Printable Food Diary

From LoveToKnow Diet

A printable food diary is one of the most effective diet aids available. After considering the benefits of keeping a journal, you can explore different types of diaries specific to your individual needs.

Printable Food Diary Benefits

Accountability is the primary benefit of the printable diaries. Part of the problem with poor diet habits is that people do not experience the consequences of their actions immediately. When you take time to keep track of your food intake, you are allowing yourself to look at your daily habits objectively. The objective perspective offers a great opportunity for you to recognize poor eating habits.

Printable diet journals are available in a number of different forms. Some are designed to help promote balance while others encourage tracking exercise as well as intake. Another type of diary looks to psychological factors that can affect eating habits.

Balanced Diets

One of the most important aspects of creating a healthy dietary regimen is to create balance. Many are familiar with the basic food groups but few are aware of the proper portions required to achieve a balanced diet.

University of Texas Health Science Center

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has created a printable meal journal that includes:

Foods eaten
Ingredients
Portion
Food group code

The form contains a brief outline of the basic food groups to encourage people to recognize balanced diets.

Breads
Fruits
Vegetables
Protein
Dairy

The diary includes sugars and fat but notes that these are not specific food groups.

The diary is brief, covering two days of food intake and it is designed as a lesson plan for students. This form is ideal if you would like to become familiar with the food groups while practicing proper nutritional balance and portion control.

Meal Matters.org

Meal Matters.org offers a seven-day printable food journal that helps you stay focused on achieving properly balanced nutrition.

The journal includes space for each meal including beverages and snacks. Beneath each day’s entries is a chart that includes a list of food groups including an “other” category for sugars and fats.

Diet and Exercise

Some printable diaries offer ways to keep track of exercise as well. An active lifestyle that includes healthy eating habits is ideal and a journal that encourages people to keep track of eating and exercise can work wonders to stay motivated.

Walk of Life Program

The Walk of Life Program offers a great chart that includes helpful details about activity as well as food intake. The primary focus is walking:

Distance
Time
Speed
Steps
Calories

The journal leaves room for an entry about other exercise as well. The diary is detailed, providing spaces for food groups for each meal and for snacks. You can use the chart to keep track of the time of day that you have meals and how much water you drink throughout the day.

The Walk of Life diary is a particularly helpful journal because it offers a way for you to track your feelings about eating and it encourages you to keep track of your daily successes. Emotions can play a significant role in caloric intake.

Emotional Elements

While the focus of proper balance and daily exercise is important, emotional elements are crucial to an individual’s success in any healthy lifestyle plan. A printable food diary that includes emotional states can help you recognize some of the underlying psychological factors that can come into play.

The Column Diary

The Column Food Diary is an excellent tool for people who need to deal with emotional eating. This chart focuses on psychological elements that can play a significant role in the tendency to overeat. While the type of food is included on the chart, the primary focus is situational:

Time
Location
Other people present or not present
Activity
Mood

This type of journal is similar to a behavior chart used to help parents pinpoint causes for certain behaviors as well as ways to change them. Poor eating habits are behaviorally based. Finding the source of the behaviors is a great way to begin to make the necessary changes for a healthier lifestyle.

Experiment with Diet Journals

A free printable food diary is a valuable asset that can help you become accountable for your behaviors while promoting a healthy diet and exercise plan. Experimenting with different types of journals can help you determine which approach works best for you.

Retrieved from "http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Printable_Food_Diary"