Tracking Your Food: The Way To Do It

By William Edwards


When you go on a diet one of the first things that you will learn is that it is important to keep an eye on what you eat during the day. Keeping your food journal not only helps you see clearly what you are consuming, it helps you see what you are not eating. One example is that, after monitoring your nutrition for a few days you may realize that you are consuming far too many sugars and unhealthy fats but not nearly enough organic nutrients. Writing all of it down can help you see specifically which parts of your diet really need to change as well as how much exercise you are going to need to do to make sure that you keep your caloric intake in check.

But what happens if you write almost everything down but no weight drop off of you? You can monitor your food the right way or the incorrect way. A food journal is more than just a simple list of the foods you eat during a day. You have to keep track of various other very important information. Here are some of the suggestions that can enable you to become much more successful at food tracking.

Be as precise as possible while you write down what you consume. You need to do more than merely write down "salad" into your food log. The correct way to do it is always to write down all of the ingredients in the salad as well as the kind of dressing that is used. You should also include the quantities of the foods you eat. "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 consume so you need to list out the measurements of what you eat so that you will know precisely how many calories you take in and will need to burn.

Write down what time of day it is when you eat. This helps you see what times of day you feel the hungriest, when you're likely to reach for a snack and how to work around those times. After a day or two you could notice that, even though you eat lunch at the same time each day, you still feel hungry an hour or so later. This will also make it easier to identify the occasions when you start to eat simply to give yourself something to do. This is unbelievably valuable because understanding when you're vulnerable to snacking will help you fill those times with alternative activities that will keep you away from the candy aisle.



Record your feelings when you eat. This helps you determine when you use foods to help soothe emotional issues. It may also identify the foodstuffs you decide on when you are in certain moods. Lots of us will reach intuitively for unhealthy foods when we feel disappointed or angry and we are more likely to choose healthy options when we feel happy or content. Not only will this let you notice when you reach for specific foods based on your mood, it will help you find ways to keep healthier (but similar) alternatives 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.




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