Food Diaries
Ah, food diaries.
It seems pretty obvious what they are and how they work, but what’s the point in keeping them?
Keeping a food diary can open your eyes to what you’re really eating during the day. Do you pay attention when you eat that pickle while making school lunches? Do you realize how many animal crackers you’re bringing back from the kitchen with you when you go to get a coffee?
The truth is most people don’t, even when they think they do. I certainly thought I did.
Food diaries can be an excellent reality check and the start to you pausing and thinking before food plus mouth equals yummy in tummy.
What information you store in your food diary can be complex or simple. It’s all up to what works for you and what you want to keep track of (besides food).
When I first started out, I kept track of my weight, how much water I was drinking, what I was eating and what times I was eating, and why I was eating. On the front page I kept my starting statistics as well as my goal statistics. I followed that with my goals/rewards and then the actual diary.
The first few weeks were huge for me, especially with the ‘why’ thrown in there. But slowly I worked on my diet as well as the psychological reasons I was eating, and the ‘why’ turned more and more into ‘hungry’ than anything else.
I keep a diary off and on now (over half a year after starting one). If I feel like I’m getting out of control or am starting to eat foods I shouldn’t, I go back to it.
I recommend you have a food diary at least when you’re starting out. Whether or not you continue on is completely your personal preference (as is pretty much everything).
February 8th, 2008 at 9:19 am
One thing that I saw on someone’s blog was a food diary in photos. She took a picture of what she ate each day for a week and posted it. I took pictures, but didn’t post them. It was even more powerful to see them in pictures than to read the words.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
That’s an excellent idea! I’ve never heard of someone doing that before. Quite interesting.
Thank you for stopping by!