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  • Keeping a Food Diary

    Posted by alyssa-silva on March 3, 2021 at 11:00 am

    My doctor has asked me to start a food diary to see if we can start figuring out the reasons behind some of my health issues. Truthfully, the thought of measuring what I eat and keeping track of everything sounds a little dreadful to me. So, I need to somehow stay motivated.

    Have you kept a food diary before? I’m thinking about creating a template on Notion since I do everything digitally. Plus, the thought of making an aesthetically-pleasing list might be my driving motivation to stick to it. You should see my Notion set up! I’m just not sure how to keep track of everything in an organized manner.

    Would love to hear your input.

    yvette-haas replied 3 years ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • rian-dindzans

    Member
    March 3, 2021 at 4:45 pm

    Funnily enough, I just started keeping one too! My doctor is patching me in to a GI so she said I should start keeping one now since they’ll probably ask me to. She told me the diary should have as much detail as possible, even if it’s gross. I’ve been writing it down in my “notes” app with the following format:

    day number – date

    >”outside factors” (basically things like when I woke up, when I got out of bed, any sources of stress, supplements/vitamins or medication I’m taking, just anything that might even have even the tiniest impact on my digestive system)

    >breakfast – time

    >>what I ate (how much, what was in it, etc)

    >>how I felt (both before and after, including bathroom breaks and what time I went to the bathroom and what times I pooped)

    >lunch – time

    >>what I ate

    >>how I felt

    >dinner – time

    >>what I ate

    >>how I felt

    >dessert – time

    >>what I ate

    >>how I felt

    • alyssa-silva

      Member
      March 4, 2021 at 8:14 am

      Oooh this is so helpful Ariana! Thank you. I didn’t even think about noting outside factors, but I think that’ll definitely help my doctors in trying to nail down my GI issues. I also have problems going to the bathroom, so I should probably keep a poop diary as well ????

  • yvette-haas

    Member
    March 3, 2021 at 8:20 pm

    I’m a big fan of using Cronometer (free version is more than enough) whenever I want to get a closer look at how I’m doing with nutrition, or print out reports for my doctor to see. It’s really easy to use, once you get the hang of it, and provides so much info!

    • alyssa-silva

      Member
      March 4, 2021 at 8:15 am

      I’m going to look into this right now!! You always have great ideas. Thank you!

      • yvette-haas

        Member
        March 5, 2021 at 11:53 am

        If possible, I’d suggest getting the hang of it on desktop, as the website is more intuitive than the app, and it will show you all the features (example: click on one of the foods in your list, and it will show you the breakdown for just that item. Or click on one type of macro and it will show you your top sources from the day)

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