The food diary has been shown to one of the best predictors of long term weight lost available. Several studies have highlighted the effectiveness of using the food journal or food diary. Researchers have found that dieters that keep a food diary or record actually double their chances of being successful at their weight loss endeavors.
Why does it work?
There are several reasons food diaries are effective. The first is that it requires the user to be accountable and ‘present’ for their food choices. This means that you are engaged in your meal. Many times, the consumer walks through life aimlessly looking for whatever tastes the best. Sometimes eating becomes another thing to multitask. When food choices and portion management become coupled with driving, working, socializing, or watching television, the chances of overindulging significantly increase. The food diary can help the consumer slow down, focus on their eating choices, behaviors and responses.
For example, let’s take a look Christy, a former college student of mine. Christy was unhappy with her weight, complaining that she had gained about 30 pounds in the past 2 years since graduating high school. She reported the “she really didn’t eat that bad” compared to her friends. I asked her to tell me in general terms what her food intake was, which she willingly described as follows:
For breakfast, she usually ate nothing because she said that she was not a “morning person” and typically ran late getting to school as she had a 20-30 minute commute depending on traffic. After 3 hours of back to back classes and labs, she was in another rush to leave school and make it to her part time job. Because of her late start and lack of highly nutritious food choices, she would evaluate each line at the fast food venues in town and make her decision based on the shortest line with consideration to what “sounded good”. No doubt, Christy was definitely hungry, but hunger differs greatly from appetite. Hunger is the physiological need for food. Few of us actually experience true carnal hunger, generally because we are constantly responding to appetite, or the psychological need for food. Simply put, appetite can be describe as “it smells good, it looks good, or it tastes good”. So Christy was basing her lunch decision on her proximity to food, time (or lack of), and what appealed to her appetite. With this in mind, she found herself at McDonald’s or Taco Bell ordering off of the “Value Meal” because as it turned out she was “watching her spending”. I asked her to describe her eating experience. She said that she generally ordered a #1 or #3 off of the McDonald’s menu or a # 1 or #2 off of the Taco Bell’s menu. (Interestingly, fast food restaurants organize these “Value Meals” in order of popularity, with #1 being the best seller and so on). After pulling through the drive through, Christy would admit that she would talk on the phone, check her e-mails (only when at a red light), listen to music, and try to plan her homework schedule, work schedule, and social calendar as she drove and ate. I asked her to tell me at what point did she quit eating. She responded, “When I am through”. I continued by asking her how did she determine when she was through. She thought for a second and said, “You know, when there are no more French fries”.
Her day went on from there to her work schedule. She liked her job, but some of the other employees (also students), didn’t always do their part which caused a lot of the self-reported stress to Christy. Because she was seen as the responsible one, her supervisor often asked her to work more hours and close. After 6-7 hours of working with her stressful coworkers, she left work and headed for the next meal which was often times chosen in a similar fashion to lunch. Because now, she was truly physiologically hungry, she would eat all of her fast food meal, and then head home for whatever convenient foods were there (like chips and ice cream), as she began studying or unwinding. On nights that she didn’t work, she would go out with friends and indulge in alcoholic beverages, go to a bar or dance club, and then found herself at Whataburger in the wee hours of the morning with her friends eating another high calorie fast food concoction.
As you can probably see, the 30 pounds that had accumulated were no metabolic mystery. They were the result of poor planning, poor recognition of the high calorie, low nutrient density food that she was putting into her body, and the lack of accountability for her choices.
After discussing the cause and effects of Christy’s food choices with her, Christy agreed to keep a food diary for 2 weeks and report back to me. When she returned, food diary in hand, she told me that she was shocked to have learned some very troubling news about her food choices. For example, she had no idea that the quarter pounder and fries, plus the large drink she was consuming as she left her classes for the day contained a whopping 1330 calories and 51 grams of fat! (Christy’s estimated caloric needs for the day were 1900-2000 calories and 60-65 grams of fat). She also said that having to write down everything that went in her mouth, made her more aware of caloric expenditures and more mindful of making better choices. Somehow being accountable and mindful of what we are consuming and evaluating the costs, make us more judicious in our culinary choices,
How to keep a food diary
There are many effective strategies for keeping a food journal. It can be as simple as using pen and paper, then recording every food and quantity, along with caloric content, time of day, and feelings surrounding the eating experience. By recording this data, individuals can identify where the “potholes” are in their eating plan, possible triggers for bad choices, and times of the day that are at the highest vulnerability, and as a result, improve their diet, improve their overall health, and lose weight.
Other, equally effective strategies, include using the apps on a smart phone such as my fitness pal, See How You Eat, or Just Food Diary to name a few (not endorsed by this page and used for example purposes only).
The most important factor is finding the food journal format that is best suited for you. The pay off is well worth the effort. Food recorders lose twice as much weight in the same time period as non food recorders!
And remember, if it goes in your mouth, then it goes down on the food diary!
For more assistance with keeping track of your own food diary and improving your diet, contact Leslie Goudarzi, MS, RD, LD at the Institute for Healthy Living or call 903-239-1551.
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