Content
The food diary is a very effective strategy for identifying eating habits and, thus, checking what can be improved or what must be maintained in order to have a healthy life. Thus, it is important for the person to record all meals, including the time they ate, the food consumed and the quantity.
In addition to being interesting in order to have more control in the daily diet, the food diary can also be recommended by the nutritionist before indicating a diet plan to gain weight, lose weight or reeducation, as this way the nutritionist can outline strategies to achieve the goal but without nutritional deficiencies.
How to make a food diary
The food diary must be kept for 5 to 7 days, it is important that a daily record of everything that was consumed, including the day and time of the meal, is made. Thus, it is possible that at the end of the registration period, you will have an idea of what was consumed during the week and points to be improved or maintained.
The registration can be done on paper, in a spreadsheet or in a cell phone application, for example, the only obligation being the registration of meals. The ideal is that it is done after each meal, and not at the end of the day, because this way it is possible to register in more details and without forgetting.
So, to make a food diary it is important:
- Note the date, time and type of meal, that is, if it is breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner, for example;
- Describe the food consumed and the amount;
- Place where the meal was made;
- If you were doing something at the time of the meal;
- Reason for the meal, that is, if you ate due to hunger, impulse or as a form of emotional compensation, and the level of hunger of the moment;
- Who the meal was made with;
- Indicate the amount of water ingested in the day;
In addition to making it easier to identify eating habits, the food diary can also be interesting to identify the lifestyle that may be influencing this eating pattern. Therefore, it can be interesting in the record to also include if you practiced physical activity during the day and the intensity, how many hours you slept a day and if your sleep was restful, for example.
In addition, to make the analysis easier, it is also possible to highlight the consumption of fried foods, sugar, fruits, vegetables and vegetables with different colors. Thus, at the end of the registration period, it is possible to check which color has the highest and lowest frequency and, thus, it is possible to identify easier habits that need improvement or that must be maintained.
Also check out the following video for some other tips to have a good relationship with food and healthy habits:
What is it for
The food diary is widely used in food reeducation, since from the moment you write down what is consumed during the day, after a week it is possible to identify eating habits and identify what can be improved. Thus, the food diary is an important tool for the nutritionist to suggest changes in the daily diet that are appropriate for the person's goal.
In addition to being used as a way to improve eating habits, the diary can also be used for the purpose of gaining or losing weight, because after registration the nutritionist can analyze the food diary and outline strategies to achieve the goal without nutritional deficiencies.
The food diary can also be done as a way to identify the cause of discomfort after a meal, for example. This is because by also writing down in the diary the moment when they felt unwell, at the end of the registration period the person can identify a pattern and check after which meal they had the feeling and what food could be related, avoiding their consumption.
Created by: Tua Saúde Editorial Team