Anyone who has put in any serious effort to manage their weight knows the benefits of keeping a written journal of what they eat every day. You can get a much better idea of your eating habits by seeing them in writing. And, depending on what information you include in a food journal, you can get surprisingly deep insights that can reveal not just what you eat, but why you’re eating and why you may be overeating
Try Tracking the Following in Your Food Journal
A basic food journal will let you track the foods you eat and drink for each meal in a day, including calories and macronutrients (fats, carbs and protein). But if you also track the following, you’ll be able to get an understanding of your diet that can help you make positive changes to it.
- Where You Eat Each Meal – Get in the habit of noting where you are when you eat a meal. Are you on the couch? In the car? At a restaurant? Or working at your desk? Being distracted while you’re eating, versus sitting at a dining table, can lead to mindless eating. In turn, mindless eating can lead to overeating and/or making poor food choices.
- Are You Eating Alone – Eating alone can also lead to poor food choices. And, even if you avoid mindless eating, eating alone may also cause overeating because we tend to eat faster when we’re alone.
- Your Mood – Your emotions can have a major influence on what and how much you eat. We can all identify with drowning the sadness of a relationship breakup in a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Or being so celebrating a promotion by treating yourself to the buffet.
When you have recorded information like this for a time, you can visit your nearest Herbal One location to learn more about healthier eating habits.
If you enjoyed this post, check out our recent article about how to stop sugar cravings with nutritional supplements.