The Benefits of Keeping A Food Journal

As a nutrition coach, the first thing that I'm likely going to want to see, regardless of what you come to me for, is a food journal. And one that you've kept for at least 7 days.

The reason for this is that it will provide me with some insight to your current eating habits and help point me in the right direction when making some suggestion and recommendations based on your goal or goals.

But food journalling goes much further than that... it can actually help you figure out if you have a food intolerance or sensitivity (infant this is by far the best way to find out if something triggers you this way) and the art of keeping a food diary can actually help you to lose weight. Read on for more information...

First up on the benefits list is ... Weight Loss

keeping a food diary is by far one of the best tools to use if you are trying to lose some body fat. You might be thinking what has writing down what I'm eating got to do with the scale. Well, let me explain... see the act alone of writing down what you are eating can actually shed light on where and what time of day you may fall down. It can show you eating habits that you may not even realise you have - night time munchies anyone??? Food amnesia is a real thing and you can very easily forget about something you ate that could be leading to extra calories that you are not taking into consideration.

The act of writing down what you are eating will make you more aware and mindful of the kind of food choices you are making and help you to make muckiest better and healthier choices.

Second on the list is ...Detect Food Intolerance

Do you recognise a feeling of uncomfortable fullness or even an issue of trapped wind after eating certain types of foods BUT you are not sure which. Sometime people even have sensitivities to foods they eat all the time but it's become so habitual that they don't even realise it and have settled to believe that's just how they feel most of the time. Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way, and that uncomfortable feeling could be coming from something like gluten or dairy. Keeping a food diary can help you identify these potential issues.

I personally have an issue with broccoli and I didn't realise it for the longest time, I would get (TMI - sorry!) the most painful trapped wind that would cause shooting pains between my shoulder blades but I never stopped to consider the broccoli, I mean it's healthy and good for you, right? So I went old school for about 6 weeks and tracked everything - even liquids and found that that painful feeling was happening about 20--40 mins after having a meal with broccoli. See the point I'm making here is just because something is healthy doesn't mean that your system will like it. And what's more you may even develop this issue with something you've eaten for years, which was me with broccoli. It's not unheard of to develop an intolerance or sensitivity to something you've been eating for years.

Third ... Perfect Your Nutrition Game

it's no secret that we could all do to add more vegetables into our diet, and some of us may even struggle with fruit too. Similarly to the weight loss point, keeping a food diary can make us more mindful of the kinds of foods we are eating. Making it easier for us to make better choices.

Fourth... Identify Potential Triggers

this point is more for those of you who may struggle with your relationship with food, and while this is a much bigger issue and something I can go into in a dedicated post or even a series. The benefit here in this case is less to do with any eating disorders but finding out what triggers you to crave that bar of chocolate. Maybe its the carb heavy lunch you have, maybe you're not getting enough magnesium in your diet.

Another (less severe) is that keeping a food diary can help you figure out what causes you to emotional eat (from time-to-time) by simply recording how you feel with each meal, i.e. stress, angry, tired, happy, excited you can figure it out with a use of a food diary.

**please note that more severe cases here with disordered eating may require medical intervention. If you are having issues here I strongly urge you to seek medical advise from your family doctor, counselling my be a great route for your to take. But please do seek help.

And finally... Helps You Learn About Your Eating Habits

When you are starting a healthy eating journey, whether it's for yourself or your doctor has advised you to pay more attention to what you are eating, its a fantastic idea to keep a diary for 7-14 days of your normal eating habits, noting time of meal and location you are eating adding in notes on how you feel before and after meals. This will give you (and your doctor) a great idea of how to make positive strides forward.

There are apps you can get for your smart phone that allow you to record your food however I'm a fan of the old notebook and pen, its better for keeping notes on how you feel and adding in things like liquids (water or black coffee) that don't necessarily have calories but may contribute to some factors (weight gain and stress) so as a coach I do prefer to see the food diary in written form.

Quick Note

As a coach I am qualified to help you with all the above issues. With eating disorders there are various degrees of severity and I will only be able to help with some. I will write more on this in the future, with that being said if you are struggling and you would like to email me any questions I would be happy to help you out as best I can. But please reach out and talk to someone you trust, help is there and available to you.

Disclaimer

the information provided in this post is not intended for treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment or advice. Please seek a licensed medical practitioner if you believe you are affect by anything mentioned in this post.