You may be wondering what a picture of a sprial notebook is doing within a blog posting....Well, this notebook is rather important to my daily activities, and is another tool in my weight management belt. I use this notebook as my food diary where I record all the nutriention imputs/ outputs of my day. What is a food diary?? If you never heard of the term or are wondering what a food diary is, it is some kind of record keeping system that you have in order to put down what food types, the calories, liquid levels, and exercise activities that you have throughout your daily day. Once you have put in all the necessary information, you then use those records to figure out your nutrition and other stats in order to see where you need improvements or how to make adjustments to better your health choices.
Even though my food diary is the "old fashion" system of a pencil and notebook, many online sources are available for individuals to use. These systems will keep track of all the math and give you many different records so that you can always be award of how your daily health is doing. I find though that I like the old fashion method. It keeps me to true to recording as accurate as information as possible. Plus, I can carry in my purse so that when I am out with friends it is something that will keep me reminded of making better choices during social situations where you can let go of your goals and eat like everyone else.
What type of food diary do you like to keep?? Is it online or old fashion?? Do you think this is an important tool to have to manage your weight goals?? If so, how do you use it??
I use one online at sparkpeople.com. I had done it the old fashion way of writing it down. Then I moved to using an excel spreadsheet. I have used sparkpeople for about 2 years now. I find the only advantage of it is that all the info is in there for me so I don't have to look up the nutritional information. The down fall is that I don't really think about it. I put in banana and it gives me the info instead of looking it up and writing it down. So, I think pencil and paper is a more beneficial way. Maybe I should go back to that way.
ReplyDeleteI use MyFoodDiary.com. Some people don't prefer it because it costs $9/month, however it is very thorough and detailed. I use it for two reasons- to generally become more aware of the individual nutrients in food, and to make sure I am not overeating. Sometimes I forget to log in it but I don't beat myself up about it. I think it is a good tool as long as you use it the right way. As far as computer vs paper, I think it depends on the person. I know that I wouldn't keep up with it if I had to do in on paper because it would take me too long!
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