If you systematically write down everything you eat, you can analyze your diet. Having found out what products it contains, and which ones are clearly not enough, correct it correctly, depending on the tasks set: reducing the risk of exacerbation of chronic diseases, dropping or gaining pounds, increasing immunity, etc.
What Other Benefits Of Keeping A Food Diary?
- By fixing everything that you eat, you begin to pay attention not only to the amount eaten, but also to the quality (calories, the glycemic index of foods, the balance of proteins-fats-carbohydrates).
- When keeping such a diary and analyzing its data, you involuntarily begin to control your eating behavior and adjust your habits.
- A systematically and detailed diary will allow you to identify breakdowns (situational refusals to follow the rules of a healthy diet), their causes, duration and impact (for example, if you are losing weight, the consequences of a breakdown will quickly declare themselves in undesirable numbers on the scales).
- Thanks to such a diary, you will trace the connection of your mood and emotions with appetite, with the quantitative and qualitative indicators of your diet.
- Providing a detailed food diary when requested by the physician will help him or her prescribe the most effective treatment program.
How to keep a food diary correctly?
Record everything you eat during the day, including any snacks and liquids you drink (water, tea, coffee, juices, soda).
Whenever possible, indicate the size of each serving in any convenient unit of measurement (calories, grams, spoons, milliliters, handfuls that fit in the palms of your hands, etc.).
Ideally, indicate the time and place of the meal, as well as the reason why you decided to eat (hungry, for company, bad mood …).
The more input you have, the more clearly you will be able to identify the factors affecting your health and appearance, identify trends and ultimately be able to develop a menu that is right for you.