Nutrition/Food Diary

Keeping a food diary is a great way to track what you eat and drink on a daily basis. It will help you to identify if you are consuming too much of the 'bad' stuff and eating too many empty calories from junk food. It will also allow you to see if you are getting a healthy mixture of all of the key macro nutrients - proteins, fats and carbohydrates - and micro nutrients - vitamins and minerals - to make up a balanced and nutritious diet. It will show if you are meeting your recommended 5-a-day target.

In addition, it will show you whether you are leaving too long between meals and drinks and thus then overeating/drinking later in the day due to being hungry and/or thirsty. Furthermore, it will help to highlight whether you are not drinking enough water throughout the day.

When filling in a food diary, it’s crucial to be honest and truthful. If you conveniently omit some foods or drinks you have consumed or add 'healthier' options to make the food diary look more impressive you are only cheating yourself. You won't get the full benefits from the diary and thus really achieve your full potential. From experience from working with clients, a food diary can have a major 'shock' impact on people and really hit home that they need to make nutritional changes.

When using the feedback from the food diary, the key to long term success is to not make lots of drastic straight away but to make incremental, small, regular nutritional changes. This way the changes you make are more likely to become routine and habits of a lifetime rather than a short term faddy diet. What may have been years of ‘poor’ nutritional (and for that matter activity) lifestyle choices, will not be fixed overnight. It will take time, patience, determination, and willpower. Think long term.

As a starter try to fill in a food diary for 1 week. Aim to make it a 'live' document - complete it as you go through the day. If you wait until the end of the day you are more likely to forget certain things you may have eaten or drank or forgot the times. The more detail you fill in the better e.g. cooking methods, quantity, weight etc. However, don't stress too much. If you just put down the times you eat and drink and what you consume then great - it's better than nothing.

There are many more ways that you can live a more nutritious and healthy lifestyle that I would be delighted to share and discuss with you. Should you require any help, advice or information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Keep up the great work,

Live life in the active and nutritious lane