Food Journal

Question: What are the benefits from keeping a food journal? how does a food journal work? i mean sure you write down the stuff you eat, but is it just for making sure we dont eat too much? Or is it to see how we progress with our eating habits over time along with our diet? also, how many calories should i consume a day? for a healthy lifestyle?

Answer: It is about both. It will help you see when and why you eat, as well as keep a more accurate record of what you actually do eat. Here are a couple of helpful links. The first one is a rather neat on line food journal. http://www.nutrawatch.com/ http://www.caloriesperhour.com/ http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm

Question: After I start a food journal what should I do? I've heard that keeping a food journal is a good way to make healthier choices and develop a healthy diet.what should I do after I start keeping a food journal what should I do? What kind of changes should I make? I don't really want to loose weight. I'm happy with my weight. I just want to start eating healthier and getting in shape. So I'm not that worried about carbs and calories and stuff like that.

Answer: I have a food journal that I do online. On everydayhealth.com and you can put in all the food you had and it'll give you the calories you had. You can also enter your exercise and it'll tell you how many calories you burned. You can entire your weight progress and tons of things! It's great!

Question: What should i include in a food journal? i decided i want to start a food journal to become more healthier and stuff. what should i write in it? i know food obvisoulsy but like should i include calories and such? thanks.

Answer: Calories, Food, Time of Day, Hunger Level before and after, Fullness level before and after. Any thoughts, feelings, physical feelings. Etc

Question: How can i stay healthy? and where can i find a good online food journal? i am 13, im skinny,(5'4 about 107 pounds) but not much muscle at all. i really want to start eating healthier and build a little muscle in my arms withought losing much weight. i also want to start an online food journal, were i can put in the foods i eat each day and how much i excersize all into one easy chart? where can i find a good, easy online food journal?

Answer: You can find the relevant journals in a web search for "online food journals".

Question: What should be include in a food journal ? I am starting a food journal for my new years resolution and I have somewhat of an idea but input would be grand .

Answer: Write down what you eat, how much, and when. For example: 7:00 am- Breakfast 1 c cheerios 1 c skimmed milk 1 c blueberries 10:00 am- Snack Cheese stick 12:30 pm - Lunch Sandwich (2 pieces whole wheat bread, 4 oz chicken, 1 slice swiss cheese, mustard, lettuce) Apple 2 tbs peanut butter raisins And so on. Hopefully you get the idea. Each meal should have carbs, fat, protein, and a fruit or a vegetable. Good fats include peanut butter, salad dressings, olive oil, avocado, etc. Don't buy into the low carb diets. Carbs are what give you energy and you need them, but make they are "healthy" ones. Main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) should be every 5-6 hours, with snacks in between. Allow yourself a treat every once in a while. Don't deny yourself cookies or pieces of cake-everything in moderation. Good luck (:

Question: How to keep a food journal? I have heard only positive things about keeping a food journal. Now I just have a few questions: 1) Do you record your drinks? 2) What if you don't know exactly how many calories, lets say, a bowl of cereal has? 3) Should you record the time? 4) What pattern should you see developing? Thanks for reading :) Do you keep track of protein, carbs and fat as well?

Answer: Keeping a food journal is a very good idea. However, I would suggest that you don't go overboard on it. I find that the more people concentrate on food journals, calories, losing weight, etc, the more they fail or get depressed/beat themselves up when they cheat. It's a viscious cycle that took me a while to get out of. But yes, keep a food journal and when you lose more weight than other weeks you can go back and check what you were eating to see what was working so well for you. 1) Yes, record your drinks, all of them... even if it's just water. It's a good idea especially since a lot of people are dehydrated and don't even know about it. Recording your drinks you can see how much you are taking in. I was dehydrated so I started drinking only water, and bought two nalgene bottles that are each 32oz's since I didn't feel like measuring daily. The recommended amount of water a day is usually 64oz's (so 2 nalgene bottle's). 2) If you don't know the amount of calories, record it anyway. When you get home go to www.caloriecount.about.com ... you don't have to sign up or anything, but it's an extremely good website for looking up calories. They have almost anything on that site. I would suggest signing up since they have a really good forum and food log if you want to use it. 3) You don't have to record the time, but if you feel like then it wouldn't hurt. 4) I don't think you'll see any pattern, but you may spot things you need to improve on, like for example the water that I was talking about. You might notice that you aren't nearly drinking enough, or maybe you aren't getting enough calcium, or protein, etc. 5) It's really difficult to keep track of the micronutrients by yourself, but if you go on that website I mentioned, they do the calculations for you. You just click on the items you ate, it logs them and then gives you an analysis of everything, even sodium, sugar, calcium, iron, fibre, etc etc. Hope this helped. :)

Question: How do u make a Food Journal? Can you please give me steps and information i need to make a food journal so i can start losing weight, or could you give me a link to a website that shows how to make a food journal? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: The most simple way is to buy a small ruled notebook. Keep it on your person and whenever you eat something, write it down. You should be able to dedicate one page to each day. There are fancier more expensive options out there (see link below) but if you have the ability to just keep a simple log of what you are eating the notebook is the most basic. The link below is to Froogle which has more formal diaries. Keep track of the foods you eat and adjust your eating habits to improve your diet. The most important part is realizing just what you are putting into your body. How you go about doing that is whatever works for you. http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=food+%2B+diary&btnG=Search+Froogle

Question: Food Journal for someone trying be healthier? I am a girl & a senior in high school. I currently weigh about 155 or so. I'm about 5'6 and I'm trying to lose weight and get into better shape. I normally walk/run about 4 miles everyday at the gym and do weight machines on my arms and legs. I was wondering if keeping a food journal of exercise I have everyday and what I eat is a good or bad idea to help me achieve my goal. Thanks. :] I rarely drink anything but skim milk & water

Answer: Many studies have shown that those who track their calorie intake and exercise do far better with their weight loss goals. I used a food diary and it really did help me a LOT - I lost 35 pounds! You'll also do far better at keeping the weight off because tracking your intake helps to educate you about portion size and calories. There are many online food diaries. I used MyFoodDiary.com, but they charge $9 a month. It was totally worth it, but there are some that are free. Check out www.mypyramid.gov. You can enter your stats and it will give you a guideline for a healthy eating plan. It's FREE and loaded with tons of information on eating healthy, losing weight and staying active. I believe they also have a food and activity tracker as well. If you're looking for a low-tech option, all you need is a notebook, a pen, and a calorie counting book! Whichever option you choose, keeping track of what you eat is the very best way to ensure weight loss success! If you have to write it down, you'll think twice before you eat it!!! :-)

Question: How do I start a food journal? I am interested in tracking my daily food intake, but am unsure how to start this. Am I tracking calories or fat? If I eat a bowl of cereal for instance do I track by serving size? What about fruits? Do I need to go online to look up its nutritional value. I would like for this to be fairly simple and help me tone up.

Answer: You probably want to track both calories and fat. You can try an online food journal like http://www.fitday.com Fitday helps you track calories, fat, and other nutrients, too. Or try http://www.sparkpeople.com

Question: What is a good site for an online food journal? I've seen a few sites now, but none have what I'm looking for. I want it to have a useable database (I'm not looking for every food in creation, but common stuff), as well as a weight tracker.

Answer: hi you need to check out www.sparkpeople.com. they have an awsome one with calorie, fat, protien count ect! and its free! also was weight tracker and many other neat tools and trackers!

Question: Did you use a food journal when trying to lose weight and was it effective? How much weight....? have you or did you lose? I weigh about 200 and I want to lose a good 60 pounds. I have decided I will try a food journal. How did it work?!

Answer: i am not quite sure if this is what you mean by a food journal or not. for 5months i planned out what i was going to eat the next day by writing it down in a notebook and that was all i ate. i ate no more than 1500cals a day. except half way thru 5months i ate 2000cals for a week. i lost 33lbs. i could have lost more with lots of exercise but i usually only exercised 30min. 3x a week.

Question: Is there an online food journal application for mobile phones? I would like FREE software for my mobile phone where I can track daily food intake, possibly count calories, or percentage of protein/carbs/fat. If you know of a great website, please share. Thank you. Thanks Ashley, that's good to know. Unfortunately I don't have an iphone. Sprint is my provider :)

Answer: for iPhones... there is something called "Lose it!" amazing

Question: I am 16 yrs old and i want to keep a food journal i weigh about 127 pounds i would like to lose at least? 15 pounds in two months is that a good goal???? Also i would like to keep a food journal but how many calories should i take in....(i am a girl if that helps and i am 4'll) so please help thanks

Answer: that's a good goal, it'll get you well into the healthy range XDD

Question: Can anyone recommend a good food diary/food journal? I'd rather not have one that screams FOOD JOURNAL on the cover. Can anyone recommend a good one that they know of or have used themselves? Can you tell me why you like it? Thanks!

Answer: Just buy a normal notebook and write it in. or google one and print it off i had a dead good onee the other day but i forgot the site sorry :/

Question: What do i write in a food journal? Like, what kind of facts ? Just type of food and calories, or more than that?

Answer: I am not sure exactly what you mean by "food journal," but I think you might mean a record of your daily food intake. If so, you could of course record the type of food, calories, and various other nutritional components such as minerals, vitamins, fats, fiber, etc. You could also make notes on how the food was prepared, how it was measured, and how it was served. You could write about how you felt while preparing or eating certain foods, as this could play a role in your "relationship" with foods. You could make notes on how certain foods make you feel physically, too. Perhaps you have reactions (allergies, bloating, real satisfaction, comfort, amazing taste, bad taste, and so on) to some foods. You could make notes on what makes you want to eat. Simple hunger, of course, comes into play, but so could stress, cravings, or the need for some comfort food. Maybe you get cold and want something warm to eat or drink. Maybe you eat a lot because you find comfort in that until later, when you might regret it. Or maybe you have eating under control, and that makes you feel a certain way. Well, you could write almost endlessly if you wanted to, but surely you will find the format and parameters that work best for you.

Question: I am looking for a weight watchers food journal online? I cant afford the meetings and have everything else I need except for the journal. Does anyone have one that I can print out and put into a spreadsheet for mysef?

Answer: calorie-count.com i live by it!! good luck :)