Dear Diary: Keeping a Food Journal

Be MORE disciplined about writing down what you eat. Keeping a food diary can help you develop a more realistic view of how much (or how little) you are eating. It will also allow you to identify triggers that typically cause overeating (i.e. Late-afternoon Munchies, Primetime Pigouts, etc.).

Helpful Hints:
1. Don’t change your eating habits while you’re keeping your food diary.
2. Tell the truth. There’s nothing to be gained by trying to look good in the diary.

3. Record what you eat on all days for at least 1 week – longer if possible.

4. Write down everything that you eat AND drink. Even small things like a handful of popcorn, a piece of candy, or a glass of juice can add up over time.

5. Keep your food diary with you so that you don’t have to rely on your memory at the end of the day.

6. Be very specific about what you ate. Include all condiments (cheese, mayo, salad dressing, etc.).

7. Get familiar with serving sizes, so that you can accurately determine how much you actually ate. For example, if you look on the package, you will see that 1 Otis Spunkmeyer muffin is actually 2 servings. When’s the last time you only had ½ a muffin?

Main Course
Keeping a food diary can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it! If you don’t have access to a computer during the day, the first step is creating a form like this that allows you consistently track your intake – even when you’re away from the computer.

(1) GOOD: Enter info into a free online program like FitDay™ & get a readout of the nutritional value of your meals. Great resource since it’s free, but the food entry process is time consuming on this site, and the reports are just OK.

(2) BETTER: Enter info into a paid online program like My Food Diary™. For only $9 per month, you get professional-looking charts & reports AND the ability to see what you would weigh in 3 months if every day were like today. How cool is that?

(3) BEST: Share your diary with a Registered Dietician (RD). Online tools are inexpensive and handy, but ‘you get what you pay for,’ and nothing beats individualized evaluations from someone who is specifically trained in the area of nutrition. Go to the American Dietetic Association’s website for help finding an RD.

Dessert

I analyze everything that I put in my mouth. This doesn’t mean that I eat great 100% of the time, but it does mean that I’m 100% aware of what I’m eating – whether good or bad – and I’ve made a conscious decision to move forward with my choice. A glimpse at my ups & downs over the weekend…

Saturday:
Breakfast – Whole wheat pancakes
Snack – 3 Hershey’s kisses
Snack – Smart Ones Cookie Dough Sundae
Snack – ½ bag of Veggie chips
— Went grocery shopping b/c I ran out of snacks —
Dinner – Beef & veggie stir fry w/brown rice (Mmmm…so good!)

FitDay ™ Results: 1238 calories, 38g fat, 190g carbs, 65g protein)

Sunday:
Breakfast – Egg white omelet with onion, green pepper, tomato, spinach & 1 slice of 2% cheese; 1 serving of plain oatmeal with 1 packet of Splenda
Snack – 1 piece of Lindt white chocolate & cocoa candy
Snack – 2 bites of a plain Auntie Anne’s pretzel
Snack – 1 bite of sautéed chicken
Lunch – Tuna salad w/fat-free mayo, no sugar added relish, boiled egg whites, and chopped onion & 2 plain rice cakes
Snack – 1 piece of pita bread & 2 tablespoons of hummus
Dinner – Leftovers (stir fry & rice)
Dessert – 6 Hershey’s kisses

FitDay™ Results: 1820 calories, 50g fat, 230g carbs, 115g protein

Before this little exercise, I would have said that I had an awesome weekend full of healthy meals. However, now that I’ve taken all of my snacks into account, I realize that I took in many more “empty” calories that I intended – especially on Sunday.

Lessons Learned – Don’t run out of groceries b/c I start eating junk when there’s no good food around the house & Don’t walk through the mall food court on Sunday b/c every eatery is giving away free snacks that look good and smell even better. Too much temptation!