Keeping a food diary is a valuable tool for both weight management, dietary improvement and identifying potential foods that could be causing you discomfort (Rusin et al., 2013; Streit et al., 1991). If you’re planning to seek dietary advice from a healthcare professional, it is most likely one of their first suggestions will be to complete a food diary for 5-7 days, this will help inform them and prescribe the best possible treatment, so if you are planning to make one of these appointments in the new year, go prepared to save time.
Even if you’re not planning to seek professional advice keeping a food diary can be a very helpful process as it can highlight areas of dietary improvement and potential nutrient deficiency.
In order for this task to be most effective you should record everything you eat along with the quantity and any negative digestive symptoms, the Bristol Stool Chart shown below can be used along with a measure of symptom severity.
Menopausal symptom tracking could also be recorded as lifestyle factors such as diet are known to have an impact on menopausal symptoms, identifying dietary triggers could help reduce their severity.
When you review the diary pay attention to any disturbance and see if it correlates with consumption of any particular food or drink, you could then try avoidance or an alternative for example if it’s dairy milk then you could try soy/oat/almond milk and see if the symptom eases.
Areas to pay attention to:
– Water consumption
– Caffeine intake
– Daily fruit and vegetable consumption
– Overall variety of foods
– Quality and frequency of snacks
– Portion sizes
– Ultra-processed food intake
– Alcohol intake
– Sugary food and drink intake
– Eating close to bedtime
When you go through this checklist use resources such as the UK Government healthy eating recommendations The Eatwell Guide – GOV.UK and The British Nutrition Foundation healthy portion guides Portion sizes | British Nutrition Foundation Portion sizes | British Nutrition Foundationto analyse and highlight any areas you could improve upon.
A mobile or notebook can be used to record, the best option is the one which makes compliance more likely, I have included a link to my free downloadable food diary template below to use or inspire.
It can be enjoyable and therapeutic to keep a food diary, many people find it useful and maintain them long term, have a go and see if it helps.
References
Rusin, M., Arsand, E., & Hartvigsen, G. (2013). Functionalities and input methods for recording food intake: a systematic review. Int J Med Inform, 82(8), 653-664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2013.01.007
Streit, K. J., Stevens, N. H., Stevens, V. J., & Rossner, J. (1991). Food records: a predictor and modifier of weight change in a long-term weight loss program. J Am Diet Assoc, 91(2), 213-216.
MLT Nutrition 