Do you know what you eat and how much you eat every day? I have found it beneficial – and so have many of my clients – to record my daily food intake in a food diary. It is very enlightening to see exactly what was consumed in a day. How do you know where you are going if you don’t know where you are now? The food diary allows us to assess what we are eating in order to recognize the changes we need to make.

The amount of food is as important as the quality of food we eat. We must manage our portion sizes. Reading labels is also important to understand the nutrients we are feeding our bodies. Labels not only list the ingredients, but also the carbohydrates, protein, and kinds of fat that are in each serving size. Until you track this information, you may not be aware of the true amount of carbs, fats, and protein in your food intake. You might be surprised at what you are truly eating!

A client recently shared her computerized food diary with me, and it was great! An easy way to track your food intake is with this informative, fee website: www.myfitnesspal.com.  This website has a master list of food, and you can also build your own list if a food item is not already listed. At the end of the day, you simply list your food choices and the site will summarize your total calories, carbs, protein, fats, cholesterol, sodium, sugars, and fiber consumed. You may also add your workout time and type of exercise to calculate the calories burned, which you may compare with your caloric intake.

Try this great tool for a week, and you will notice where your food plan may be out of balance. Bring your food diary to your next appointment, or set up an appointment with me today to review your food intake habits.