When you begin a diet just about the most often heard pieces of advice is to keep a food record in which you write down every thing you eat during the day. Keeping your food journal not only helps you see clearly what you are eating, it helps you see what you are not eating. One example is that, after monitoring your meals for a few days you may realize that you are consuming far too many sugars and unhealthy fats and not nearly enough organic nutrients. When you write every little thing down you can see which parts of your diet must change as well as have an easier time figuring out what kind and how long of a workout you need to do to shrink your waist line and burn the most calories.

But let's say you've been writing everything down and still aren't slimming down? You can observe your meals the right way or the wrong way. There is much more to food journaling than writing a listing of what you eat during the day. Other kinds of important information will need to be written down too. Here are some of the suggestions that can make it easier to become much more successful at food tracking.

You should be very particular whenever you write down the things that you are eating. You should do more than simply write down "salad" into your food record. Write down all the ingredients in the salad and also the type of dressing you used. You also need to write down just how much of the foods you are eating. "Cereal" will not be enough however "one cup Fiber One cereal" is acceptable. Don't forget that the more of a thing you take in, 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 exactly what time it is when you eat. This will help you determine what times of day you feel the most hungry, when you usually reach for snacks and then you can figure out how to deal with those times. After several days you'll note that while you might be eating lunch at the same time every day, you are still hungry an hour later. This will even help you identify the times when you start to eat simply to give yourself something to do. This is essential because all those are moments that you can pick out other things to fill your time with than food.



What kind of mood are you in whenever you eat? Write it down! This will show you if you use food to solve emotional issues. It also makes it possible to see plainly which foods you tend to choose if you are in certain moods. Lots of us will reach intuitively for processed food when we feel disappointed or angry and we are more likely to choose healthy options when we feel happy or content. When you look closely at how you eat during your different moods and psychological states, you will be able to keep similar but healthier alternatives around for when you need those snacks--you might also start talking to someone who can help you figure out why you try to cure your moods with food.