Today is my 30th day of food diary. I used the Yazo application, which is easy to to consult and use and gives me a simple overview on macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) and allows me to monitor more specific ingredients such as fiber, sugar or iron and links to other apps training (iphone health for example) to keep track of my physical activity.
One month was enough for me to understand how much my diet is totally devoid of rules and routines! On the one hand I was a little worried, on the other it was a fun experiment: it was particularly interesting to monitor how I manage to go from a totally sugarfree day, to one in which I only fed on tacos, to a fast of 18 hours after a 12 course tasting menu. Very very charming!
But apart from that, what are they? the real advantages of a food diary?
For the data enthusiasts, here are some journalistic reasons: for example, keeping a food diary can double a person's weight loss, if that is your goal. But it is also useful for other things:
Truly … how much do we eat?
The food diary it can help you understand what is making your digestion go crazy, what disturbs your sleep or cause those terrible energy drops in the afternoon. But the act of writing what we eat and drink makes us above all more aware of all that we really ingest and of what makes us feel really good.
It is an excellent way to discover details about our relationship with food and to highlight particular addictions or tastes: for example, I discovered I was eating lots of almonds at all hours!
Understand why you eat even if you are not hungry
Finding yourself what you eat is important but also register emotions associated with that moment is essential, as well as moments of real hunger or a sense of fullness after a certain meal. You easily realize how many times you have eaten not out of physical hunger, but because at that time you were bored, sad, angry or worried. Or you can see when you eat out of habit (in front of the TV for example). This type of intuition is invaluable, because certain behaviors are rooted and almost invisible and you cannot change something that you do not even realize you are doing. The information you get from a food diary allows you to identify what is a real choice, and works systematically on the formation of new habits and finds non-food ways to cope with emotions.
Agenda or application?
The downside is that the food diary is that it is another thing to do every day. The advantage of digital tracking is that you can automate things (saving you favorite meals or foods) and save a lot of time. But they may be too obsessive for some. If you prefer not to keep track of calories but still want to go deeper into some wide-ranging insights into your consumption, a good old-style agenda is great, or a GoogleDrive document, which I like because it's accessible at any time. Monitoring can also be fast.
The beginning is the biggest investment of time, but over time, and especially with apps, it becomes much easier.
Then there are the most creative!
Some tips to get started
1. Being honest! Not writing it is not necessary, but if you do, don't worry you are not the only one: we tend to underestimate our calorie intake by up to 40%. But in fact, being a thing that you do only for yourself, it is not necessary, rather it will increase your feelings of guilt.
2. It is not just about the calories. Try to keep track of other information that you think you may need, such as sugar intake, energy changes, or eating less protein makes you feel better.
3. Also record how you feel. It's not just about calories / weight / diet, but having a more holistic look at your relationship with food. You can learn a lot: that that little square of chocolate in the evening makes you feel better at that moment, but maybe it disturbs your sleep; that in the morning if you make a savory breakfast you have more energy; that maybe you can skip the aperitif to give yourself a nice pizza for dinner.
4. Like all new habits they are difficult to start but easy to maintain. So … don't give up after a few days!
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