I believe there is a widespread misunderstanding that meal monitoring is only necessary if you are attempting to lose weight. Many individuals, regardless of their health objectives or whether they are working on any at all, may benefit from monitoring their diet. In fact, maintaining a food journal is the first thing I tell my clients to do since monitoring your diet may reveal a lot about your habits, patterns, energy levels, digestive problems, skin concerns, and what you eat a lot (or not a lot) of.
Don't get me wrong: I don't believe you should track your food for the rest of your life, but even a few days, a week, or a month may help you become more conscious of your own food choices and shed light on what you are really consuming rather than what you think you are eating. So, here are 11 reasons why you should track your food and how it may help you.
How Food Tracking Supports Your Health and Fitness Goals
1. It raises awareness.
I can't tell you how many times I've asked someone, "What did you eat today?" and they've been unable to respond. Too frequently, we eat without thinking about what we're eating, much alone how much we ate, how we ate it, where we ate it when we ate it, or why we ate it.
People often believe they are eating far better than they really are, but the statistics don't lie when you have to put pen to paper. Tracking your meals, whether on paper or on an app, may help you bring a new level of awareness and mindfulness to your diet.
2. It establishes accountability.
Being responsible to someone, whether at work, the gym, or for your diet, is a great method to guarantee that you stick to your goals, and the truth is that the person you need to be most accountable to is yourself.
Tracking your meals, although seemingly small, encourages you to think twice about what you put in your mouth and therefore helps you be more responsive to your own objectives.
3. Demonstrate what you're good at.
Keeping a food diary isn't only for figuring out what you're doing wrong; it may also help you figure out what you're doing well so you can keep doing it. Maybe you eat more veggies than you expected or drink a lot of water; whatever the case may be, these healthy habits are frequently maintained by maintaining a food journal and are something you can (and should) be proud of.
4. Illustrate what you aren't doing well.
Finding faults in your diet isn't a bad thing; in fact, it's a positive thing since it helps you figure out what you need to improve on. They are not "bad," but they are things that you can improve on, which is why I call them "areas of opportunity.
" Mistakes, blunders, and failures are often the catalysts for people's greatest achievements, but recognizing them is the first step in improving them.
5. Displays the amount of food you consume
Food tracking is also a fantastic method to figure out how much you're really consuming. Is it possible that you're overeating? Are you getting enough nutrients? Surprisingly, although some individuals overeat, others undereat as well.
The first step to eating properly is to concentrate on whole foods; the second is to pay attention to how much you eat and the macronutrient balance (carbs, protein, and fat) that you consume. Tracking your meals using an app may help create a picture and show you whether you're eating the correct quantity of the right items.
6. Indicates how often you eat
It's quite simple to eat a handful of nuts here, an additional slice of cheese there, and a tablespoon of peanut butter there throughout the day, and before you know it, you've consumed much more food than you planned. People often believe they have just eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but they forget about all of the snacks they picked up on their way by the kitchen while watching TV, or while preparing supper. Tracking your food not only helps you pay attention to what you're eating during meals, but it also helps you identify all of the small things you're consuming without even realizing it.
7. It Aids Weight Loss
People often tell me that they are doing "all the right things" but still can't manage to lose weight; yet, once they start monitoring their meals, they can spot the flaws in their "perfect" plan. Maybe they weren't getting enough protein in their diet. Perhaps they were overindulging in fruit. Maybe they weren't getting enough water.
Perhaps they were overeating. Maybe they were eating too much. Or it's possible that they ate properly throughout the week but not on weekends. Whatever the reason, meal monitoring is an important tool for weight reduction since it informs you precisely what you're doing, enables you to track your progress, and allows you to make changes as required.
8. Aids in the detection of food intolerances
Bloated? Gassy? Is your stomach usually a bit off? Because various individuals respond differently to different meals, maintaining a food diary is a fantastic approach to figuring out what's bothering you.
It's not "natural" to feel uneasy after eating, to struggle to go to the bathroom on a regular basis, or to have to go urgently all of the time. So, if you're used to stomach issues but can't figure out why keeping note of what you eat and how you feel each day is a fantastic approach to start connecting the dots.
9. Assists in the recognition of patterns
Things we believe have little to do with what we eat is often more connected than we realize. Being hungry in the middle of the day, weary in the afternoon, and experiencing desires in the evening are all things that may be linked to what, where, when, and how we ate (to name a few).
Maybe you don't eat much in the morning and struggle to get to lunch, or maybe you always have a carb-heavy lunch and want something sweet in the afternoon. Regardless matter the cause, maintaining a meal diary may assist you in identifying and correcting these habits.
10. Assists in the identification of triggers
When you're bored at work, do you reach for a snack? When you're anxious, why not reach for a treat? Tracking your food encourages you to be aware of your food choices and why you make them, which may assist you in delving further into the why behind what you eat.
Do you always open the refrigerator as soon as you enter the house? Do you always go to the cupboard after dinner to get a snack? Our eating signals often have little to do with hunger and everything to do with desires, our surroundings, and how we are feeling.
11. Enables you to evaluate your progress
The greatest thing about keeping track of your meals is being able to look back and evaluate your progress. Changing your diet and eating habits is difficult, so it's essential to congratulate yourself on any improvement you make, no matter how little. Not only will keeping track of your meals help you celebrate these significant achievements, but reflecting on your accomplishments will give you even more incentive to keep going.
Final Thoughts
If you've never kept a food diary before, or if you're having trouble meeting a health goal, I strongly advise you to do so. A little monitoring, whether in a notebook, on your computer, or with an app like MyFitnessPal, may go a long way toward bringing your diet and health to the next level.
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