Most people know that healthy eating is a basic tenet of good health. If you don’t nourish your body well, it isn’t going to perform well. But when life gets busy, it’s easy to fall off track. Even with the best of intentions, healthy eating can fall to the bottom of your to-do list. One way to keep tabs on your eating habits is to keep a food journal.
What is a Food Journal?
Food journals are storytellers. They give you vital information about how you’re nourishing your body, and show you where potential gaps may exist.
Similar to symptom journals, food journals help you recognize patterns, so you can make better decisions when it comes to your health.
How Food Journals Work
Food journals give you greater insights into your daily food choices, which means you’ll be able to make adjustments earlier, before unhealthy habits lead to serious health problems.
Research has shown that people who use food journals to monitor their eating habits are more successful at reaching their health goals, especially when it comes to weight loss. One reason food journals are so effective is that they keep your attention and energy focused on your behaviors. And that usually means you’re more mindful about your choices.
What to Log in Your Food Journal
There are a number of things you might choose to keep track of in your food journal. Aside from the typical who, what, when, where, why questions you might expect, here are a few others you may want to consider:
Feelings
Emotional eating can influence your food choices in a number of ways. By journaling about your feelings, emotions, and mood changes, you can see how they influence your food choices. With that information, you can predict how certain situations may lead to overeating and find creative ways to break the cycles you find yourself repeating.
Times
Record the times of day when you consume snacks and meals. This piece of information can help you identify when you tend to make healthy choices and when you don’t. If you notice patterns in your snacking, you can then plan to have healthier alternatives available during those time.
Serving sizes
Keeping track of the amount of food you consume can help you determine if you’re getting enough (or too much) of the key nutrients your body needs. Serving sizes are typically based on the number of calories and nutrients they provide. Depending on your health goals, you may be able to simply adjust your servings sizes to improve your eating habits.
Calories
If your health goals include weight loss or weight gain, tracking the number of calories you consume each day will make it easier for you to course-correct throughout the day. It’s been shown that people who regularly keep food journals tend to be more successful with weight change goals.
Hunger & Fullness
Recording your hunger and fullness levels can help you gain more insights into the triggers behind your eating. Getting in tune with your body’s hunger and fullness signals is the foundation of intuitive eating.
Macronutrients
Protein, carbohydrates, and fat are macronutrients your body needs for optional functioning. But if you’re managing a health condition, such as kidney disease or diabetes, keeping a close eye on the macronutrients you consume can help you better manage your condition. Talk with your medical care team to better understand how your diet impacts your specific health conditions.
Micronutrients
Many medical conditions require specific food or nutrient restrictions. For example, if you’ve been advised to limit your intake of sodium, potassium, or other micronutrients, a food journal can help you stay within the guidelines.
Water
If you struggle to consume enough water, use your food journal to log how much fluid you’re drinking throughout the day. Having a visual reminder might just prompt you to refill your water bottle more consistently.
Symptoms
Food allergies and sensitivities often require you to become a food detective. Because it can be challenging to identify foods triggers, food journals can help you make connections between your symptoms and the foods you eat.
Types of Food Journals
There are many different formats for food journaling. The most important thing is to select the one you’ll be more likely to stick with.
Printable Downloads
Printables are popular and many of them are free. These are great if you like structure, or prefer to keep your food journal separate from your regular journal.
Specialty Journals
You can also choose a specialty food journal or diary. These often include a variety of trackers and checklists that make the logging process simpler, which means you’ll probably be more consistent. Etsy has a great selection of unique hand-made journals as well.
Photo Journals
If the idea of journaling your food sounds like too much work, consider keeping a photo journal. Use your Instagram feed or save the photos on your phone. Images can also provide valuable insights.
Bullet Journals
Bullet journals offer freedom and flexibility to create custom trackers that are relevant to your specific needs. The dotted pages make it easy to create checkboxes and colorful graphs to make the journaling process more fun.
Apps
Apps like MyFitnessPal, FitBit, and Weight Watchers have built-in food lists that make it easy to tally up the nutritional composition of foods. This is a good alternative if you notice that you’re not using your paper journal consistently.
Worth Noting
There are some potential concerns about food journals that need to be mentioned here. If you have a history of disordered eating, or a history of setting extreme limits on food, keeping detailed food logs could be counterproductive.
Seek guidance from those on your medical care team who have specialized knowledge and training in emotional eating. They can help guide you toward healthier strategies to achieve your health goals.
Adjusting Your Habits
Keeping a food journal is one thing, but unless you take the time to review the findings regularly, you may be missing the point. Once you’ve collected a few days or weeks of data, comb through your journal to see what it reveals about your habits.
Journal Prompts
Here are some questions to consider as your review your food journal logs:
What patterns do you see?
Do you tend to snack more during mid-day or in the evening? Why do you think that is? Are you experiencing more stress at that time? Who is with you when you tend to snack? These are all important questions to consider as you assess your patterns.
What are you eating too much of?
Are you eating too much of certain types of food? Take note of the amounts and types of the low-nutrient snacks and beverages you consume throughout the day.
What are you eating too little of?
Are you eating too little of certain types of food? Scan your food journal for potential gaps. Do you see only a few vegetables? Or small amounts of fiber? Food journals can help ensure you’re including enough vital nutrients.
Where can adjustments be made?
Review your food journal to determine what, if anything, needs to be adjusted. Are there healthier substitutions you can make? Can you plan ahead when you know you’ll experience high levels of stress? You may also find it helpful to meet with a registered dietitian to review your records together.
Conclusion
Food journals offer valuable insights about your eating habits, and they can help you identify opportunities to make better choices. The small choices you make day after day can lead to really big changes in your health.
Information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as providing or replacing medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Author bio: STACY FISHER, RDN, LD, CDCES is the founder of LivingUpp™, a lifestyle design company that teaches women how to use a self-care planning 
system to create more ease and better health. She is a registered dietitian and lifestyle coach with 20+ years of experience in the healthcare industry, where she’s worked with large companies such as Dell, Boeing and Nike. Stacy is the author of Go: One Woman. One Van. A New Beginning and The Lifestyle Design Planner, a flexible life organizer for high-achievers who value self-care and simplicity.
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