Week 1: What is food journaling?

A food journal can be a useful tool to help us understand your eating habits and patterns, and help you identify the foods — good and not-so-good — you eat on a regular basis. Research shows that for people interested in losing weight, or gaining it,keeping a journal can be a very effective tool to help change behaviour.

What should you include in a food diary?

For the seven consecutive days we want to see..

What are you eating?

Write down the specific food and beverage consumed and how it is prepared (baked, broiled, fried, etc.). Include any sauces, condiments, dressings, or toppings.

How much are you eating?

 List the amount in household measures (cups, teaspoons, tablespoons) or in grams. If not then use your hand as a reference, e.g.. a palm size steak or a handful of broccoli.

When are you eating?

Noting the time that you’re eating can be very helpful in identifying potentially problematic times, such as late-night snacking.

How are you feeling as you’re eating?

Are you happy, sad, stressed, anxious, lonely, bored, tired?

How did you feel after eating?

Did you experience bloating ? Tiredness? Did you feel energised ?

What are you drinking?

Include the amount of water you drink and any other liquids likes juices, coffee and especially alcohol!

You’ve kept a food diary. Now what?

After completing a week’s worth of food journaling, step back and look at what you’ve recorded. Search for any trends, patterns, or habits. For example, you might consider:

    How healthy is my diet?

    Am I eating vegetables and fruit every day? If so, how many servings?

    Am I eating whole grains each day?

    Am I eating foods or beverages with added sugar? If so, how frequently?

    Do my moods affect my eating habits? Do I reach for unhealthy snacks when I’m tired or stressed?

    How often do I eat on the run?

Remember! This is a judgement free exercise and the objective is to create awareness of what we are eating and our relationship with food so that we can make improvements where needed.

Once you’ve identified areas for improvement we’ll help you set one or two healthy eating goals for yourself. To do so we use the SMART goal format. That means your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based. Here are a few examples of SMART goals.

Food diary observation: You average two servings of vegetables per day.

Goal: Eat more vegetables.

SMART goal: Eat three servings of vegetables per day.

Food diary observation: You order takeout three or four nights per week.

Goal: Cook more at home.

SMART goal: Order take out no more than one or two nights per week.

Food diary observation: You eat healthy meals and snacks until about 3 pm, when you grab a snickers from a vending machine.

Goal: Eat healthier snacks.

SMART goal: Bring a healthy snack (a piece of fruit and a small handful of nuts) to work every day.

What about calories?

You may have noticed that we haven’t mentioned counting calories, whilst a calorie deficit is needed for the purposes of weight loss that isn’t the only factor. What we eat  when we eat, and the energy we expend are just as import.

Our objective is to share our knowledge and guide you towards making healthier food choice and creating long lasting habits that will fuel your training and your life!