A food journal is a useful tool. It can help you track potential food allergies or make a clearer connection between what you eat and the way you feel. It can even provide insight into emotional factors that contribute to your eating patterns. Of course, it is also very useful if you are trying to lose weight because it allows you to carefully monitor what you are eating and make adjustments. Making a food journal is as easy as jotting down a few things here and there.
Step 1
Consider why you want a food journal. Make a list of the different items you want to use your food journal to track. Don't limit yourself to just to foods you eat. Consider tracking when you eat, why you eat, who you eat with and how you feel when you eat. Use it to track symptoms related to potential food allergies or food issues related to to other health conditions, such as diabetes and high cholesterol. According to the University of Michigan, recording emotional and physical items as well as what you are eating can help create a more complete health picture and can be more useful than just a food list alone.
Step 2
Create a column int he upper left corner of your paper where you will list the foods you eat and the quantities. Label it as "Foods Eaten" or something similar. This will be the most important column of your journal. Give yourself adequate space to write down everything you will eat.
Step 3
Add a second column to track the calories in the foods you eat. If you are trying to lose weight, this will help you notice patterns of high calorie foods and help you change your eating habits.
Step 4
Go across the top of your journal and add in columns for any other variables you would like to track. According to the University of Michigan, you should track the time you ate, who you ate with and your physical and mental state. This additional information only takes a few extra seconds to record but can give you more insight into how and when you eat. You can also track other factors related to your health like when you get your menstrual cycle or whether you took your vitamins as these can be related to what you eat.
Step 5
Fill out your food journal regularly and never leave out items like a single piece of candy or a pat of butter on your bread. Many people forget to add cooking oils or gum, but its important to add everything. After about a week of data, you should be able to start seeing helpful patterns, but the longer you record, the more valuable your food information will become.
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