Can a Food Journal Help You Eat Healthier?
Posted on July 8, 2008
I read an article this morning from MSN here that talks about how keeping a food journal can help people lose weight and eat healthier. In the study mentioned in the article, participants agreed to exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. According to the study, 70% of participants lost enough weight to make big improvements in their health, but those who kept track of everything they ate lost almost twice as much as those who didn’t.
I am a fan of keeping a food journal. It helps you to be accountable for what you are eating/drinking. No one wants to write down in their food journal that they ate 3 donuts and 2 brownies. But they do want to write down that banana and apple they ate.
Some people struggle with the idea of writing everything down and counting up the calories. You don’t have to count the calories or nutrition facts of the foods you eat if you don’t want to. Just keep track of what you are eating and see if they are foods that are on the healthy side. Keeping a food journal is just a good way to see how you are doing and to see if you can make any changes.
Some people want to know the nutrition facts of the food they eat. Some ways to do this are to check the labels on the foods, on-line calorie counters, or books. You can do a simple search on-line and find tons of them.
I like to keep a food journal mostly to keep track of my fruit/vegetable intake. I want to make sure I get enough everyday and keeping track helps for me. It may not work for everyone and that is fine. If you think you need to start eating healthier, or just want to try it, keep track of everything you eat and about how much of it every day. You will be able to see what you are doing good, and what you can improve.
If you like the food journal idea and it works for you, keep doing it. Remember to keep track of drinks too -some are not so good for you.
Don't forget to shop for gear at LittleTriathlete
» Filed Under Nutrition
Comments
View Comments to “Can a Food Journal Help You Eat Healthier?”
Leave a Reply
I used an online journal when I did weight watchers a few months ago and I noticed a HUGE difference in what I ate with and without one.
The problem is all of the snacking I did, a cookie here, a bite of something else there… it all added up and fast. If you write everything down honestly there is no fooling yourself with “just a little bit”, it’s all there in black and white.