Tracking Your Meals: The Proper Way To Do It

By Harvey Sorenson


When you begin a diet probably the most often heard pieces of advice is to keep a food log in which you write down every thing you eat during the day. Keeping a food log makes it possible to identify the foods you are eating as well as the foods you aren't eating. One example is that, after tracking your nutrition for a few days you could realize that you are consuming far too many sugars and unhealthy fats without nearly enough organic nutrients. When you write every little thing down you are able to see which parts of your diet must change as well as have an easier time figuring out what kind and how long of a workout you need to do to shrink your waist line and burn the most calories.

But let's say you write almost everything down but no pounds drop off of you? You can track your food the correct way or the wrong way. There is far more to food journaling than composing a listing of what you eat during the day. You need to keep track of various other very important information. Here are a few hints that you can make use of to help your food tracking be more successful.

Be as specific as you can while you write down what you consume. You need to do more than just write down "salad" into your food log. Write down all the ingredients in the salad and also the type of dressing you used. You also need to include the quantities of the foods you take in. "Cereal" is not as beneficial an entry as "one cup Honey Nut Cheerios." Don't forget that the more of something you consume, the more calories you are going to take in so you need to list out the measurements of what you eat so that you will know just how many calories you take in and will need to burn.

Write down the time that you're consuming stuff. This can help you discover when you feel the most hungry, when you are prone to snack and what you can do about it. After a short time you'll see that even though you might be eating lunch at the same time every day, you are still hungry an hour later. This will even make it easier to identify the times when you start to eat simply to give yourself something to do. This is important because those are moments that you can choose other things to fill your time with than food.



Record your spirits when you eat. This helps to explain to you whether or not you decide on food as a response to emotional issues. This will likely show you whether or not you gravitate in the direction of certain foods based on your mood. Lots of us will reach instinctively for processed food when we feel disappointed or angry and we are more likely to select healthy options when we feel happy or content. Not only will this enable you to notice when you reach for specific foods based on your mood, it will help you find ways to keep healthier (but similar) selections on hand for those same moods and help you figure out whether or not someone professional can help you deal with the issues that are sending you towards certain foods in the first place.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment