you write down everything you eat, why not mark the prices as well? It will help you to stay within your food budget every day, week or month. You may be surprised to find out what you spend the most money on.
- Write down how much you spent on each meal, whether you made it at home or you ate it out.
- Try to understand if you adopt behavioral patterns in food purchases, you will be able to calculate how much you spend every week or month, understanding if and where you can save something.
- It may be helpful to keep track of how much you spend on food purchased away from home. For example, you could spend money on an afternoon coffee or lunch with colleagues. Over time, these small expenses can add up to a hefty sum.
