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Developing the best diet will
probably mean that modifications to your current diet need to be made. Keeping a food journal is
the best way to track your progress any time you are making changes to your diet or trying to monitor
your current eating habits. It’s almost impossible to remember everything we eat and drink
on a given day, especially when things get busy. We’re exposed to food all day long at work,
home,
and on the go, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of mindless snacking and grazing.
Writing your foods down will help keep you aware of everything going in your mouth.
It will provide
necessary insight into your diet to help you identify unhealthy eating patterns or other areas
for improvement and work to correct them. And it’s so easy,
here’s what to do:
- Find a nice notebook or journal that’s easy to keep with you all day or copy and use
our daily food journals in the folder.
- Write down all the foods you eat at your meals and snacks from the time you get up in the morning
until you go to bed.
- Be sure to record portion sizes (just estimate) by checking off the food servings at the bottom
of the daily food diary.
- Don’t forget beverages, water goes on there too!
- Very importantly, write down those sneaky, unplanned snacks. Who knows, maybe you’ll
be less likely to eat that cookie if you know you have to write it in the journal!
- Other tips: write down roughly the times you eat, this can also be important. You may also
choose to record your exercise as well so you can keep track of how it’s going.
- One last thing, don’t feel bad if you ‘blow it’ on some days. We all do!
But writing it down will keep you accountable. And remember, we have 3 meals a day and 7 days
a week. That’s 21 meals! If a few are not the best, it’s ok. It’s
when a couple unhealthy meals turns into one per day that it becomes a problem.
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