According to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, food journals can be a powerful tool that can be used to aid in weight loss. In fact, the study found “participants who kept food records almost daily for six months lost twice as much weight as those who did not”.
Food records can be helpful for multiple reasons. Probably one of the most important things is that they increase awareness and can help people to recognize eating patterns. Perhaps it is the afternoon candy bar or the late night snack that puts you over their daily limit. Maybe after keeping food records, you realize that didn’t eat a vegetable for a few days. No matter what your pitfalls are, food records can help you identify areas where changes can be made.
Food records don’t lie. It is easy to forget about the handful of M&Ms that you grabbed mid morning, but if you write it down it helps you remember. This makes you more accountable. Weight management is all about calories in vs. calories out, food records can help you to know if you are achieving that balance.
It doesn’t matter how you keep records, as long as you jot down everything you eat. It could be a food diary, a piece of scrap paper or logging foods on the computer. There are many websites that allow you to track your intakes on-line for free (i.e. http://www.sparkpeople.com/ and http://www.mypyramid.gov/). For successful weight management…don’t just think it, ink it!
For more information about the study, take a look at the following link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080708/hl_nm/diet_diary_dc