Five Ways To Keep A Healthy Diet Diary

Time and time again, fitness experts emphasize the importance of keeping a healthy diet diary or food journal

. The diary basically has a mundane purpose of showing you what kinds of food you eat, how much you eat and how frequent you eat.

Most cases of overeating happen unconsciously. This lack of consciousness to and control over your eating habits is the biggest enemy of any fitness program. Hence, the need to control and change thoughtless and habitual eating emphasize the need to keep a food diary.

Making that healthy shift in your lifestyle demands a great deal of work and dedication. You have to remain committed to your fitness goals to actually make that change. One effective tool that can keep you motivated and committed to such goal is by keeping a healthy diet diary. Here are five ways on how to keep a food diary:

The 'what'. Every time you eat, write down every food you have eaten. In fact, write down everything, from one lonely lump of sugar to the biggest slice of bread you have eaten. You need to be thorough on this and never hold back any information so you will get the results that you like.

You need to be specific when you are writing down the 'what' or the kinds of food you are eating. For instance when you ate pizza, try to note down what is in it like what type of dough it used or what toppings it has. Also, include all your 'extras' like gravy on your meat, cheese or butter on your vegetables or ketchup on your hotdog.

How much? In itemizing the kinds of food you have eaten, don't forget to write down the amount you consumed for every kind of food. This may sound absurd but this information is important in evaluating your usual caloric intake as well as the adjustments you needed to make to maintain dietary progress.

Here are some tricks: a slice of cooked meat that is about the size of a deck of card usually weight 3 ounces, a 2x1x2-inch slice of cake usually weight 3 ounces and measure a restaurant serving of vegetable is usually about 1/4 cup.

When and Where? Aside from listing the 'what' and 'how' much food you have eaten, you need to also include the 'when' and 'where' of your meals. Also, list down the emotions you experienced during that meal.

This will help you discover what triggers your diet detours; when and where it happens and your state of mind when it happens. Since overeating is a bad habit, you need to first be conscious of its patterns to effectively fight it with healthier alternatives and prevent it from happening again.

Be Honest. Never make any changes to your eating habits while you are making your food diary. It is important to remain thorough and truthful with the information you note down. The purpose of that diary is to evaluate the poor points of your eating habits or your unhealthy food choices. Hence, nothing will be gained if you try to make yourself look good on your notes.

Start now. It's never too late too late make that healthy change. So go on, record your meals as you go. Keeping a healthy diet diary may be a daunting task but it will keep you focused on your fitness goals.

by: Nick Dinic

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