Dieting will take you one step closer to your health goals. As someone new to dieting, the first step is to keep track of everything you are eating or drinking. Your innocent habits might be causing harm to your body without you knowing it. One of the ways you can do it is to maintain a food diary or keep a food journal. This might seem excessive to you, and you may reason that you eat within limits.
But what if what you are eating is unhealthy? Food journaling will help you review your eating choices, and if you need to switch to healthier alternatives, noting down what you eat regularly will help you figure it out. Here is why tracking your daily food and water intake is essential:
- It makes you more aware: If you record what you are eating every day, you will be more aware of how much you are eating and whether it is enough. This will help you make changes in your diet.
- Helps you stay motivated: If you monitor your food and water intake, you know where you stand, and then you will know how much effort is needed to achieve your goal.
- Makes you switch to healthy snacking: If you are into having snacks every now and then, it will do you good to switch to some healthier alternatives instead. Since it is difficult to drop habits all of a sudden, you can make small changes and switch to fruits or options with fewer calories. Also, take healthier snacking alternatives to your outings. Uses pouches and packets from the Logos website to seal the nutrition of your healthy snacks as you travel.
How To Begin?
Food journaling begins when you note the time, the food or fluid intake, and its quantity in a diary or notepad. The measurements of the food and fluids need to be as accurate as possible for future reference. You can use cups, bowls, teaspoons, and tablespoons for measurements. Once you are in the habit, you will not require even these items to measure how much you are eating. You can estimate it yourself.
If you think that measuring is not something you want to begin with, you can incorporate it later. You can start with including the food group of everything you are eating as it will give you insight into what you are eating and drinking. Track the glasses of water, the number of green vegetables, the carbohydrates, or the proteins.
Advanced Food Journaling
If you want to include every detail to better understand your food eating habits, you can get into advanced journaling. For advanced food journaling, you will have to include:
- Your mood when you are eating
- The room you are in
- The activity you are doing while eating
- The level of hunger you had before eating
- The fullness level after you eat your meal
One of the most important things you have to keep in mind is that food journaling is not something you can do for a week and then leave. You will have to keep tracking your eating habits for as long as possible to better understand your patterns, motivations, and the other small details that you are liable to miss if you do it for a small amount of time.
Advanced food journaling aims to learn about your eating habits to make adequate changes in them. If you continue journaling, you will be able to track your progress. You can keep making small and big changes as you see fit based on your observations of your eating habits.
Some Changes to Incorporate
Food journaling is not a trick that will immediately bear results by helping you attain the goal you want to. It is your responsibility to monitor your eating habits and then incorporate appropriate changes so that the diet you are taking gives you the best results when it comes to your health. Following are some healthy changes you can include in your routine along with food journaling:
- Balanced breakfast: You must have heard that breakfast is considered the most important meal of the entire day. This is so because it sets a precedent for the day ahead. Have a protein-rich breakfast and include variety in your breakfast. Eggs, fruits, milk, and some carbs to balance the meal are the staples of a healthy breakfast.
- Stay hydrated: Drinking a lot of water is a great way to stay fit. Keep your water bottle at hand whenever you are working or wherever you go. If you have water by your side and within your line of vision, you are more likely to increase your water intake. Also, remember to serve water with each meal.
- Exercise: Including exercise with your dieting is a recipe for achieving your fitness goals sooner rather than later. Do not overexert yourself and plan workouts according to your daily food intake.
- Plan your meals: Food journaling helps you understand when you need food and when you are just in the mood for a snack. You can then plan your meals in advance, which sets expectations and help you make healthier choices.
- Sleep schedule: Being well-rested is the easiest healthy habit to enforce. If you have 7-9 hours of sleep every night, you wake up fresh in the morning and make better decisions when it comes to your health and fitness.
- No distractions while eating: Refrain from watching TV while you eat as it makes you eat more and eat faster. The faster you chew, the less filled your stomach would feel. Spend time with your family as you eat and chew each bite thoroughly before swallowing.
- Moderation: Do not force yourself to abandon any food group altogether. Especially if you previously enjoyed eating it. Include small amounts of every food type and allow yourself to enjoy some foods if it means it will make you happier. Moderation in your approach will help you in the long run.
- Include fruits: Include fruits as snacks and carry them with you if going out. Have it with you in a pouch that Logos offers with sustainable packaging. Have cut-up fruit ready before your snacking time so that you have a healthier alternative with you.
The Takeaway
Dieting might be difficult initially as you would have to switch from your regular food habits to something prescribed to you by a professional. But not to worry, there are simple ways to help you eat healthy by reinforcing good eating habits that adhere to your prescribed diet. Dieting doesn’t have to be a harrowing experience. Food journaling is proof of that.