The Top Ten Benefits of Recording What You Eat In a Food Diary

1. Allows you to monitor your caloric intake. – Losing weight is
a simple equation – take in fewer calories than you expend.
Monitoring your caloric intake is the first step in lowering it.

2. Encourages you to focus on your food choices. – More often
than not we overeat because we are focusing on something other
than what we are eating. Writing down what you eat in a food
diary forces you to focus on what you are doing.

3. Provides a record you can share with your health care
provider. — Your health care provider can look at your food
diary and provide insight and information on what you can do to
eat healthier. Also, what you are eating may be impacting your
health in other ways.

4. Helps you control the urge to binge. – Knowing you are going
to have to write down what you eat can stop you from reaching
for the second helping of potato chips.

5. Allows you to track your progress. – A food diary can serve
as evidence of how far you have come in this journey. It also
feels great to look back and see you are eating better today
than you did days, weeks or years ago.

6. Encourages mindful eating. – Writing down what you eat
encourages you to think about what you are eating. The more you
think, the less and better you eat.

7. Creates a means of evaluating the connection between what you
eat and how you feel. – You can use a food diary to examine the
circumstances and feelings which trigger overeating. Once you
identify the causes you can begin doing something about them.

8. Helps you be sure you are getting enough of each food group.
– It is important to eat a balanced diet. A food diary can
provide clues as to what foods you have been neglecting and need
to add to your diet.

9. Assists you in acknowledging the reality of how much you eat.
- Keeping a food diary will help you confront the truth about
how much you eat. Once you stop kidding yourself about how much
you eat, you can begin making the necessary changes.

10. Reinforces your commitment to achieving and maintaining a
healthy weight. – Each time you make an entry in your food diary
you are expressing your intention and desire to do what needs to
be done in order to live well.

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