Tips on using a Food Journal Effectively

Using a Food Journal helps identify patterns, reinforce and practice key mindful eating concepts and also record gradual progress throughout our journey that might go unnoticed. Journals can also serve as a visible reminder to plan out time for movement and exercise during the day.

Tips on using a Food Journal Effectively

Start: Some people don’t start because they’re waiting until the perfect time (which never comes) or they stop simply because they missed a couple of days. Leave out the “perfect” part and simply start. Any time you write something down, you increase the information available to you for analysis and learning and you can always change tactics or format. You have the freedom to change!

Forget the Judgment: You’re writing your journal to note, identify and change your patterns, not to berate yourself upon your habits. Non-Judgement frees us to and opens us to awareness, making connections between our food habits and behaviours, learn from mistakes, and make different choices after getting to know ourselves better.

Notice your body’s feedback: You can make connections to help you improve. For eg. “After the second helping of rice I was more sleepy than usual during the afternoon.” Thus you know that a second helping of carbs isn’t a great choice. “I felt sluggish today perhaps because I forgot to drink enough water.” “I ordered a large portion of  french fries with my pizza and felt heavy all night.”  “I felt more energetic on the two days that I walked 15 minutes in the afternoon.”

See the WHOLE picture: Food and exercise logs risk looking like a simple mathematic calculation.

Calories Eaten = Calories Burnt = Weight Maintenance

Calories Eaten ≥ Calories Burnt = Weight Gain

Calories Eaten≤ Calories Burnt = Weight Loss

This may be true in general but observing how we feel after eating certain foods or in a certain way helps tune into our body’s actual needs.  Note hunger and fullness levels, other physical feelings (thirst, fatigue), thoughts, emotions, insights, self-care activities, and any sensations or questions you might have.

Process, don’t Obsess:  At this point our Food Log is not simply a record of calories, water, carbs, proteins, sugars, fats etc. or calories burned during exercise. There is no need to weigh, measure, or count with precision and turn it into an obsession, a distraction, or end up in frustration. Record your food and water intake and movement log to simply be aware of what you are doing, to recognize your patterns and help you make changes.

Use Intention: Intend to change. You have the Power to Decide and the Possibility to implement change. It lies in your hands.

You can only consciously change when you decide to with INTENTION.

Make Changes: Once you are aware of your pattern, you can slowly bring about one change at a time. For eg. If you note that eating too close to bedtime makes you sleep badly, you work at finding out why you are hungry just before bedtime. Then you ensure adequate nutrition earlier so you will not have to spend restless nights due to indigestion. 

Keeping all this in perspective helps you get the big picture and explore and improve your relationship with food and changes food from being an obsession into fuel for your body.

Start Small. Start Slow. Start Smart. START!